Words that launder

Glossary

Terafab

Is A cited ~$55B-class shared chip moonshot / framework. Merge relevance 98.

Is not A fab. Wafer starts. A process node with yield. An arm's-length foundry.

Starshield

Is USG-owned, NRO-operated classified bus derived from Starlink. Merge relevance 94.

Is not Starlink. An FCC consumer docket. A Tesla product. A public sat count from NRO.

FOCI

Is Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence — DCSA’s test for a cleared contractor. Already a live SpaceX file (Feb 2026 Senate letter).

Is not A CFIUS filing. A shareholder vote. A synergy slide. A Tesla-China-only hypothetical.

NSSL

Is National Security Space Launch — how NRO/GPS/warning birds get to orbit. As of Sep 2026 SpaceX is the only active flyer.

Is not A commercial Starlink rideshare. An FCC license. A competitive three-provider lane.

SSA

Is Special Security Agreement — DCSA collar: outside directors, government security committee, classified work fenced from the foreign parent.

Is not A merger. “One company.” A proxy board (that is the harder collar).

DCSA

Is Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency — runs facility clearances and FOCI.

Is not CFIUS. The NRO. The FAA.

Optimus Academy

Is Internal Fremont units for imitation learning. 2026 output is self-use.

Is not Customer sales. Useful factory labor. The 1M-bot pay tranche delivered.

Merge relevance

Is How much a trench changes the case for legally combining Tesla and SpaceX (0–100).

Is not Completion %. How finished it looks in a keynote. A probability of merger.

FSD Supervised

Is A paid driver-responsibility product with real attach (1.48M subs).

Is not Autonomy. 10x safer than human. Unsupervised general driving.

Unsupervised robotaxi

Is Geofenced paid service in a handful of Sun Belt metros, low-million cumulative miles.

Is not The 2016 Tesla Network. Waymo-scale. $0.30/mi unit economics in the 10-Q.

Suborbital

Is A trajectory that comes back. Flight 13 V3s reentered.

Is not Mars. Orbit. A constellation add.

IPO valuation

Is What the tape printed ($135 / ~$1.8T class).

Is not A DCF. Morningstar-style fair value sat ~half that.

HLS award

Is NASA picked Starship as a lander contractor.

Is not A lunar landing. Cargo on the surface. Crew on the surface.

Design capacity

Is What a slide says a line could do (1M Optimus at Fremont).

Is not Output. Shipments. A labor product.

Framework agreement

Is Tesla and SpaceX agreed to talk about shared projects.

Is not A merger. Transfer pricing. A fairness opinion.

Catch

Is Chopsticks catching a Super Heavy booster.

Is not Ship catch (delayed). Airline-like reuse. $100/kg.

Working satellite

Is A bird that is in orbit and responding.

Is not FCC-authorized constellation complete. V3 capacity.

Pay-package tranche

Is What Elon needs to print to get paid.

Is not What minority Tesla holders need to get paid.

Empire mode

Is Optional Neuralink / Boring / xAI overlay.

Is not The default scoreboard. Default is Tesla + SpaceX only.

Forensic %

Is An integer estimated from public artifacts, overridable by you.

Is not An official Tesla or SpaceX KPI.