WOOD DALE, IL—Linear motion control manufacturer Thomson Industries Inc., recently sponsored the Dirt-Torpedo, a device built by DHBW Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University students, that competed in Elon Musk's "Not-a-Boring Competition" for tunnel building last month.

BOCA CHICA, TX—Last Saturday SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that construction of a prototype for a Mars spaceship, called Starship, is now underway, and that the first round of its experimental launches may be completed by early spring.

LONG BEACH, CA--Last Sunday night, Elon Musk shared a photo of the tooling that will be used to make carbon-fiber composites for the SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) spaceship, reports Ars Technica. SpaceX intends to manufacture the BFR components near its Hawthorne, CA, headquarters for easy shipping to test sites and launch pads.

BUFFALO, NY--Tesla Inc. has kicked off production of its long-awaited electricity-producing shingles that Elon Musk says will transform the rooftop solar industry. Manufacturing of the photovoltaic glass tiles began last month at a factory here built with backing from New York State, the company said in an email Tuesday.