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Musk: Tesla is Building 'RNA Microfactories' for COVID-19 Vaccine Developer

FILE PHOTO: Employee Philipp Hoffmann, of German biopharmaceutical company CureVac, demonstrates research workflow on a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease at a laboratory in Tuebingen, Germany, March 12, 2020. Picture taken on March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert
FILE PHOTO: Employee Philipp Hoffmann, of German biopharmaceutical company CureVac, demonstrates research workflow on a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease at a laboratory in Tuebingen, Germany, March 12, 2020. Picture taken on March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert
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Musk: Tesla is Building 'RNA Microfactories' for COVID-19 Vaccine Developer

FILE PHOTO: Employee Philipp Hoffmann, of German biopharmaceutical company CureVac, demonstrates research workflow on a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease at a laboratory in Tuebingen, Germany, March 12, 2020. Picture taken on March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert
FILE PHOTO: Employee Philipp Hoffmann, of German biopharmaceutical company CureVac, demonstrates research workflow on a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease at a laboratory in Tuebingen, Germany, March 12, 2020. Picture taken on March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert

Tesla Inc is building "RNA microfactories" for coronavirus vaccine developer CureVac in Germany, the electric carmaker's chief executive officer, Elon Musk revealed in a tweet on Wednesday.

CureVac has said it is developing transportable, automated mRNA production units that it calls printers

They will be designed to be shipped to remote locations, where they can churn out its vaccine candidate and other mRNA-based therapies depending on the recipe fed into the machine.

It is also building a new stationary site that could increase its output tenfold to billions of doses, Reuters reported.

But for the immediate pandemic use - should its vaccine candidate win market approval – it has production sites with regulatory approval in Germany with a capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses.

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SpaceX Delivers Four Astronauts to the International Space Station Just 15 Hours after Launch

This image made from video provided by NASA and SpaceX shows the docked SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station Saturday Aug. 2, 2025. (NASA and SpaceX via AP)
This image made from video provided by NASA and SpaceX shows the docked SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station Saturday Aug. 2, 2025. (NASA and SpaceX via AP)
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SpaceX Delivers Four Astronauts to the International Space Station Just 15 Hours after Launch

This image made from video provided by NASA and SpaceX shows the docked SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station Saturday Aug. 2, 2025. (NASA and SpaceX via AP)
This image made from video provided by NASA and SpaceX shows the docked SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station Saturday Aug. 2, 2025. (NASA and SpaceX via AP)

SpaceX delivered a fresh crew to the International Space Station on Saturday, making the trip in a quick 15 hours.

The four US, Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday, said The Associated Press.

Moving in are NASA's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russia's Oleg Platonov — each of whom had been originally assigned to other missions. “Hello, space station!” Fincke radioed as soon as the capsule docked high above the South Pacific.

Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for NASA's two stuck astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose space station stay went from one week to more than nine months. Fincke and Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission. But with Starliner grounded by thruster and other problems until 2026, the two switched to SpaceX.

Platonov was bumped from the Soyuz launch lineup a couple of years ago because of an undisclosed illness.

Their arrival temporarily puts the space station population at 11. The astronauts greeting them had cold drinks and hot food waiting for them.

While their taxi flight was speedy by US standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station — a lightning-fast three hours.