"It would be awesome to throw a pie in the face of all naysayers on Wall Street who keep insisting that Tesla will always be a money loser!"
Elon Musk News
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SPACECOM IS SEEKING $50 MILLION OR A FREE FLIGHT FROM SPACEX AFTER FALCON 9 EXPLOSION 🚀🔥💰 September 6th 2016
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Featured Quote
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"It would be awesome to throw a pie in the face of all naysayers on Wall Street who keep insisting that Tesla will always be a money loser!"
— Elon Musk
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Elon Musk News
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Conventional wisdom says that in order to become world-class, we should only focus on one field. Musk breaks that rule. His expertise ranges from rocket science, engineering, physics, and artificial intelligence to solar power and energy.
In a previous article, I call people like Elon Musk "expert-generalists" (a term coined by Orit Gadiesh, chairman of Bain & Company). Expert-generalists study widely in many different fields, understand deeper principles that connect those fields, and then apply the principles to their core specialty.
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SpaceX
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SpaceX may be on the hook to compensate Space Communication Ltd. for the satellite that was destroyed during the explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket — either with a free trip or $50 million.
The construction, launch preparation and operation of the AMOS-6 satellite, which would have been used to "significantly expand the variety of communications services provided by Spacecom," reportedly cost the company more than $195 million. The officials from the company also noted that it could also collect upwards of $205 million from Israel Aircraft Industries, which built the satellite. SpaceX hasn't said what kind of insurance it purchased for the rocket, or what that insurance might pay for.
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Had there been astronauts aboard the SpaceX rocket that exploded on Thursday, they would have been just fine, says CEO Elon Musk. That's because the Dragon space capsule, which SpaceX plans to use for manned flights as soon as next year, has eight escape rockets built into its walls designed to lift astronauts out of harm's way if the Falcon rocket below it is destroyed.
The escape rocket system, which is designed to fire only in case of an emergency, was successfully tested it in May of last year. The Dragon capsule shot into the air, away from the launch pad, and splashed down in the ocean about a mile off shore during the test.
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The recent Falcon 9 rocket explosion badly damaged SpaceX's Florida launch pad at Cape Canaveral, meaning the company's primary launch site is out of commission for the foreseeable future. But while that pad undergoes repairs, SpaceX says it can continue launching vehicles from its two other launch sites — one in California and another one in Cape Canaveral.
That doesn't mean the company will be getting back to its regular flight schedule just yet, though. SpaceX's California launch pad can only be used for certain types of missions to space, and the second Florida pad isn't quite ready to support launches just yet.
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At this stage, there are more questions than answers. The key for SpaceX will be how quickly it can satisfy federal investigators, rebuild the damaged launchpad at Cape Canaveral and resume sending satellites into space. For commercial telecommunications customers, getting a satellite manufactured is time-consuming and expensive, taking two years or more and costing $200 million to $400 million each.
Recovering from delays to its aggressive launch schedule — while losing momentum — is the challenge for SpaceX, not a financial squeeze. In a statement on Friday, the company said its business was "robust, with approximately 70 missions on our manifest worth over $10 billion."
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Tesla
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After publishing its second quarter 2016 financial results last month, Tesla said that it plans to deliver about 50,000 vehicles during the second half the year to bring the total to 80,000 vehicles. The volume will generate a lot of cash flow for the company and now CEO Elon Musk says that it could be enough to be profitable during the third quarter, which will end by the end of the month. Musk made the comment in a colorful company-wide memo dated August 29:
The simple reality of it is that we will be in a far better position to convince potential investors to bet on us if the headline is not 'Tesla Loses Money Again,' but rather 'Tesla Defies All Expectations and Achieves Profitability. That would be amazing! […]
We will need to raise additional cash in Q4 to complete the Model 3 vehicle and the Gigafactory. […] It would be awesome to throw a pie in the face of all naysayers on Wall Street who keep insisting that Tesla will always be a money loser!
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The consensus at Electrek is that 'Tesla Glass' has something to do with a Heads Up Display (HUD). Tesla did hire some HUD experts in the past few years to work on its Autopilot program, like Milan Kovac, who is now Engineering Manager of Autopilot Embedded Systems at Tesla, and Yonggang Ha, a Staff Optical Engineer on the Autopilot team.
Interestingly, both previously mentioned engineers hired by Tesla have a lot of experience with see-through head-mounted displays. Ha holds several patents related to the technology and Kovac was the principal engineer of the SKULLY augmented reality motorcycle helmet, which features a head-mounted display.
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A judge ruled on Wednesday that Tesla Motors will not be able to sell its vehicles directly to Missouri customers outside of having an independent franchise dealer. The ruling set forth by Cole County Judge Daniel Green also stated that Tesla was given a franchise dealer license in 2014 by the Missouri Revenue Department to operate its Kansas City storefront. Judge Green ruled that these actions violated laws stating that "a single entity may not manufacture vehicles for sale in Missouri and possess a Missouri new motor vehicle dealer license."
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Bjørn Nyland, winner of a Founder Series Model X through Tesla's referral program and consequently, one of the first Model X owners in Europe, decided to do an interesting social experiment with his brand new all-electric SUV.
He parked his Model X in Aker Brygge, a popular area for shopping and dining in Oslo, Norway, and decided to see what would happen if he opens the Falcon Wing doors of his vehicle and walks away to film the reactions of passersby.
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Aside from regulations preventing them from releasing some of its in-car features, Tesla and Elon Musk love Hong Kong. The CEO was in the City earlier this year for a special event for Tesla owners and he said that Hong Kong is a "beacon city for electric vehicles".
The California-based automaker now dominates the electric vehicle market in the global city with a 80% market share of Hong Kong's 5,800 EVs as of this July. A 60-fold increase in electric vehicles, mostly all-electric, since 2010. Germany now says that the local government is playing favorite and it wants to dislodge Tesla has the leading electric vehicle brand in Hong Kong.
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