Note From The Curator
Here are the top 3 stories in this issue of Elon Musk News:
- Tesla and SolarCity to Combine
- NASA Orders Another Crewed ISS Mission from SpaceX
- First look at the new Silevo solar panel that Musk has been boasting about for its aesthetic features
It's (almost) official. Tesla & SolarCity will combine to create the world's only vertically integrated sustainable energy company! It's an important next step that will allow Elon Musk to fully realize his Master Plan, Part Deux. You can read all the details in Tesla's blog post.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the 31st issue!
Sincerely,
Zachary K.D.
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Elon Musk News
Tesla CEO Elon Musk learns lightening fast, here's his secret
Musk told NPR that he's read âthousands and thousandsâ of books. Could this be his secret to learning at light speed? Kimbal, Elon Musk's brother looks back on their childhood together and reveals, "He would go through two books in one day." In Musk's biography, author Ashlee Vance writes, "As a child, he loved to read. From very early in his life, he was always spotted with a book in his hands. Sometimes, while his family went shopping, they used to discover that Elon had gone missing. Almost always, they found him in the nearest bookstore, sitting on the floor and reading a book."
Read the full article | Photo from Evannex
SpaceX
NASA Orders Another Crewed ISS Mission from SpaceX
On Friday, NASA announced it was ordering another International Space Station-bound crew flight from SpaceX â making it the second such mission Elon Muskâs company will conduct for the space agency, and NASAâs fourth order from a commercial provider.
The plan to get our astronaut launches back to U.S. soil and make our space program independent again means that weâll turn over transportation missions to the ISS (both cargo and crew) to U.S. spaceflight companies. The new announcement means SpaceX and Boeing will each conduct two missions that will send U.S. astronauts to and from the ISS.
Read the full article | Photo from SpaceX
Spaceflightâs 90-satellite mission, a boon for smallsats, is a nightmare for Orbcomm
The upcoming launch of 90 small satellites aboard Spaceflightâs Sherpa tug atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is widely viewed as a pioneering effort to establish a regular and reliable access to space for the smallsat industry.
But for one commercial smallsat operator, machine-to-machine satellite messaging provider Orbcomm, the Sherpa launch is a threat. Orbcomm has asked U.S. regulators to stop the launch until Spaceflight demonstrates that releasing 90 satellites â most of them without on-board propulsion â into a single elliptical orbital plane overlapping Orbcommâs constellation does not raise orbital-collision issues.
Read the full article | Photo from Space News Mag
SpaceX adopts lessons learned from multiple booster landings
The SpaceX team has been perfecting the landing techniques by adopting lessons learned after each landing campaign attempt. What are the lessons learned so far from the first stage landings and especially the hard landings? Are there any changes being made to the booster structure? How well did the landing burn scenario perform?
During SpaceX's recent CRS-9 launch campaign media briefings at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on July 18, I asked SpaceX VP Hans Koenigsmann for some insight.
Read the full article | Photo from SpaceX
Tesla
Tesla and SolarCity to Combine
Just over a month ago, Tesla made a proposal to purchase SolarCity and today we are announcing that the two companies have reached an agreement to combine, creating the world's only vertically integrated sustainable energy company.
Solar and storage are at their best when they're combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored and consumed.
Now is the right time to bring our two companies together: Tesla is getting ready to scale our Powerwall and Powerpack stationary storage products and SolarCity is getting ready to offer next-generation differentiated solar solutions. By joining forces, we can operate more efficiently and fully integrate our products, while providing customers with an aesthetically beautiful and simple one-stop solar + storage experience: one installation, one service contract, one phone app.
Read the full article | Photo from Electrek
Tesla and SolarCity Agree to $2.6 Billion Deal
Tesla Motors Inc. on Monday said it had reached a deal to buy SolarCity Corp. for less than the price it originally proposed, as Elon Musk takes the next step forward with his plan to combine his electric-car and solar-energy companies.
Tesla Is About To Eat Volkswagen's Lunch
Volkswagen needs to wake up, Microbus-wise, because after a decade and a half of teasing the world about a reborn bus, Tesla basically just said that theyâre going to beat them to the punch. Even if VW doesnât seem to realize it, this is bad news for them.
Read the full article | Photo from Jalopnik
Elon Musk says Tesla likely to build an all-electric cargo van on its upcoming pickup truck chassis
Since unveiling his âMaster Plan Part Deuxâ and Teslaâs future vehicle lineup earlier this month, Elon Musk has been quietly revealing more details about how Tesla plans to leverage its vehicle platforms to release more models. For example, he confirmed that the upcoming âTesla Minibusâ will be built on the Model X chassis.
Now he reveals that Tesla will also likely build a cargo van on its upcoming pickup truck chassis. Musk made the comment when someone pointed out to him on Twitter that pickup trucks are not really popular in Europe and everyone uses cargo vans, like the popular Ford Transit.
Read the full article | Photo from @elonmusk
SolarCity
Tesla/SolarCity: First look at new Silevo solar panel that Musk has been boasting about for its aesthetic features
Since announcing Teslaâs intentions to acquire SolarCity, CEO Elon Musk has often talked about the importance of aesthetics in rooftop solar installations. In the original conference call discussing the merger proposal, he came back to the aesthetic of the panels a few times. He said that the new panels will enhance the aesthetic of the roof on which it is installed and therefore add to the value of a house instead of decreasing its value â again based on aesthetics.
He said that he is confident SolarCityâs new panels, built by its Silevo division, will achieve that, but he couldnât talk about it in detail since SolarCity has yet to unveil the solar panel. Now we finally get our first glimpse of the new solar panel.
Read the full article | Photo from Electrek
OpenAI
Elon Musk's OpenAI Project Identified 4 Big Problems for AI
Most of the problems that could result from increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence are much more subtle than SkyNet, but that doesnât mean smarter A.I. doesnât come without its risks.
A job posting disguised as a blog post titled âSpecial projectsâ outlines four such âprojectsâ as problems that have âeither very broad implicationsâ or that address âimportant emerging consequences of AI development.â And then its writers â Ilya Sutskever, Dario Amodei, and Sam Altman â invite any strong machine learning experts to âstart an effort on one of these problems at OpenAI.â Just submit an application, they ask.
Read the full article | Photo from Kåroly Zsolnai-Fehér
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