Vc Tech

Musk's SpaceX is one of two main contractors selected under NASA's commercial crew program to send astronauts to space. HIGHLIGHTS Musk smoked marijuana, drank whiskey during live podcast Nasa didn't explicity blame its probe on Musk's behaviour But a news report says his conduct prompted the review, citing sources When Elon Musk smokes up, it appears the fallout can be cosmic. The star tech entrepreneur, 47, took a hit of marijuana during a live podcast in September (It's legal in California.). Now, Nasa says it will review the workplace safety culture at two companies, including Musk's SpaceX, that were chosen to fly astronauts. Nasa didn't explicitly blame its "cultural assessment study" on Musk's joint (or his drinking whiskey), although it did say it would encompass "adherence to a drug-free environment". And the Washington Post reported, citing three unnamed sources, that Musk's conduct "prompt...

Last week, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced bold plans to combine the technologies of his two biggest companies by placing rocket thrusters on future specialized models of Tesla’s Roadster. The thrusters won’t actually combust, according to Musk; instead, they will expel highly pressurized cold air, giving the Tesla an extra boost in acceleration. It’s a move the might technically work, but it also baffles industry experts and engineers: the thrusters won’t be very efficient and probably won’t be street legal. Specifically, Musk is talking about incorporating a key piece of hardware from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket — a tank known as a composite overwrapped pressure vessel, or a COPV. These bottles are made out of a thin metal liner that’s wrapped in carbon fibers, and they’re a great way to store a lot of pressurized air in a very small space. They’re also fairly lightweight, which is why many rocket manufacturers like using them to help pressurize their rockets. “IS...

It is the  Elon Musk  of corporate pay deals, a cocksure, all-or-nothing moonshot into history. Little wonder, then, that it is for none other than Elon Musk.  Tesla  Inc. granted the billionaire founder a $2.6 billion award, the largest-ever of its kind, underscoring the company's outsize ambitions and how intimately connected its future success is to Musk. If fully vested over a decade, stock options would net him as much as $55.8 billion. Along the way, nothing would be guaranteed -- zero salary or cash bonuses.  The audacious award outlines a plan for Tesla to become one of the world's biggest companies, which would make Musk perhaps the richest man on the planet in the process, but without as detailed a road map to get there as was provided with his last award. This, too, is very Musk-like -- set big-picture, moonshot end goals, particulars be damned.  "It's breathtaking both in size and in terms of performance required to earn it," Steven Hall...