Another dubious article

[sttom]

Actually, that would be great, it they built utility-line tunnels under every street, then when they needed to do utility work, or replace pipes, like they're doing in my neighborhood right now, you wouldn't have to dig up the street and cause traffic jams. Also, the electric, telephone, cable, lines, etc., wouldn't keep getting knocked down every time a storm comes through.

Unfortunately, Elon doesn't want to do anything useful with the proposed technology at the present time. So either someone will have to redevelop it or he'd have to be out of the picture. Cause at the present moment, we only have one being built and not any in serious consideration last I heard. I'd bet the one in Vegas has a bright future as Morlock accommodations when the time comes.

 

[jis]

Wouldn't get in one of those pods if you paid me.. never been impressed by the Musk hype....as for the Tesla, I love the concept of electric cars. However the recent news reported by fire departments about the water and manpower required to put out the battery fires when the car is involved in an accident, brings up a serious drawback to the environmental equation.

It is worse when a car chooses to self combust while sitting in the garage and takes the house with it. There are issues with getting these battery fire issues taken care of, which I am sure it will. Teslas are involved more often because (a) there are more of them around and (b) they drive the batteries nearer the edge than most other EVs and plugins.

As far as his space company, he's really just another contractor for NASA. Tell me what's the difference between SpaceX and the contractors who built the Saturn V/Apollo. The SpaceX craft is still piloted by NASA astronauts on NASA missions.

Actually it is more or less a non-sequitur to say that SpaceX is just another contractor. Of course it is. But it does a heck of a lot more than the NASA contract requires them to do, and they definitely aspire to break away from the yokes of NASA at least as far as LEO missions go and eventually possibly even missions to the Moon and Earth - Moon and Earth-Sun Lagrange Points.

What distinguishes SpaceX as at least a very interesting contractor is their ability to innovate in the area of recovery reuse of first stage rockets, which makes it possible for them to charge very significantly less than the competition for each of their launch, coupled with the unprecedented frequency of launches (Hey, I can tell since for each launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or from KSC, Brevard County Emergency Management goes into a higher alert level) . Their space crafts also seem to be actually able to complete their missions more frequently than one of their prime competitors, who is still trying to debug their software on their manned capsule which might fly their next attempt at an unmanned proving flight any day now, as soon as they can figure out why it does not behave as it is supposed to, and has been that way for the last couple of years.

So far the SpaceX manned flights have been "piloted" only for the astronauts to get a feel of it. In general they operate autonomously, including all rendezvous and docking maneuvers and the NASA or Civilian astronauts that are slated to ride on it will mostly be just riding, not piloting.

I tend to agree with @Tlcooper93 's assessment that you seem to have a chip on your shoulder regarding Musk. Yeah he does a bunch of silly things too (as I have alluded to elsewhere), but SpaceX and Tesla aren't two example of those.

 

[George Harris]

Wouldn't get in one of those pods if you paid me.. never been impressed by the Musk hype....as for the Tesla, I love the concept of electric cars. However the recent news reported by fire departments about the water and manpower required to put out the battery fires when the car is involved in an accident, brings up a serious drawback to the environmental equation.

Agree totally. Lots of hype. No thought of transit capacity. One visit and trip on any major urban area subway or heavy transit line makes the thought of moving masses of people in little pods simply look silly. As I have said earlier, his whole cheap tunnel concept he thinks he has invented ignores centuries of construction reality and all current safety and maintenance issues.

"We need to remember that the guy who invented the automobile was not named "Ford." " Another point worth remembering. If you buy stock in Musk's businesses, do it as a speculator, not an investor, and be very sensitive as to when to get out to avoid going down with the ship. I still am somewhat skeptical about the wonders of the electric automobile in total. How are we getting the electricity? It doesn't magically appear, and there are multiples of realities with solar and wind that are glossed over when talking about how wonderful they are. There are many ways to improve our electrical supply and reliability, but most are not "sexy". How can California go all electric on cars and appliances when they can't even manage to keep the lights on for the power demands they have now?

Musk is very appearance conscious with his business. That is not the road to success. In the early days of Walmart, someone visited Walton in his office and commented on how plain and small it was. His response was to the effect "Offices don't produce anything. They are just a cost." Look at the pretty face you see on Musk's facilities. He wants the pretty face.