In late March, the American Geophysical Union announced that the Voyager I space probe became the first man-made object to leave our solar system. Just a few hours later though, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory shot down that claim noting that the tell-tale sign of hitting interstellar space (a “change in the direction of the magnetic field”) hasn’t been detected yet.
Still, this whole thing… → Read More
The FCC has introduced a plan to give commercial space companies like SpaceX access to the spectrum they need to perform missions. The plan will allow companies to apply for spectrum on a temporary basis so they can safely operate their missions, as scheduled.
As it stands now, companies like SpaceX (with its Dragon resupply missions to the ISS and Falcon9 rocket launches), and XCOR Aerospace… → Read More
Spoiler: The video shows SpaceX’s 100-foot-tall Grasshopper rocket blasting off, hovering in the air for about 30 seconds and then descending back to terra firma. And it’s set to Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. That’s it. There’s no drama, fireworks or anything shocking, but it’s still absurdly important and totally worth watching. → Read More
In what has ended up being a weird couple weeks for Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder should have a better day today after the launch of the Dragon capsule on its second resupply mission to the International Space Station. NASA announced that it had approved the mission back on Valentine’s Day, mentioning that the spacecraft will be packed with over one ton of experiments and supplies on… → Read More
Tesla Motors has been getting plenty of attention lately because of its heated back-and-forth with New York Times writer John Broder, but that only helped to drown out news concerning founder Elon Musk’s other transport-related venture. NASA announced earlier today that SpaceX’s Dragon capsule would be sent into low Earth orbit for a second supply run to the International Space Station on March 1. → Read More
Don’t spout off about social in the business world. Just use it to get the work done, because that’s what matters most.
I have been reminded of that often during the year. Earlier this month, I wrote about Moxie Software and how it uses the Facebook social graph and a company’s social data to determine the context for chatting with a customer over a branded page. The company uses Facebook and… → Read More
PayPal co-founder Elon Musk’s SpaceX sure has come a long way since its rocky beginnings — a string of early launch failures threatened to ground the project permanently. Thankfully, they soon gave way to smooth sailing for the skyward venture, and today marks yet another successful launch to add to the SpaceX scrapbook.
Just a little while ago, the company’s unmanned Dragon capsule (perched… → Read More
If SpaceX founder Elon Musk felt like winning the Super Bowl when the Dragon (perched atop a Falcon 9 rocket) finally launched on Tuesday, he must be absolutely over the moon now.
At 9:56 AM Eastern this morning, astronaut Donald Pettit coaxed the International Space Station’s gangly robotic arm into grabbing the unmanned Dragon capsule, marking the first time a private spacecraft has docked… → Read More
“Entering terminal count autosequence. 60 seconds to engine fire. #DragonLaunch,” tweeted Elon Musk as his space company was less than a minute away from it’s historic flight. But the launch didn’t happen. Nothing happened as longtime NASA commentator George Diller counted down the seconds, “3..2..1……We’ve had a cutoff. Liftoff did not occur.” Musk tweeted 11 minutes later at 5:06am EDT… → Read More
Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and founder of Tesla Motors and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), sat down with Erick Schonfeld tonight just before TechCrunch Disrupt’s closing ceremony. During the brief conversation, Musk provided insight into how entrepreneurs can get started disrupting major industries like energy, transportation and space.
It’s not an easy route to success… → Read More
With the demise of the space shuttle program fresh in my mind, I’m forced to find my space-related solace wherever I can. Luckily, with companies like SpaceX still devoted to removing the obstacles to commercial space flight, I can’t be too bummed — and as Reuters has reported, SpaceX is preparing their next step. After their literal show of force a few months back, SpaceX is aim their sights… → Read More
SpaceX teased the world last week with some rocket pr0n that hinted that the company was finally ready to reveal its Falcon Heavy mega rocket. Well, that’s what the company did minutes ago in a Washington DC press conference. World, meet the Falcon Heavy. She might take us back to the Moon. → Read More
SpaceX just announced a press conference for next Tuesday in Washington, DC and released the embedded video as a teaser. Think it’s going to be a rocket announcement? Yeah, that’s probably a good guess and it might have something to do with the company’s massive Falcon Heavy rocket. Anyone wanna go to the Moon? Watch the press conference next week live right here. (We’ll… → Read More
Space X: great success! Yes, the Dragon spacecraft successfully made its orbits around good ol’ Planet Earth and has safely crashed into the Pacific Ocean. It marks the first time a commercial spacecraft has done so. → Read More
We’re one step closer to the commercializing of space flight. (We wouldn’t have to rely on such commercialization if Nasa could get more than 75 cents per year in funding, but that’s another story altogether.) Space X’s lifter’s engine ran successfully at the weekend, which means that the capsule, named Dragon, can be launched tomorrow from Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk: literally building rockets in… → Read More
Investors just love to give money to Elon Musk. The billionaire behind electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, which has raised more than $800 million to date, just raised another $50 million for his other swing-for-the-fences company, SpaceX. According to an SEC filing, SpaceX raised $50.2 million on October 28. Jay Yarrow at Silicon Alley Insider first reported the funding, which came from… → Read More
Elon Musk certainly hasn’t been on the down-low lately. Well, with the Tesla’s IPO and then Toyota huge investment and manufacturing deals. Then there’s the lawsuits and his devoice. So yeah, it’s no wonder that Jon Favreau modeled his Tony Stark character after Elon — or so says Wikipedia.
But last night he had a friendly fireside chat with Stephen Colbert, where it was really nothing more than… → Read More
PayPal cofounder, SpaceX Founer and Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes the stage today at the Web 2.0 Summit to talk with John Battelle.
What do space flights and electric cars have to do with Web 2.0? Absolutely nothing. Still, there will be lots to talk about. In September SpaceX put a Falcon rocket into Earth orbit, the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach earth orbit from the ground. More… → Read More
SpaceX’s Falcon 1 spacecraft made history tonight as the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach earth orbit from the ground. “About nine and a half minutes after launch, the second stage engine shuts down, and the Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth,” the company said.
This was their fourth attempt. The previous three attempts failed to… → Read More
Last night the Falcon 1 two stage rocket by private company SpaceX failed 2 minutes after launch. The “picture perfect” stage 1 launch was followed by an anomaly that kept the two stages from separating. The rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean. Three satellites were on board, NASA had two: a small automated laboratory, and a solar sail experiment. The third was from Celestis, Inc., which… → Read More
It’s a spaceship! So I’m about to fly up to San Jose on some super secret business, but before I do I wanted to send you all a little greeting from the Los Angeles hangar of the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. We last covered SpaceX back in March when it launched the Falcon 1 from its launch facility in the Marshall Islands. Behind me is the latest rocket being developed by… → Read More
Privately owned space exploration company SpaceX moments ago successfully launched its Falcon 1 rocket. The rocket was developed entirely by SpaceX. According to company founder Elon Musk, who previously co-founded Zip2 and PayPal, the Falcon 1′s success will drive the cost of space access down “ultimately by a factor of 10.” → Read More
It looks like there’s a good chance today’s SpaceX launch will be successful – Founder Elon Musk just wrote that they made it into space. The maiden launch attempt one year ago didn’t go so well, and today’s launch was almost aborted. Congratulations to the SpaceX team. This is an awesome private sector accomplishment. There’s much more about this story on… → Read More
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