SpaceX Acquires Nanosatellite Company Swarm

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

According to new documentation filed with the FCC, SpaceX is acquiring a California-based company named Swarm, which has been working on nanosatellites that can provide low-cost Internet connectivity. The filings asked the FCC to transfer Swarm’s satellite licenses to SpaceX.

“The Proposed Transaction will serve the public interest by strengthening the combined companies’ ability to provide innovative satellite services that reach unserved and underserved parts of the world,” SpaceX said in the paperwork.

SpaceX already has more than 1,650 Starlink satellites in orbit and president Gwynn Shotwell says that it will be ready to provide global Internet access by September. According to recent Speedtest data, Starlink can already almost match “traditional” broadband Internet services for speed and latency, especially when compared to the competition.

SpaceX prefers to launch Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, which allows for latency times as low as 42 milliseconds. By way of comparison, HughesNet and ViaSat have satellites in geosynchronous orbits, with the best latency time clocking in at a more noticeable 630 milliseconds. Typical broadband service, which relies on land lines, can get latency as low as 14 milliseconds.

The latest speed tests indicate that Starlink can get download speeds of 97.23 Mbps, compared to traditional broadband’s 115.22 Mbps. HughesNet is only capable of 19.73 Mbps download speed and ViaSat gets 18.13 Mbps download speed. (No wonder ViaSat has been jealous lately.)

While SpaceX hasn’t specifically said what it expects to get out of acquiring Swarm, its new acquisition had been focusing on delivering Internet connectivity to Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Swarm already has 150 satellites in orbit, each of which weighs only 0.8 pounds. It has been charging $5 a month per IoT device to relay Internet signals through its satellites.

“The Swarm network is a store-and-forward system, and the satellites can store 4000 messages,” Swarm says on its website.

SpaceX currently has regulatory approval to launch up to 12,000 Starlink satellites and says that it could ultimately launch as many as 42,000 satellites. Astronomy hobbyists and aerospace industry insiders have expressed concern about having so many satellites cluttering up low Earth orbit, interfering with viewing, and potentially adding to the space junk problem.

SpaceX charges a $99 per month subscription fee and a one-time $499 fee for the equipment needed to access Starlink’s Internet service. SpaceX has said that it takes a loss on every Starlink kit that it sells. It say that it costs $1000 to manufacture each kit, though it is working to bring that cost down.

Because of the upfront cost, which may be unaffordable to some of the most likely customers, SpaceX has been working with some entities like the Cherokee Nation, a school district in Texas, and Chile’s government to bring the Internet to people who may have previously been left out by developers of Internet infrastructure due to their locations in isolated or low-income areas.

Its aim with the new acquisition may be bringing that cost down by acquiring Swarm’s satellite technology and research team, along with gaining the potential of delivering reliable high-speed Internet service with smaller satellites, which would give SpaceX the ability to include more satellites per launch on its Falcon 9 rockets. Starlink is still conducting the “Better than Nothing Beta” and has more than 500,000 potential subscribers on its waiting list.

Technology

Tesla Requires Masks at Nevada Battery Factory

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In the wake of a surge of COVID-19 cases and a threatened statewide mask mandate in Nevada, Tesla is requiring all employees at the battery factory in Nevada to wear masks regardless of their vaccination status.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously clashed with Californian state and county officials who forced the temporary closure of the company’s factory in Fremont last year. The state has since added Tesla to its list of “essential businesses” that can remain open, but that hasn’t stopped Elon Musk from moving out of the state and selling all of his personal properties in California, including the sale of three Bel-Air properties to a Californian developer. The only property he expressed reluctance to part with was one that once belonged to a favorite actor:

Musk has tried not to make it 100% about the state’s response to COVID-19, saying that he is now focused on pouring his personal fortune into SpaceX’s efforts to develop Starship, which will be capable of sending people to Mars once it becomes fully operational. He now rents a $50,000 prefab house at the Boca Chica site from SpaceX. SpaceX is currently gearing up for the orbital test of a Starship prototype that will launch from its Boca Chica, Texas, launch facility and come down off the Hawaiian coastline.

Even so, he has gone on record as calling California’s COVID-19 response “fascist” and filed a lawsuit against Alemeda County after it ordered the Fremont factory to be closed. He also opened the factory against those orders, saying that “if anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.” The county backed down and it led to the resignation of at least one county official, whom Elon Musk had referred to as an unelected “interim health officer.”

Former employees at the Fremont factory also say that Tesla fired them for refusing to show up to work due to concerns about COVID-19. They claim that Musk said that if “you feel uncomfortable coming back to work at this time, please do not feel obligated to do so.” Tesla appeared to reverse that policy pretty fast after that statement.

Didn’t Elon Musk catch COVID-19 himself? Well, he called the less accurate “fast” version of the test “extremely bogus” in a Tweet after getting two positive and two negative tests. So maybe it’s 50/50 whether he really did have COVID-19, though his expected criticism of the test did draw a few jokes from his followers on Twitter:

Musk may simply be trying to avoid a repeat of his fight with California over his operations in Nevada. State officials may also have paid attention to Musk’s pushback over shutting down his Fremont factory, especially considering that Musk has since selected the Austin area for construction of new manufacturing facilities for both Tesla and SpaceX and sold his Californian properties since the entire drama between Musk and the state of California started. The Tesla facility alone is expected to bring more than 10,000 jobs to the Austin area.

As normal for Tesla, it has not yet issued a statement about the mask requirement or responded to requests for comment.

Technology

Tesla to Provide Solar Products, Electric Vehicle Chargers for New Luxury Home Development

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla has signed a deal to provide solar panels, Powerwall+ solar power batteries, and wall-mounted electric vehicle chargers for a new luxury home development in Palm Beach, Florida. The new development will feature a golf course designed by golfer and golf course designer Jack Nicklaus.

The luxury houses and golf course are being developed by Centaur US Holdings. Miami-based architectural firm Strang Design will design the new houses. When complete, the new Palm Beach development will include 218 homes. The new development is officially known as Panther National. The developers said in a statement on Panther National’s website:

“Tesla Solar Panels, Powerwall+ with an integrated inverter and Tesla Wall Connectors will work together as a cohesive system to enable residences to achieve energy independence. The flat roof design at Panther National coupled with the Florida sun provides the ideal landscape for Tesla’s proprietary solar panels. In addition, the Powerwall+ systems will replace outdated and noisy generators used in storm-prone areas.”

Solar powered batteries like the Powerwall+, which is a more capable version of the Powerwall designed for home use, are an attractive alternative to generators in states like Florida, which can get hit hard by hurricane season. 2021’s hurricane season is expected to peak in September. After Hurricane Irma in 2017, some Floridians’ power was out for more than a week. This can cause a serious situation for many of the senior citizens who retired to Florida, especially if they rely on their electricity staying on to run medical equipment for home use.

Development for Panther National is scheduled to begin by the end of 2021. Tesla has also signed deals to provide its solar power products for two housing developments in Texas. One will be in Porter and the other will be in Austin.

Tesla may have prioritized making its first couple of deals for adding its power products to new homes in Texas in the wake of Elon Musk’s call for the development of more housing in the Austin area in anticipation that qualified employees may need to relocate in order to work at the manufacturing facilities being built for SpaceX and Tesla in the Austin area. Elon Musk has also made $30 million in donations to the Boca Chica, Texas, area for education and community improvement projects in a bid to attract qualified employees for SpaceX’s test launch facility.

This could be a sign of a new strategy for Tesla’s energy products in the wake of frustration over recent price hikes for retrofits for its Solar Roof and a lawsuit brought by Tesla investors alleging that Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity amounted to a bailout of Elon Musk’s cousins, both of whom owned stakes in SolarCity, which was struggling financially at the time. Making the solar products available to third party developers is less complex than retrofitting existing homes with solar roofs and Powerwalls. The addition of the Tesla Wall Connectors, which can charge EVs like the vehicles built by Tesla, may be a sign of anticipation of strong demand for Tesla’s higher-end vehicles like the Model S Plaid among Panther National’s future residents.

Technology

Arbitrator Rules in Favor of Former Employee in Racial Harassment Case Against Tesla

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

An arbitrator has ruled in favor of a former Tesla employee who claimed that he had been repeatedly called a racial slur by fellow employees while working for the country. The arbitrator gave the plaintiff a $1 million award in this case.

Melvin Berry had worked for Tesla as a materials handler for 17 months starting in 2015 before quitting due to the harassment. He hired employment lawyer Jeannette Vaccaro to represent him in the private arbitration case. During arguments in the case, Vaccaro said that supervisors ignored harassment by co-workers that included frequent use of the “N-word” in Berry’s presence.

According to court documents, when Berry confronted supervisors about the use of racial slurs, he was made to work longer hours and take on a heavier workload. He also filed a complaint with California’s fair employment office in 2017.

While making the ruling, Arbitrator Elaine Rushing said that there was evidence that supervisors also participated in the harassment and use of racial slurs, which caused Berry emotional and psychological harm.

“No other word in the English language so powerfully or instantly calls to mind our country’s long and brutal struggle to overcome racism and discrimination against African Americans,” she said in her ruling.

$755,000 of the $1 million award will be used to cover Berry’s legal fees in this case. However, the arbitrator in this case says that the award is meant to make a point more than anything.

“We hope that this award of over $1 million will inspire change at Tesla and send a message to all employers that harassment and discrimination have no place at work,” Vaccaro told CBS MoneyWatch.

Tesla also faces a class-action lawsuit involving 100 former employees who used to work at its factory in Fremont, California. The plaintiffs allege similar racist behavior that included racial slurs directed at them by co-workers and supervisors, as well as racist graffiti spray-painted onto restroom stalls. A separate lawsuit brought by a father-and-son duo who worked for Tesla for a period from 2015 to 2016 alleges “severe and pervasive racial harassment” while they worked at the Fremont factory. Testimony in that case is expected to continue in September.

Tesla has not commented on the Melvin Berry case or issued any statement about the alleged racial harassment beyond a 2017 blog post saying that the allegations amount to “misinformation” and the company is “absolutely against any form of discrimination, harassment or unfair treatment of any kind.” It says that, while it may be impossible to get incidents of racial harassment down to zero considering the thousands of people that it employs at each of its factories, it makes efforts to get that number “as close to zero as possible.”

The blog post included the text of a May 2017 email that CEO Elon Musk sent out to employees in response to the allegations that was an echo of SpaceX’s “no assholes” policy. In the email, it said that, while the company does have high standards for all of its employees, that is not an excuse to be a jerk to any employees that are members of an “historically less represented” group – nor should members of that less represented group be jerks to people who offer a sincere apology for poor behavior or look to make a quick buck with bogus allegations in a lawsuit.

Musk does not seem to have changed his mind much about his companies’ policy toward lawsuits since then, more recently saying that he doesn’t mind making it right when he or one of his companies were obviously in the wrong, as Tesla recently did in settling a case involving a software update that effectively “throttled” its electric vehicle batteries. However, Musk says, he will fight the cases in which he believes that somebody is just out to make easy money through the court system.

Starlink Approaches Speed of Regular Broadband Internet

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

A recent test of Starlink’s speed indicates that it is rapidly approaching the speeds usually seen in “regular,” ground-based broadband Internet. Testers reported an average download speed of 97.23 megabits per second (Mbps) during Q2 2021. Fixed broadband Internet subscribers gets an average of 115.22 Mbps.

The test data was provided by the popular Internet speed checker Speedtest, which compared Starlink to competing Internet service providers (ISPs) HughesNet and ViaSat in a report published on August 4. Starlink posted surprisingly good latency speed for a satellite Internet service provider at a response time of 45 milliseconds. ViaSat’s latency came in at 630 milliseconds and HughesNet came in at 724 milliseconds.

By way of comparison, Speedtest says most fixed broadband Internet service providers’ latency time clocked in at 14 milliseconds. Fixed broadband makes use of phone lines or fiber optic cables, which give them the advantage of not having to send a signal up to satellites in Earth orbit and back down to a customer.

However, the infrastructure for land-based Internet services is often not well-developed enough to provide reliable high-speed Internet in isolated, sparsely populated, or low-income areas. Projects like the UK’s Project Gigabit and United States’ Rural Digital Opportunity Fund aim to address this issue by working with private Internet service providers like SpaceX’s Starlink to develop infrastructure for broadband Internet service. Chile has also recently signed a deal with SpaceX for a pilot program to bring Internet access to rural communities, making it the first Latin American country to gain access to Starlink.

As far as Internet speeds are concerned, Starlink gets 97.23 Mbps download speed and 13.89 Mbps upload speed, which beats HughesNet’s 19.73 Mbps download speed and 2.43 Mbps upload speed. It also humiliates rival ViaSat’s 18.13 Mbps download speed and 3.38 Mbps upload speed.

The faster speeds and lower latency times are made possible by Starlink satellites’ lower orbit. They reside in low-Earth orbits with an altitude of between 550 and 1200 kilometers. HughesNet and ViaSat place their satellites in a higher geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of 35,000 kilometers. By way of comparison, the International Space Station orbits Earth at an average altitude of 250 kilometers.

All this makes Starlink an attractive option out of the three satellite-based Internet service providers in area where the infrastructure for broadband Internet service is not very well-developed. The low latency will make Starlink especially useful to people who frequently use online resources that require fast response times like video games, video streaming services, and video calling services like Zoom.

It may also lend credence to Elon Musk’s complaints that competitors like ViaSat are terrified of a satellite Internet service that is simply better than theirs. ViaSat has attempted to slow down SpaceX’s development of the Starlink satellite constellation with regulatory complaints filed with the FCC.

Most recently, a panel of judges based in Washington, D.C., refused to put a freeze on launches of additional Starlink satellites while the case filed by ViaSat winds its way through the appeal process. SpaceX is ready to resume launches for Starlink later this month and company president Gwynn Shotwell says the constellation will be capable of global coverage in September.

Starlink currently has 1,650 satellites in orbit. The FCC has approved the launch of up to 12,000 satellites for Starlink, though SpaceX says that the constellation could eventually include as many as 42,000 satellites. It is currently conducting the “Better than Nothing Beta” and working with nations like the UK, US, and Chile to provide access to isolated communities that have previously lacked access to reliable, affordable, and fast Internet service.  

Planet Selects SpaceX to Launch Earth Imaging Satellites Through 2025

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

The San Francisco-based company Planet Labs has tapped SpaceX for a multi-launch deal to launch its Earth-imaging satellites through 2025. Planet’s Dove and (more recent) SuperDove CubeSats will launch as “rideshare” packages on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets.

The statement from Planet Labs did not specify how many SpaceX launches that the company signed up for or the total value of the contract. So far, SpaceX has launched 83 of the Dove and SuperDove satellites on seven rockets.

“I’m excited to continue our partnership with SpaceX. … Together we’ve pioneered rapid planning, manufacturing and launch of satellites that only Planet and SpaceX could together have achieved,” said Planet Labs CEO Will Marshall.

The first package of 44 SuperDove satellites are scheduled to launch in December on SpaceX’s Transporter-3 mission. The Transporter launches are designed to send a large number of small satellites into orbit without them having to wait on the launch schedule for larger payloads like NASA’s Europa Clipper and components for the Lunar Gateway.

Planet Labs has also launched satellites on SpaceX competitors like India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Rocket Lab’s Electron. Rocket Lab especially competes with SpaceX’s Transporter dedicated rideshare missions with the capacity to launch dozens of CubeSats at once. Planet also has a contract with the Bay Area launch company Astra for a multilaunch mission in 2022. Astra is slated to make its first operational launch later this month with a payload for the U.S. Space Force. In the same statement from Planet Labs, company representatives showed little interest in an exclusive deal with SpaceX:

“Moving forward, we will continue to operate with a variety of launch providers to ensure that launch needs can still be met in the event of unavailabilities of specific providers. By engaging with a diversified manifest, Planet can find launches to the right orbit in the right time frame for each evolving satellite project.”

Planet Lab’s Earth imaging satellites are currently capable of producing 25 terabytes of data daily. This data is produced with a complete scan of the planet once every 24 hours, making it capable of tracking small daily changes in Earth’s surface. It monetizes that data by selling it to a variety of customers, including government agencies and farmers. It also makes some important data available free of charge and the data has helped first responders improve their ability to respond to natural disasters like wildfires and earthquakes. The data has also been used by climate scientists for a better understanding of the impact of climate change and can also track illegal logging and mining activities.

“As the world shifts to a more sustainable economy and more companies and governments set their sustainability and ESG [environmental, social and governance] goals, the first step in achieving these objectives is measurement. Planet’s daily, global data is foundational to making that transition,” Marshall said in a separate statement.

A recent fundraise placed Planet Labs at a valuation of $2.8 billion. It will become a publicly-traded company with a merger deal with dMY Technology Group. Its stock will be found on the NYSE stock exchange with the ticker symbol PL.

Technology

Biden Administration Fails to Send Invitation to Tesla for Electric Car Summit

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

The Biden Administration has issued its first official snub of Elon Musk and Tesla by refusing to invite it to the White House for a meeting with automobile manufacturers about the future of electric vehicles. Many industry watchers considered this odd, considering that Tesla is a leader in electric vehicles and set records for deliveries of electric vehicles, both in 2020 and in the first two quarters of 2021.

The White House has not issued a statement on its reasons for leaving Tesla out, but there has been plenty of chatter on it on Twitter. When asked about it, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said only, “I’m not sure.” Then he quickly changed the subject:

“And by the way, we’re also moving toward a future where this is all across the market. I don’t want there to be a perception that this is just a kind of luxury thing, or that this is just for cars that you use to zip around cities.”

Some commenters have proposed that the White House won’t talk to Tesla because it has pushed back against United Auto Workers (UAW), the biggest automakers’ union in the United States. UAW officials were spotted among the event’s participants.

Biden did credit the UAW for helping him get elected to Congress at the event, although he may have made a slight tongue slip regarding the time frame in which he was first elected during his comments:

Although competitors are starting to make inroads into the EV market and are scrambling to develop manufacturing capacity to support their respective electric vehicle models, Tesla still has a dominant market share in the EV market for now. Tesla Superchargers account for 25,000 out of the 100,000 electric car charging stations in the United States, though the company has recently indicated a willingness to open its Superchargers up for use by EV models that aren’t manufactured by Tesla. Tesla delivered 499,550 electric vehicles in 2020, 184,800 vehicles in Q1 2021, and 201,250 vehicles in Q2 2021.

Some commenters did suggest inviting President Biden to AI Day, which Tesla plans to hold on August 19. Strategically, though, it might be better to invite somebody in the Biden Administration who is more likely to comprehend the presentations and announcements that take place at AI Day. Tesla’s driver assist programs, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, rely on an AI that is constantly improving with new data and “training” to become better able to independently navigate a Tesla vehicle.

Tesla’s driver assist programs can already navigate a parking lot, change lanes, and monitor for driver alertness. Most recently, the Autopilot pulled a Tesla vehicle over to the side of the road and activated the vehicle’s hazard lights when it detected that the driver had passed out. The driver was reportedly intoxicated at the time.

Is Biden’s snub of Tesla at this event a sign of tensions between Tesla and the U.S. government? The summit included major automakers like Ford, GM, and Stellantis, who said in a joint statement that they plan to collectively capture as much as 50% of the electric vehicle market within the next decade once they start ramping up production of their own models. Tesla simply wasn’t included at this event.

Space

SpaceX Hiring Mixologist for Starbase Bar

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

SpaceX now has a job listing for an expert mixologist for a tiki bar at its Boca Chica test launch site. The mixologist will have to know not only how to make mixed drinks, but also how to pair drinks with the tiki bar’s menu.

Elon Musk had previously said, “I mean, you gotta have a tiki bar” at the launch complex, which SpaceX calls Starbase. Although he has a reputation for being a demanding boss, he may also have thought that it was necessary for his employees to have a nearby place to unwind at the end of a tough workday.

His ideas for making work at his companies a little more bearable also include having Tesla’s HR department poach “employees of the month” from local ice cream shops to staff its frozen yogurt stands and the possibility of an indoor roller coaster at the larger Tesla facilities. For customers, he has also floated the idea of a “carhop”-style restaurant at Tesla’s charging stations so that people can enjoy a burger while they wait for their electric vehicles to charge.

(Is he serious about the carhop thing? Well, Tesla did file for a trademark for restaurant services, with the first one possibly opening at one of the largest charging stations in California.)

The Boca Chica area’s hotels are reportedly filling up with employees who were required to temporarily relocate to assist with preparations for the planned orbital test flight of the Starship-Super Heavy stack. SpaceX had previously sought a development manager for a luxury resort that it is developing near the launch facility, but it may not be complete yet.

The nearby tiki bar may fill up with those employees after the test flight as they either celebrate the first successful orbital flight for Starship or mourn the loss of yet another prototype. SN15 may have ended Starship’s explosive string of bad luck with its successful high-altitude test, though.

The job listing can be found on SpaceX’s online careers page. The position requires at least two years’ experience in mixology or cocktail preparation in a bar or restaurant and a valid food handler’s card or equivalent. Because SpaceX is an aerospace company with contracts with the U.S. military and NASA and has sometimes been caught between a regulatory rock and a hard place when it comes to hiring practices involving non-U.S. citizens, it had this to say about its citizenship and permanent residency requirements:

“To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.”

Elon Musk has been aggressive about attracting qualified employees to Texas and especially the Boca Chica area, including calling for the development of more housing in the Austin area in the wake of strong demand and soaring prices for housing and donating $30 million for education and community improvement projects in Cameron County, where the launch facility is located. He reportedly expects that the area in and around Starbase will grow by several thousand people as he continues to bring employees on board.

Space

SpaceX Adds 3D Sky Scanner to Starlink App

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Starlink has added a 3D sky scanner that can check for obstacles that might block signals from Starlink satellites from reaching a customer’s terminal to the Starlink app. The app generates a virtual dome that simulates the sky above the terminal and flags possible obstructions.

This Starlink user may have a lot of trees that need to be trimmed before Starlink becomes useful — one of the possible drawbacks of a satellite Internet service. At least he doesn’t need to ask Tesla for a flamethrower.

This is important for new customers who need to choose the best place to place their terminals. Possible obstacles include nearby trees and walls that might get in the way of a radio signal. The old version of the app required access to the mobile device’s cameras in order to create a “map” of the vicinity that included possible obstacles.

The color code for the app includes “blue” for an unobstructed view of the sky and “red” for obstructions that can block the signal. The Starlink constellation currently includes 1,650 satellites out of the 12,000 that has been approved by the FCC. SpaceX says that the constellation could increase to as high as 42,000 satellites, which would just about nark any worries of a terminal not being able to reach at least one satellite.

SpaceX is nearly ready to resume launches of Starlink satellites after a two-month hiatus. It normally launches more satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket once very two weeks. President Gwynn Shotwell has said that Starlink could provide global coverage by September and it already operates in 11 countries in North America, Europe, and Australia. Regulatory hurdles appear to be among the chief holdup and can range from challenges from competitors to Russia’s threats of fines for residents who use Starlink.

Starlink currently has 90,000 customers and, according to Elon Musk, a waitlist of more than 500,000 possible customers who have put down deposits for access to the satellite Internet service when it gets out of beta. Current beta testers report excellent speed even in harsh winter weather, though as the summer hit, they also reported that the terminals will shut down in some U.S. states like Arizona that get especially high temperatures. Access to Starlink currently costs $99 per month with a $499 upfront fee for the kit that includes a terminal and the equipment needed to set it up.

SpaceX has said that it’s working on a lower-cost plan for low-income families, though it has little interest in the tiered plans that other ISPs have. It is also working on reducing the cost of manufacturing the kit, which it currently takes a loss on. SpaceX has also shown an interest in working with school districts, Latin American countries, and Native American tribes to provide early access for low-income users and isolated communities who could benefit from the opportunities presented by improved Internet access.

The latest update for the Starlink app also includes a “dark mode” and monitoring of how often the terminal loses its connection to the satellites. The app is required for new users to set up their terminals and connect to the satellite constellation.

Space

Netflix to Make Documentary on Inspiration4 Mission

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

SpaceX’s first all-private spaceflight, Inspiration4, is scheduled to launch next month. Organized by Shift4Shop CEO Jared Isaacman, the mission raised a total of $113 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of a raffle with one of the seats as the prize. Another seat was given away in a promo for Shift4Shop, in which website owners could earn an entry by trying its ecommerce solution.

Sian Proctor was selected from 200 entries in the Shift4Shop giveaway and will serve as the mission pilot. Christopher Sembroski won the St. Jude raffle. A physician named Hayley Arceneaux, who had received treatment for bone cancer at St. Jude as a child and now works for its Memphis, Tennessee, location, is joining the crew as its medical officer. Jared Issaacman is commanding it. Isaacman says that the Inspiration4 mission is meant to promote the four pillars of Leadership, Hope, Prosperity, and Generosity.

Meet the Inspiration4 Crew

Now Netflix has announced that it is making a five-part documentary on the Inspiration4 mission, which will be titled Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space. The first two episodes are slated to debut on September 6 and will feature the crew’s training and preparation for the mission. The final episode will provide a recap of the flight and is expected to be released in late September. Director Jason Hehir, who previously directed the ESPN documentary on basketball star Michael Jordan, The Last Dance, has been tapped to helm the production of the documentary.

Netflix also expects to release the companion show, A StoryBots Space Adventure, on September 14. A StoryBots Space Adventure will include a combination of live-action and animation and feature the Inspiration4 crew as they answer questions from students.

Inspiration4 is expected to lift off from the historic Launchpad 39A at Cape Canaveral on September 15. It will orbit Earth at an altitude of 540 kilometers, which is a higher orbit than the International Space Station’s 350-kilometer altitude.

And does the first all-private mission for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon make Elon Musk nervous? Well, Musk did admit, “Any mission where there’s a crew onboard makes me nervous. The risk is not zero. When you’ve got a brand-new mode of transportation, you have to have pioneers.”

The Crew Dragon has already successfully launched NASA’s astronauts to the International Space Station and returned them safely during the Demo-2 and Crew-1 missions for the Commercial Crew Program. Some of the data from the Demo-2 mission helping SpaceX improve the safety of the Crew Dragon. Crew-2 is still docked to the International Space Station and recently moved its Crew Dragon to make room for an incoming cargo spacecraft. This was a repeat of the maneuver that Crew-1 used to make room for Crew-2.

The Inspiration4 mission will add to the list of Elon Musk’s “pioneers,” whose journey will be documented in Netflix’s new five-part series, Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space, and the companion show, A StoryBots Space Adventure.

Texas Oil Regulator Rules in Favor of SpaceX in Land Dispute

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

The oil and natural gas industry regulator Railroad Commission of Texas has ruled in favor of SpaceX in a land dispute involving inactive oil and gas wells on 24 acres near the border of Mexico. According to paperwork filings, Sanchez Energy sold the land to a SpaceX subsidiary named Dogleg Park LLC last year. However, Dallas Petroleum Group also claimed ownership over the land, citing a 2017 deal with Sanchez Energy, but did not attempt to pay property taxes on it until just before a January 2021 regulatory hearing in this case.

Dallas Petroleum Group president Matt Williams says that the company plans to appeal the decision, likely through the court system. State law says that Railroad Commission of Texas decisions can be appealed through a lawsuit.

Documents related to the hearing indicate that SpaceX plans to use the site to extract natural gas to use for operations at its Boca Chica, Texas, launch facility. Natural gas, also known as methane, makes up one component of the rocket fuel that the company plans to use for the Starship-Super Heavy stack.

Filings with the Federal Aviation Administration indicate that SpaceX plans to build two natural gas-fired power plants and refrigeration equipment to make liquid methane. This follows Elon Musk’s tendency to control as much of his companies’ supply chain as possible.

This is most visible through news coming out of Tesla, most recently its floating of the possibility of acquiring a semiconductor chip manufacturer in a bid to secure a guaranteed supply of semiconductor chips for its electric vehicle batteries amid a worldwide shortage. It also insists on manufacturing its own batteries when possible and owning stakes in possible suppliers when in-house manufacturing isn’t quite feasible yet. Besides reducing the risk of supply chain meltdowns due to variables like geopolitics that would be out of its control, this helps Tesla accomplish things like improving the efficiency of making car batteries and scoring high places in Cars.com’s “Made in America” list.

SpaceX is currently ramping up for the planned orbital test for Starship. Reports from the local hospitality industry indicate that some hotels in the area are nearly 100% booked by SpaceX employees who have temporarily relocated to help with preparations for the test.

Although SpaceX had hoped to conduct the orbital test in July, delays may have included the usual wrangling with the FAA, which could have delayed the test by several months with its demand for a review of the test’s potential environmental impact. Elon Musk has blasted the FAA in the past for its response to a series of high-altitude tests of Starship prototypes that ended explosively. In testimony before a Congressional committee, however, an FAA spokesman said that the regulatory agency was confident that SpaceX had resolved the possible safety issues related to the tests. SpaceX did end its apparent unlucky streak with the successful landing of the SN15 prototype.

SpaceX may simply see the site containing inactive natural gas wells as a convenient source of rocket fuel for its plans for the Starship-Super Heavy rocket and spacecraft. First, though, it will have to win the legal appeal of the Railroad Commission of Texas’s decision in the Dallas Petroleum Group’s dispute.

Technology

Indian Auto Parts Manufacturers Lobby Tesla to Source Parts Locally

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla has expressed interest in establishing a presence in India, including talking with local government officials about building a factory and lobbying the government to reduce tariffs for automobile imports. Now Indian auto parts manufacturers are pushing for Tesla to source at least some of its parts from businesses within India.

The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) says that sourcing parts from Indian businesses will benefit the country’s economy by boosting the manufacturing industry.

“We would welcome any foreign or domestic entry, capacity expansions on any vehicle segment as long as it promotes value addition and localisation, which gives the opportunity for the component sector to flourish,” said ACMA president Deepak Jain.

Critics say that India does not yet have a robust supply chain to support the manufacturing of electric vehicles and necessary components like EV batteries would have to be imported anyway. The ACMA has countered by saying that it is currently discussing the possibility of expanding India’s capacity to produce components that are most needed by EV manufacturers like Tesla. According to Jain, the major obstacle in making large investments in EV component manufacturing involves the low demand for electric vehicles in the country.

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a lot of the problem with slow sales could be solved with lower tariffs. The current tariffs for electric vehicle imports could as much as double the cost of one of Tesla’s higher priced vehicles. Musk suggested lowering the tariffs to a more reasonable 40% of the vehicle’s price.

Other automakers like Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz have also thrown their support behind lowered tariffs, saying that it will give them a chance to test the market for electric vehicles before they commit to manufacturing vehicles and possibly sourcing parts from companies in India. A Mercedes-Benz spokesperson said that buyers of luxury vehicles, especially electric ones, make it easier for the technology to “trickle down” to more affordable, possibly locally manufactured vehicles if carmakers can gain confidence that there is demand for them.

Tesla may also choose to add the capability to manufacture batteries to a possible future factory in India, like it plans to do in Germany with regulatory paperwork filings indicating that it plans to add battery manufacturing capacity to Gigafactory Berlin. Its preference for “in-house” manufacturing of critical components for its electric vehicles has helped its vehicles take two of the three top slots on Cars.com’s most recent list of top “Made in America” vehicles. This preference was also highlighted at last year’s “Battery Day” event, in which Elon Musk announced a more efficient manufacturing process for batteries.

While Tesla does not yet have manufacturing capacity within India, it has expressed interest in expanding its presence in the India market. Local auto component manufacturers are simply pushing for local sourcing of components if and when it does build a factory within India. Elon Musk’s interest in India has been around for a while, as he gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a tour of the Gigafactory in California in 2015 as part of his efforts to interest the Indian government in electric vehicles.

Technology

Elon Musk Says Tesla “Hustled” to Release First Version of Autopilot After Fatal Accident

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In the wake of Tesla’s Autopilot demonstrating its ability to pull a Model S over to the side of the road if the driver passes out or falls asleep, Elon Musk says that the company “hustled” to release Autopilot Version 1 after an accident involving a Tesla vehicle that killed a cyclist.

The driver of that vehicle, who fell asleep at the wheel, actually did sue Tesla, saying that the “new car smell” lulled him to sleep. As far as lawsuits go, that one was an easy win for the company, since millions of drivers operate brand-new vehicles before the new car smell even wears off every year and don’t fall asleep at the wheel.

Elon Musk says that the company will fight the cases in which it is in the right rather than hand those who file a frivolous or obviously bogus lawsuit an easy settlement. In cases like a recent battery throttling class-action lawsuit that was filed in a D.C. court, however, Musk doesn’t mind admitting it when Tesla might have been in the wrong.

Even though Tesla won that particular lawsuit, Musk pushed to accelerate the development of Autopilot to help drivers handle conditions and driving tasks that are boring and might lull them to sleep. According to a National Sleep Foundation study in 2005, as much as 60% of drivers have reported driving while drowsy, which increases their risk of falling asleep at the wheel. They may also experience a condition known as “highway hypnosis,” in which a driver might start to feel drowsy or enter a trance-like state when driving for long periods of time. Some drivers who experience this condition may even report not remembering driving entire stretches of their route afterward. Most drivers’ education programs will recommend taking frequent breaks when traveling on a long road trip to avoid highway hypnosis.

Musk says that Autopilot was meant to help drivers handle some of the tedium that could lead to highway hypnosis and the increased risk of falling asleep while driving, though of course Tesla includes the disclaimer that drivers should stay alert while driving even with Autopilot engaged. Autopilot can be used for tasks like lane-keeping and necessary lane changes to make that exit on the highway. It also includes Smart Summon for occasions in which you may not remember where your parked or want your car to pick you up in the parking lot.

To combat news outlets’ presentation of Autopilot as unsafe, Tesla frequently releases a Vehicle Safety Report, including statistics for Autopilot. This report is generated using data that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving send back to Tesla’s supercomputers, which includes usage logs. The logs were recently used to prove that Autopilot had not been active at the time of a fatal crash in Texas in April even though authorities initially believed that it had been.

According to statistics in the Q1 2021 Vehicle Safety Report, there had been only one crash for each 4.19 million miles in which Autopilot is engaged. According to NHTSA data, there is an average of one vehicle crash for every 484,000 miles driven.

Technology

Tesla Autopilot Saves Norwegian Drunk Driver

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In the United States, more than 10,000 people die in vehicle crashes in which drunk driving was a factor every year. In Norway, about 8 percent of vehicle crashes involve a drunk driver. So it may make sense that a fully autonomous self-driving vehicle could save lives if it ever becomes a reality.

Tesla’s Autopilot did exactly that when it detected that the driver of a Model S in Norway had a little too much to drink and passed out while behind the wheel. The Autopilot was able to stay in the vehicle’s lane until it was safe to pull over and engaged the vehicle’s hazard lights until emergency services could get to his location.

Tesla had recently activated an interior camera mounted to the rearview mirror for vehicle owners who use Autopilot or Full Self-Driving. This is meant to monitor driver alertness as a response to recent incidents involving crashes in which the software was engaged and Tesla owners who were seen riding in the back seat of a vehicle with Autopilot engaged.

The company has also issued multiple warnings that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving are not yet ready for fully autonomous operation and drivers should remain alert. It has kicked people out of the Full Self-Driving beta program for relying too much on the software while driving. Tesla recently added new experimental features in its most recent beta update, FSD Beta 9.1. This includes some new features for off-highway driving.

Future updates could include recognition of hand signals, emergency vehicle lights, and turn signals, all important features now that Tesla has decided to rely on an all-camera sensor system for its less expensive vehicle models.

Although Consumer Reports did gripe that the interior cameras can cause privacy concerns for Tesla vehicle owners, this incident demonstrates the value of the interior cameras in making sure that unconscious, unalert, or “wasted” drivers pose less of a danger on the road. The software could have reacted the same if the driver was overtired and fell asleep at the wheel or was spending a lot of time playing with his phone while behind the wheel. The Autopilot can simply detect that the driver may not be capable of operating a vehicle safely and pull over, potentially saving thousands of lives every year.

In this particular case, the Tesla Model S owner’s driver’s license was suspended, and a case has been filed against him, although he denies that he was driving at the time. (Well, it is a little hard to drive when you’re unconscious.) The Model S didn’t have access to the Full Self-Driving beta, though it performed respectably well in getting the Model S out of the way of other vehicles on the road when it detected that the driver was no longer in control of the vehicle.

Really, though? Don’t drink and drive even if you do have Autopilot. You don’t need to add to the statistics of people who were killed in a crash in which drunk driving was a factor.

SpaceX Prepares to Provide Nationwide Starlink Coverage for UK

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

SpaceX is currently working on a ground station that will assist with providing nationwide Starlink Internet service coverage for Britain. The station, which will be located on the Isle of Man, will help provide Internet access to remote communities in the northern part of the country.

The process includes a bid to secure a license to build the ground station. SpaceX already has a telecommunications license for the area, which includes permission to use certain bands of the radio spectrum and install equipment to support the station. The station will add to the capacity of existing Starlink-related infrastructure in the counties of Buckinghamshire and Cornwall.

SpaceX is currently working with the UK government on “Project Gigabit,” which aims to improve access to broadband Internet services in sparsely populated areas. It has also signed a deal with British telecom company Arqiva to provide ground stations and infrastructure that can connect its Starlink satellites with the telecom’s fiber network. Project Gigabit aims to improve Internet service for more than one million homes and businesses that have lacked reliable, affordable high-speed Internet.

SpaceX president Gwynn Shotwell said that Starlink could provide coverage for nearly the entire planet by September along with possibly helping to fund the company’s ultimate goal of sending people to Mars by snagging a respectable share of the expected $1 trillion satellite Internet market. The company will be ready to start launching satellites again later this month after a two-month haitus.

Although it didn’t give an official reason for the pause, it might have been delayed due to legal and regulatory wrangling with competitors like ViaSat. Most recently, a panel of judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against a freeze on launches of more Starlink satellites that had been requested by ViaSat.

The Digital Divide is a serious concern even in developed countries like the United States and United Kingdom. This video explains why.

Starlink has been making its case for using Internet-providing satellites to close the “Digital Divide” by working with Native Americans like the Hoh Tribe and Cherokee Nation to provide early access to its service, striking a deal with Chile to bring the Internet to isolated communities as part of a pilot program, and working with a school district in Texas to provide Internet service for low-income students. Addressing the lack of reliable and inexpensive Internet service will help provide the same access to important services like virtual education, telehealth, and remote job opportunities that more connected areas have.

(It’s safe to say that SpaceX may be more aggressive than necessary about its plans to bring the Internet to large vehicles like buses and RVs, though. The FCC had to tell it to quit using its RDOF grant to bring the Internet to highway medians.)

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change thinks the Digital Divide could be closed by 2030 with aggressive investment in Internet infrastructure.

SpaceX’s Starlink currently operates or is close to becoming operational in 12 countries in North America, Europe, and Australia. Public policy in some countries could wind up being one of the chief holdups in achieving global coverage even after it gets out of its “Better than Nothing Beta.” Russia, for instance, has floated the proposal of fining its citizens for using Starlink. Despite the regulatory challenges, SpaceX remains confident that it can snag a healthy market share of the satellite Internet service market in countries like the UK.

Technology

Tesla Settles Lawsuit Alleging Company Reduced Battery Capacity

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla has settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that it reduced its vehicles’ battery capacity in a 2019 software update. The settlement, worth a total of $1.5 million, will be split among the owners of the 1,743 vehicles that were affected by the update.

The class-action suit had been filed by the owner of a Model S named David Rasmussen in August 2019. The software update had reduced the maximum available charge in the battery by 10%, which was later reduced to 7%. Tesla undid the reduction in a May 2020 update.

Norway also recently fined Tesla $16,000 per vehicle in a similar case in which Tesla vehicles lost between 12 and 30 miles of range and saw an increase in charging time due to the 2019 update.

Elon Musk acknowledged the settlement in a series of tweets implying that Tesla would have fought the lawsuit to its natural conclusion if it thought that the Tesla owners were only looking for a quick buck without anything actually being wrong with their vehicles.

Musk did recently testify in a lawsuit brought by holders of Tesla stock claiming that the company’s acquisition of SolarCity was purely a bailout of his cousins. Testimony has also been recorded in a case alleging a prevalent racist culture in Tesla’s workplaces. So Musk isn’t afraid to duke it out in court when he thinks the plaintiffs are in the wrong.

It may have baffled some people why Tesla would have effectively “throttled” its vehicle batteries in an environment where improvements to battery technology include one Israeli company’s battery that can add an average of 100 miles of range in 5 minutes and is already ready to be manufactured. Elon Musk also announced a more efficient battery-making process during last year’s Battery Day event.

Some experts did theorize that the move was meant to extend the battery life. A battery can only be charged so many times before it loses its effectiveness and not charging it fully each time can reduce the frequency with which it would have to be replaced. In some countries, regulations require that automakers like Tesla accept the return of old batteries, typically for recycling or safe disposal. Tesla especially plans to recycle critical vehicle components like batteries at Gigafactory Shanghai. On the flip side, it did recently get fined by Germany for not issuing public notifications detailing its plans to accept battery returns.

The Tesla owners who brought the complaints about battery throttling in Norway and the United States may have been annoyed despite concerns about battery life due to “range anxiety,” or worries about the amount of time it takes to charge an electric vehicle and how far they could go on a single charge. Tesla’s efforts to combat range anxiety include its investment in an ever-growing network of Superchargers, which it says will be made available to electric vehicles made by other manufacturers in the near future. It has also partnered with other companies like Fastned to place a few Superchargers at their charging stations.

Space

Government Accountability Office Rejects Blue Origin’s Appeal of Lunar Lander Contract

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Since NASA awarded the contract to develop the lunar lander for the Artemis program to SpaceX, the drama swirling around it has included an appeal to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics, as well as calls from Congress for the space agency to reconsider its decision to move forward with only one proposal instead of two as originally planned and an amendment to an existing bill to allow for extra funding to cover the additional expense. NASA blamed the change in plans on lower-than-expected funding from Congress.

Now the GAO has denied Blue Origin’s bid to force NASA to reconsider its awarding of the contract to SpaceX, saying that it found no fault in the procedure used by NASA.

“NASA did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award … the evaluation of all three proposals was reasonable, and consistent with applicable procurement law, regulation, and the announcement’s terms,” said GAO managing associate general counsel Kenneth Patton in a statement.

The latest on NASA’s plan to return to the Moon, as told by NASA Communication Strategist Patricia Moore at the Boyle County Public Library.

This allows NASA to move ahead with its plans for returning to the Moon with the Artemis Program. Since its competitors filed the appeal, SpaceX had been forced to officially pause its work on the lunar lander until a decision was made. The contract awarded to SpaceX for its Starship-derived lunar lander, officially dubbed the Human Landing System, is worth $2.89 billion.

The cost of SpaceX’s bid was reportedly far lower than its competitors for this contract. Blue Origin’s complaint included an allegation that SpaceX was allowed an opportunity to modify its bid that neither Blue Origin nor Dynetics had gotten.

NASA was upbeat about the GAO’s ruling, saying that it allowed the agency to move forward with putting together a timeline for the first crewed lunar landings since the Apollo program in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“As soon as possible, NASA will provide an update on the way ahead for Artemis, the human landing system, and humanity’s return to the Moon. We will continue to work with the Biden Administration and Congress to ensure funding for a robust and sustainable approach for the nation’s return to the Moon in a collaborative effort with U.S. commercial partners,” it said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Blue Origin told CNBC that the company still believes that “there were fundamental issues with NASA’s decision … The GAO wasn’t able to address them due to their limited jurisdiction.”

According to the spokesperson, Blue Origin will still lobby Congress for an increase in NASA’s funding so that it can continue with two lunar lander proposals as originally planned. Jeff Bezos did send a letter to NASA offering to cover up to $2 billion in the costs of continuing to develop its lunar lander proposal if the space agency would reconsider. Dynetics has not yet issued a response to the ruling.

SpaceX characteristically didn’t issue a statement on the ruling, not that the appeal hurt it much in its relationship with NASA. Besides a contract to launch the first components of the Lunar Gateway, SpaceX will launch the Europa Clipper, which will send back valuable scientific data on one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, on a Falcon Heavy. It will also launch NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), which will search for water on the lunar south pole, as early as 2023.

SpaceX to Resume Starlink Satellite Launches in August

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

SpaceX had launches of satellites for its Internet-providing Starlink constellation on pause for a couple of months. Now it is ready to start launching the satellites in August, with two launches scheduled from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.

As normal for a dedicated Starlink launch, the two launches are slated to carry 60 satellites each. The first is slated for August 10 and the second is tentatively scheduled for August 16.

While SpaceX hasn’t said why it had the launches of Starlink satellites on hold, it has faced regulatory challenges from competitors like ViaSat. Most recently, a panel of judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a bid by ViaSat to put a freeze on Starlink launches pending a challenge of the FCC’s handling of the potential environmental impact.

SpaceX has completed construction and launch of its preliminary batch of 1,600 satellites with a launch of 60 satellites on May 26 and three satellites as a replacement for a cancelled satellite launch on its Transporter-2 mission on June 30.

SpaceX President Gwynn Shotwell has said that Starlink will be capable of providing global coverage for Internet service by September. The company currently operates a “Better than Nothing Beta” in eleven countries in North America, Europe and Oceania, as well as Australia. Most recently, it negotiated a pilot program to provide services to remote communities in the Latin America country of Chile. As normal for Elon Musk’s companies, though, regulatory approval for Starlink could turn into a headache because it has to be done country by country and Russia has already considered fining anyone who uses Starlink.

Elon Musk says that the waiting list for access to Starlink when it gets out of beta includes 500,000 possible customers, which indicates pent-up demand for an affordable satellite Internet service in areas that have previously been neglected when investing in infrastructure for Internet service. “Traditional” ISPs have either neglected isolated or low-income communities, or offered only expensive, slow, and unreliable options. Some countries like the United States and the United Kingdom are currently attempting to solve that problem with programs to develop broadband Internet service for these neglected areas, though the United States’ Federal Communications Commission did recently issue clarification for what the funds for its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund can be used for.

The FCC has approved the launch of up to 12,000 Starlink satellites, though SpaceX says that the final number of satellites in the Starlink constellation could be as high as 42,000. SpaceX is currently constructing a dedicated factory for the manufacture of the satellites in the Austin area as part of Elon Musk’s considerable push for his companies to invest in manufacturing capacity in Texas.

He’s serious enough about it that he has referred to Austin as “America’s next boom town” and called for the development of more housing in the area as part of his efforts to attract qualified employees. Tesla alone is expected to add 10,000 jobs in the area with the construction of a factory that will manufacture the Cybertruck and Tesla Semi.

Gwynn Shotwell says that the global broadband Internet market could be worth as much as $1 trillion – money that SpaceX could use for Elon Musk’s ultimate goal of sending people to Mars if it can grab a respectable share of that market, which is likely considering how many people are already eager to gain access. Musk has also floated the possibility of an IPO for Starlink if he can establish that it can be profitable.

Technology

Tesla Megapack Catches Fire at Victorian Big Battery Facility in Australia

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

One of Tesla’s Megapack batteries caught fire at a solar power battery facility in Victoria, Australia. The regional fire department responded to the fire at the facility in the city of Geelong with hazmat suits and equipment for hazardous chemical spills and specialized drones for atmospheric monitoring.

The French energy company Neoen, which operates the Victorian Big Battery facility at which the fire occurred, says that the site was evacuated and there were no injuries. The facility had been disconnected from the energy grid at the time. Freon and Tesla both worked with emergency services to resolve the situation. Due to the chemicals that are commonly used in batteries, a toxic smoke warning was issued for surrounding communities.

The 300 MW/450 MWh Victorian Big Battery facility is part of Victoria’s strategy to switch at least 50 percent of its electricity production to renewable energy sources by 2030. It was built following the success of the 100 MW/129 MWh battery farm in Southern Australia’s Hornsdale, which was built in 100 days and has already provided millions of dollars’ worth of cost savings to Australian power company customers.

In Australia, Tesla solar power battery facilities have already shown their usefulness in stepping up to the plate when a coal-fired power plant called the Callide Power Station exploded, knocking out power for 470,000 Queensland-area residents. The Hornsdale Power Reserve, a 150MW/194MWh Tesla Powerpack battery farm stepped up to the plate in under two seconds. Tesla referred to the incident in a report to the Australian Energy Security Board encouraging investment in improved infrastructure to support the transition to renewable and sustainable energy.

Tesla’s Megapacks are capable of storing solar energy for nighttime use. Tesla’s plans for its solar power batteries include decentralized virtual power plants that can help to smooth out demand on power grids and make them less vulnerable to “single points of failure” that can cause power outages for hundreds of thousands or millions of people if they go down.

Tesla is already working with Australia to equip thousands of homes with Powerwalls and solar panels for a test run of the virtual power plant and has similar plans for California to relieve pressure on the state’s power grid that has caused rolling blackouts and pleas from state government officials to conserve power whenever possible. Tesla has already opened up enrollment into the Californian virtual power plant in its mobile app for Powerwall owners.

Although information on the fire at the Victorian Big Battery facility is somewhat scanty, the potential damage seemed to be containable by a properly equipped firefighting crew though the battery that caught fire is likely to be unsalvageable at this point. Neoen’s plans for the facility includes the use of Autobidder software to sell power stored in the facility’s Megapacks to the power grid, especially during peak periods and after the sun sets. Victorian Big Battery currently has a contract with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to provide an additional 250 MW of peak capacity for the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector over the next decade.

Technology

Tesla to Hold AI Day on August 19

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will hold an AI Day on August 19. While Musk didn’t give many details on the upcoming event, he did mention that it would function like a big job fair to attract talent that could work on AI-based applications like Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software.

It could wind up being similar in format to last year’s Battery Day, which included several announcements on Tesla’s work on automobile batteries like the development of a new, more efficient manufacturing process. In a similar fashion, AI Day is likely to include presentations on what Tesla’s current AI team is working on now.

In its bid to ramp up the capacity of its AI, Tesla recently activated another supercomputer geared toward training its Full Self-Driving AI and still plans to have the more capable Dojo supercomputer up by the end of the year. It previously relied on a team of humans who could label common elements that Tesla vehicles’ camera systems might see on the road, like signs and lane markings. Now, Tesla says, it has billions of miles’ worth of driving data to pull from and only needs the computing capacity to ramp up its AI.

Tesla has also released the Full Self-Driving Version 9 beta, which adds some features like off-highway lane changes, better visualization of what the exterior cameras see, and the activation of a camera mounted to the rearview mirror. The rearview mirror camera had previously been activated for Autopilot due to reports of crashes in which drivers may have relied too much on the Autopilot and dangerous stunts that involved people riding in the back seat of a driverless Tesla vehicle.

Some beta testers have already reported that there may be bugs in Version 9, which Tesla is likely already working on addressing for the next major update of its beta. According to communications between Tesla employees and regulators, Full Self-Driving is still a considerable way off from being fully autonomous. Tesla’s developers have recently admitted to California’s DMV that Elon Musk overstates Full Self-Driving’s capability, for instance. Even Elon Musk admitted that developing fully autonomous is more difficult than he had thought at first.

Elon Musk Unveils the Cybertruck

Like many other CEOs working for tech companies, including Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Elon Musk has mastered the art of the product announcement event. Musk often puts in showy events for the announcements of potentially exciting new products like Tesla’s Cybertruck and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Although it’s common for the actual development and release of these products to face delays, these events certainly get attention from Musk’s fans and the media, though reporters covering them are not always capable of comprehending the tech behind Tesla’s products:

Elon Musk did confirm that the major goal of AI Day was to attract top talent in the field of AI, making it essentially a high-profile job fair for developers. Which basically means, if you plan on attending this event and have done hands-on work involving AI, be sure to bring your resume.

Technology

FCC Communicates With SpaceX Regarding Clarified Use of Broadband Internet Development Funds

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In response to complaints that may have been sparked by unclear rules in the FCC’s push for improved Internet access for regions that aren’t very well-connected, the FCC has sent communications to SpaceX and other companies that are working with the regulatory agencies on this project cannot be used for parking lots and other suburb areas that are already well-covered by existing Internet service.

The FCC launched a $9.2 billion initiative to develop broadband Internet infrastructure titled the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) last year. As the title implies, the project is meant to bring better broadband Internet to rural and low-income areas that lack affordable or reliable Internet access.

SpaceX was one of several companies that submitted a bid for the project and outlined plans to use its Starlink Internet satellite constellation to reach areas in the United States that have only limited options for Internet access.

In its communications with the companies involved in the project, the FCC offered a chance to rescind their requests to funding to cover areas that are already well-covered by existing services and infrastructure. This will allow for better allocation of funds to serve the areas that RDOF is meant to reach.

The $9.2 billion has been split between a total of 197 companies, with Starlink received $886 million in RDOF funds. However, in a complaint filed by the advocacy group Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), the lack of clarity in the FCC’s rules in using those funds would likely lead to “more of the same”: a considerable amount of redundant development in areas and places that are already well-covered while the rural and low-income areas that it is meant to help are ignored yet again.

“Pervasive errors in broadband data will soon send hundreds of millions of dollars of Federal broadband subsidies to areas of the country least in need of support,” the CCA said in May.

The organization Free Press reported that rougly $700 million of the $9.2 billion allocated for the RDOF project was being wasted on covering areas that it was not meant to target. SpaceX, for instance, was accused of using $111 million of its grant to reach well-developed suburban locations and random spots like highway medians that didn’t need Internet access. While the latter could, perhaps, be explained by SpaceX’s plans to bring the Internet to large vehicles like RVs and buses, it does not fill the RDOF’s purpose of bringing the Internet to less advantaged populations.

SpaceX’s continued work on bringing Starlink’s Internet service out of beta includes the launch of more satellites every two weeks. When its planned constellation of up to 42,000 satellites is complete, Starlink will be capable of bringing the Internet to nearly the entire human population. Most recently, it is working with the Cherokee Nation to bring Starlink Internet service to Cherokee Nation members who live on its reservation in Oklahoma.

SpaceX has not yet issued a statement on the FCC’s clarified rules for allocation of RDOF funds or the reports issued by advocacy groups like the Competitive Carriers Association and Free Press.

Technology

Tesla Posts Quarterly Profit of More Than $1 Billion

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla’s latest quarterly earnings report reveals profit of $1.14 billion for Q2 2021. This beats the expectations of top analysts and marks the first time that Tesla has posted a quarterly profit of more than $1 billion. The news was enough to send Tesla stock up by more than 2.2%.

This is Tesla’s eighth straight profitable quarter, perhaps not entirely surprising considering that the company delivered almost 500,000 vehicles in 2020 and also set company records for quarterly vehicle deliveries in both Q1 and Q2 of this year.

It also does a brisk business in selling carbon credits to other car companies, something that got highlighted by its legal challenge to the Trump Administration’s delay in implementing new automobile industry emissions regulations, which it says hurt the carbon credit market. The trade in carbon credits has often been criticized for giving major polluters in private industry a way to dodge having to invest in “cleaner” technology.

Even with the legal challenge providing proof that the carbon credit market is important to Tesla, the breakdown of the quarterly report indicates that only $354 million of the $11.96 in total revenue that Tesla brought in during Q1 2021. Total revenue from the automotive side of its business was $10.2 billion.

Profitability did get reduced by increased operating expenses and a drop in the value of bitcoin. Earlier this year, Elon Musk revealed that Tesla has significant bitcoin holdings, which at the time was worth $1.5 billion. It has sold some since then, Musk says to establish the liquidity of its bitcoin holdings.

A shortage of semiconductor chips has put a crimp on automobile manufacturing across the board and especially impacted electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla. This problem is especially complicated by the fact that the majority of semiconductor chips are manufactured in Taiwan, a country that has become a pain point in diplomatic relations between China and the rest of the world. China does not recognize Taiwan’s independence.

The company has floated the idea of solving this problem by taking extra steps to secure an adequate supply of semiconductor chips, possibly by paying for them in advance or acquiring its own semiconductor chip manufacturer. It had previously bought stakes in suppliers, especially automobile battery manufacturers like the battery assembly company German ATW Automation.

“With global vehicle demand at record levels, component supply will have a strong influence on the rate of our delivery growth for the rest of this year,” an unnamed company official said at the investor meeting at which the Q2 2021 earnings report was released.

Challenges for Tesla also include delays in the opening of Gigafactory Berlin, primarily due to regulatory red tape and legal challenges from environmentalists. Vehicle deliveries for the European market currently rely on imports from Gigafactory Shanghai in China.

The Chinese market has also faced challenges including the government’s banning of Tesla vehicles on its properties and poor publicity surrounding safety issues that include recalls to fix issues with the Autopilot software and loose screws in suspension units. Actual sales of Tesla vehicles have been slow in China this year even though the company reported increased deliveries in this important market.

Tesla also has a reduced amount of cash on hand, primarily due to debt and finance lease payments totalling $1.6 billion. Despite the issues that likely inspired Elon Musk’s recent admission that the company causes most of his headaches, Tesla is showing its ability to post increasingly profitable quarters.

Technology

Connecticut Police Force Reports Cost Savings With Tesla Model 3

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

The Westport, Connecticut, police department has reported a significant cost savings with the operation of a Tesla Model 3. Since purchasing it in late 2019, it saved enough in refueling and maintenance costs that it will soon be able to afford another one.

The EV Club of Connecticut estimates that the police department saved $12,582 in fuel alone when compared to the costs of operating a Ford Explorer. It called the latter the “workhorse of the fleet” in a report that compared the purchase price and operating costs of both. The report said that, while the purchase price of Westport’s current Tesla Model 3 and a future one would be more expensive than the Explorer, the lower operating costs would make it less expensive in the long run. It gave purchase price figures of $52,300 for two Tesla Model 3 vehicles customized for use by a typical police department and $37,000 for two Ford Explorers.

Westport’s first Tesla Model 3 cost $14,300. According to information on Tesla’s website, the base price for a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus is currently $39,900. It’s possible that Westport’s police department could get a discount, though, since the EV Club of Connecticut gave a price of $30,700 for the future model.

A purely electric vehicle eliminates some maintenance needs like oil changes. The EV Club estimates that, over the course of four years of ownership, “the total cost of ownership price tag of the Tesla pilot is projected to be $79,400, a future Tesla is $95,800, and the Ford is $120,200.”

Westport town operations director Sara Harris says that the police department could buy the new Tesla as soon as this fall. He says that Westport may be the first city on the United States’ east coast to obtain a Tesla vehicle for its police department’s patrol fleet.

Westport’s police department also has an electric BMW i3 that was donated to the police force, though it isn’t used for patrol, and two Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles. The city’s Public Works Department leases two Chevrolet Bolts. The use of electric vehicles and hybrids are part of its efforts to become a net zero community by 2050 by eliminating the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and waste creation, as well as improving water quality.

EV Club of Connecticut aims to promote the use of electric vehicles in the state. The club’s president, Barry Kresch, said in a statement announcing the report on the cost savings of operating a Tesla Model 3, “We wanted to come up with a good objective data set. … Certainly what I would like to do is follow up with them after year two” of operating Westport’s first Tesla vehicle.

If you’re driving through Connecticut, keep your eyes peeled for a Tesla Model 3 with police markings. Considering the attractive cost savings of electric vehicles, more communities in the state and possibly nationwide may consider the Tesla Model 3 when considering new patrol vehicles for their police departments.

Space

NASA Selects SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Europa Clipper

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

NASA has announced its selection of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch its mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. This mission, called the Europa Clipper, will probe the secrets of Europa’s icy shell and the liquid ocean that resides under that shell during 50 flybys of the moon. It will also scout for likely locations to land a future lander that will search for possible life under the icy surface of Europa.

Congress had previously required NASA to launch Europa Clipper on the Space Launch System (SLS). However, due to delays involved in the development of the rocket, Congress was forced to change its tune and allow for launch on a different rocket if the SLS is unavailable for Europa Clipper’s expected launch date in October 2024 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office issued a memo further clarifying the launch situation by telling Europa Clipper’s development team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to plan for a commercial launch. The contract to launch Europa Clipper is worth approximately $178 million to SpaceX.

The modified plan to send Europa Clipper to Jupiter orbit includes flybys of Earth and Mars to pick up speed to allow for the reduced launch power of the Falcon Heavy when compared to the SLS. It will arrive at its destination in April 2030.

Europa is the smallest of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, the four moons that were first documented by Galileo Galilei. This moon is especially interesting to scientists because it has a liquid ocean that contains twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans. Under the ocean is a rocky mantle and iron core. If Europa has organic compounds, it may also have life, although that is not necessarily a guarantee.

Europa Clipper will look for conditions that might be conducive to life, including studies of possible geological activity and chemistry. Data from its scientific instruments will also help scientists refine their estimates of the depth and salinity of its subsurface ocean. Current estimates place the thickness of the ice shell at 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) and the depth of the salt water ocean at 40 to 100 miles (60 to 150 kilometers).

Europa Clipper’s scientific instruments include tools that are designed to measure Europa’s magnetic field, study the chemistry of its surface and any possible plumes, and study its gravity field. Data from these instruments will assist with planning for a future lander that is tentatively slated to be launched in 2027.

SpaceX’s launch vehicles have been especially attractive to NASA for their low cost. The space agency has also chosen SpaceX to launch the first components of the Lunar Gateway, which it regards as a critical component of a sustainable crewed presence on the Moon. SpaceX is also serving as a subcontractor that will launch lunar landers for NASA contractors like Firefly Aerospace, Astronautic, and Intuitive Machines. SpaceX has a contract with NASA to develop a Starship-derived lunar lander of its own, though that is currently on pause due to challenges from competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics.

Technology

Tesla Lobbies India for Lower Tariffs

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In a letter to Indian government officials, Tesla advocated for lower tariffs for imported electric vehicles, saying that it could lower the cost of its EVs enough to increase demand and tax revenue for the government. The move is likely to face pushback from officials like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who says that the high tariffs are designed to boost manufacturing within the country.

The current tariff rates are 60% of the purchase price for an imported vehicle under $40,000 and 100% for vehicles above $40,000. Tesla advocated dropping that rate to 40% of the price across the board.

Tesla does have plans to build a factory in India, according to state officials in Karnataka. Elon Musk had previously mentioned that he would like to expand the company’s presence in India due to high tariffs, which can be as much as the base cost of one of its vehicles. Earlier this year, Musk had expressed his willingness to enter the Indian market by the end of 2021:

As part of his efforts to gain support from the Indian government, he gave Modi a tour of one of Tesla’s Gigafactories in 2015. During meetings with government officials, including Modi, Musk did express concerns about the state of India’s electric infrastructure and tariffs that could price many Indians out of the EV market. The government has been working on improving its electrical grid and connecting more homes.

This is likely to be a massive project, considering that 300 million of India’s residents didn’t have the level of access to electric power that U.S. citizens take for granted in 2015. This includes major investments in sustainable energy sources like nuclear, wind, and solar power so that India can expand its residents’ access to electricity without a major increase in carbon emissions.

Due to the challenges in upgrading the electrical grid so that most Indian residents have access, let alone having it support a considerable number of electric vehicles, only a total of 5,000 EVs were sold in India last year. Most of the EVs sold in India were priced under $28,000. Prices for a Tesla vehicle currently start at $39,990 for a baseline Model 3 Standard Range Plus. Competing models include Mercedes Benz’s EQC luxury EV, which starts at $136,000, and Audi’s electric SUVs, which start at $133,000.

The high tariffs and low sales do not seem to have slowed Tesla down much in its plans to enter the Indian market. It is already hiring in India and has plans to open up showrooms in the country.

Indian officials did promise that India would try to keep the costs of manufacturing lower than China can offer if Tesla goes through with its plans to build a factory in India. Tesla is already building vehicles at Gigafactory Shanghai, though many of them are exported to Europe, a scenario that is likely to continue until it can permanently fend off German environmentalists (some of which are suspected of an instance of arson that damaged power lines leading to Gigafactory Berlin), get regulatory agencies to quit delaying their final approval with bureaucratic red tape, and get Gigafactory Berlin opened up.

Lower tariffs for vehicles imported to India would have the benefit of giving Tesla a better chance to test the market before it actually breaks ground on a factory, though its proposed lower rate of 40% does still seem high. Prime Minister Modi is understandably noncommittal, though, considering that increased auto manufacturing in India would mean a respectable boost to the nation’s economy.

Judges Reject ViaSat Case Against SpaceX’s Starlink

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

A three-judge panel presiding over the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected a bid by ViaSat for a freeze on launches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, saying that “Viasat has not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.” The panel did approve expediting the appeal process, meaning that there is likely to be a ruling on the appeal faster than normal.

ViaSat had filed its case against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), alleging that the regulator improperly approved the launches of Starlink satellites without giving due consideration to the environmental impact of the launches or the number of satellites that SpaceX intends to build for Starlink. SpaceX plans to launch as many as 42,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit and conducts launches of new satellites as often as once every two weeks.

“This court is likely to vacate the [FCC] order and direct the commission to conduct at least some NEPA review of Starlink,” Viasat wrote, referring to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires regulatory agencies to consider environmental impact when considering applications for approval of a new project that falls under their jurisdiction.

However, the FCC disputed this claim, saying in its own paperwork related to the case, “As to each category of alleged environmental impact, the Commission considered the alleged effect in detail and found insufficient evidence that SpaceX’s license modification… requires further review.” It also echoed Musk’s frustration with competitors who file frequent complaints with government agencies by saying that Viasat “relies on speculative assertions of primarily economic harm that do not demonstrate a likelihood that Viasat has standing, much less show irreparable injury justifying the extraordinary remedy of a stay pending appeal.”

The FCC recently approved SpaceX’s application to launch some Starlink satellites to an altitude of 540-570 kilometers, which is less than half of the altitude of 1,100-1,300 kilometers that was approved in 2018. SpaceX says that the lower altitude will help it provide low-latency Internet service from orbit.

Although there is a risk that a Starlink satellite in such a low orbit will collide with something else that is being launched, OneWeb’s initial claim that one of SpaceX’s satellites nearly collided with one of its own later turned out to be false. NASA has also signed an agreement with SpaceX in which the two parties agreed to share orbital data about their respective assets in orbit in order to reduce the risk of a potentially dangerous collision.

When ViaSat filed its initial complaint with the FCC, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk blasted the company’s senior personnel, saying that they were simply afraid of competition. ViaSat, OneWeb, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and SpaceX’s Starlink are all competing for what SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell says could be a $1 trillion market due to Internet-providing satellites’ potential to provide service to regions that are difficult for “traditional” ISPs to reach.

SpaceX’s official response to the lawsuit accused ViaSat of a “transparent bid to co-opt the National Environmental Policy Act and the procedure for extraordinary stay relief as weapons of commercial warfare.” It went on to accuse ViaSat of specifically targeting Starlink with its filing of environmental concerns while ignoring all other approvals of privately owned satellite constellations.

Technology

Elon Musk Admits Tesla Causes Most Headaches

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

At the Bitcoin conference B Word, Elon Musk admitted that Tesla caused about two-thirds of his “personal and professional pain” despite his confidence that the company could help solve issues in the energy sector, including Bitcoin’s long-standing image problem as an energy hog.

He had previously decided to suspend Tesla’s acceptance of Bitcoin payments for electric vehicles due to concerns about its energy usage, even though many major owners of Bitcoin mining operations seek out inexpensive renewable energy sources like Norway’s hydropower operations. In response to Musk’s previously expressed concerns, major North American Bitcoin mining firms formed the Bitcoin Mining Council and pledged to support greater transparency in energy usage. At B Word, Musk endorsed existing sustainable energy options for Bitcoin mining like hydropower, solar, and nuclear power and said that Tesla Energy could help with the transition:

“My expectation is not like that the energy production must be pure as the driven snow, but it also cannot be using the world’s dirtiest coal which it was for a moment there. So. You know, that’s just difficult for Tesla to support in that situation. I do think long-term renewable energy will actually be the cheapest form of energy, it just doesn’t happen overnight.”

Problems swirling around Tesla, some of which were not purely the company’s fault, have certainly given its CEO plenty of cause for headaches lately. According to Musk, his current concerns with Tesla include the fact that it isn’t yet manufacturing the new, custom-designed 4680 battery cells for commercial use in vehicles and energy storage systems like the Powerwall and Powerpack yet. According to comments made on Twitter after his appearance at B Word, the problems are largely a matter of engineering, though he seems confident that lithium-ion batteries are already at an adequate technology level to support a large-scale transition to sustainable energy production.

The solar power and energy storage system side of Tesla’s business, officially called Solar Energy, is currently facing challenges that include lawsuits from customers who are upset about price hikes for their Solar Roofs and investors who allege that Tesla’s acquisition of Solar City was purely a bailout of Elon Musk’s cousins. Musk, of course, denies the latter and recently took the stand in defense of the acquisition while in court.

Although one of Tesla’s biggest markets, China has put pressure on the company with its ban on Tesla vehicles parking at government facilities, poor publicity from bloggers who now say that Tesla has threatened defamation lawsuits over their negative posts, and occasional recalls to fix problems with the autopilot and loose screws in the suspension unit.

On the plus side, Tesla has been posting a string of record-setting quarters for delivery of vehicles lately. It delivered 184,800 vehicles in Q1 2021 and 201,250 vehicles in Q2 2021. This comes after the company fell just short of its goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles in 2020. Once Tesla completes construction of Gigafactory Austin, where it plans to manufacture its larger vehicles, it can add to that figure with the delivery of pre-ordered Cybertrucks and Tesla Semis.

(And, yes, Elon Musk did admit to owning Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin at the B Word Conference.)

Technology

Tesla to Source Nickel from Western Australia

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla has signed a contract with Australian commodity provider BHP’s Nickel West division to purchase an undisclosed amount of nickel mined in western Australia. The two companies will also work together to improve the sustainability of the supply chain for Tesla’s vehicle batteries.

At last year’s Battery Day, Elon Musk had announced a more efficient battery making process that will be implemented in Tesla’s factories and plans to produce batteries with nickel-rich, cobalt-free cathodes for improved energy density. Tesla also plans to increase its capacity to make batteries to as much as 3 terawatt-hours per year by 2030.

This follows a trend of expected increases in demand for raw materials like nickel which are critical for making lithium-ion batteries over the next couple of decades. Industry analyst International Energy Agency estimates that demand for nickel in the electric vehicle and energy sectors could grow as much as 4,000 percent by 2040.

In July 2020, Elon Musk had told nickel producers, “Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way. … Please make more nickel, it’s very important.”

Since then, Tesla has talked to Canadian nickel producers about the possibility of sourcing nickel that is sourced in an environmentally friendly manner and floated the idea of mining its own nickel near its factory in Nevada. The latter would have boosted its rating for American-made vehicles on Cars.com even further, considering that it already makes a lot of its own parts for vehicles that are assembled at its Gigafactories in the United States.

Analysts say that Tesla could source as much as $1 billion worth of nickel from Australia this year. Despite the importance of the Chinese market to Tesla and a recent deal to source lithium from a Chinese firm, it is likely looking at diversifying its sources of raw materials to account for possible diplomatic tensions between China and the United States and China’s recent heaping on Tesla over possible espionage concerns involving Tesla vehicles’ cameras and recalls of Tesla vehicles within the country.

Australia may be a little friendlier toward Tesla and also has some fairly good environmental regulations for its mining industry. Australians may have been impressed with Tesla Powerpacks’ handling of a recent meltdown of a coal-fired power plant that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of residents in the country.

The current shortage of a semiconductor chip that is critical for electric vehicle batteries has especially highlighted Musk’s desire to control as much of the supply chain as possible, including the possibility of acquiring a semiconductor chip manufacturer.

Sourcing environmentally-friendly nickel is especially a challenge, partly due to the nature of mining operations and often due to lax environmental regulations, illegal mining activity, and questionable business practices. Nickel mining operations in Indonesia were recently criticized for its use of coal and questionable water disposal practices in its mining operations. China has repeatedly made efforts to clamp down on illegal mining operations and metals smuggling with mixed success, and illegal operators likely wouldn’t care much about their impact on the environment.

Despite the lack of information on how much nickel Tesla plans to buy from BHP, analysts say that the deal could be worth as much as 18,000 tons of nickel a year.

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Holds Bitcoin

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In the latest round of Musk’s complicated, yet mostly positive, relationship with cryptocurrency, he said that both he and SpaceX hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets at the cryptocurrency conference called “B Word.” He didn’t say how much of it that he or SpaceX owns.

Tesla had briefly accepted Bitcoin as payment for its electric vehicles but reversed course due to Musk’s concerns about the energy usage of Bitcoin mining. This led to the expected lineup of suggestions for more environmentally friendly cryptocurrencies, including ones that might be better suited than Bitcoin for buying a cup of coffee due to faster transaction speeds and lower fees. Musk says that Tesla might resume accepting Bitcoin if he can independently verify that cryptocurrency miners have boosted their use of renewable energy above 50% of their operations.

According to Coindesk, the price of Bitcoin briefly rose while Musk made his comments. He did acknowledge the effect that his public comments about cryptocurrency can have on its price: “I might pump but I don’t dump. I definitely do not believe in getting the price high and selling or anything like that.”

Tesla did sell some of its Bitcoin holdings, Musk says to prove liquidity, though it still had $1.3 billion in Bitcoin at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

SpaceX accepted the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin for the “DOGE-1” mission, which will send a CubeSat to the Moon for Geometric Energy Corporation as part of its rideshare program. Geometric Energy Corporation also praised cryptocurrencies for their ability to get around limitations in the banking industry in a statement about the DOGE-1 mission.

Musk notably did not say if SpaceX converted the Dogecoin into Bitcoin after the transaction, though DOGE does seem to be his favorite cryptocurrency. He has even said that he set up a Dogecoin mining rig for his youngest son and joked that X Æ A-12 was “hodling his Dogecoin like a champ.” (Yes, he really did name his son that!)

He has admitted to also holding Ethereum and Dogecoin, though he says that his holdings of both are worth less than his Bitcoin holdings. On the topic of why he likes Dogecoin, he said:

“Doge community has great memes and loves dogs. I love memes and dogs. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. The most ironic and entertaining outcome would be that the cryptocurrency that was started as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies ends up being the leading cryptocurrency.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also put in an appearance at B Word, though he said very little about the number of Bitcoin scams that flew around Twitter, including at least one incident in which several accounts held by influential people like Elon Musk and Barack Obama were hacked to lend apparent legitimacy to the scams. Law enforcement authorities tracked it down to a 17-year-old in Tampa and two adult co-conspirators residing in Florida and the UK.

Instead, Dorsey plugged cryptocurrencies’ potential to become the de facto method of payment on the Internet. He said that cryptocurrency could help to solve issues and inequalities that are caused or exacerbated by the banking industry and regulations like KYC/AML that make it difficult for people worldwide to access financial services.

Technology

Cherokee Nation Using Starlink to Connect Members in Rural Oklahoma

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Following the success of Washington State’s Hoh Tribe’s use of Starlink to connect members to online opportunities, the Cherokee Nation is setting up Starlink’s satellite Internet service for members who live on its reservation in northeastern Oklahoma.

More than 141,000 Cherokee people live on the tribe’s reservation in Oklahoma. Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. recently spoke with local news station 5News about efforts to connect members who have previously lacked Internet access.

This is a very rural region and, like many rural areas, there often aren’t very many good options for Internet access. The ones that exist are often slow, unreliable, or unaffordable. Lack of reliable Internet has been a concern that can easily be overlooked by people who can hop online on a moment’s notice to access job opportunities, online education, or telehealth services. Cherokee representatives say that this has especially been a concern for some of their Cherokee-speaking elders.

“Some of the first to receive the internet system was Cherokee speakers Jack and Brenda Bush. The Bushes missed out on many telehealth appointments this year due to a poor Internet connection. Now, with Starlink, they have access to high-speed internet that is allowing them to connect like never before,” they said in a Facebook post.

Now the Bushes can easily communicate over video chat services and actually did speak with members of the Cherokee Nation’s leadership on Zoom during a test of their new Starlink Internet service.

Likewise, Hoskin has expressed his hope that Cherokees will take advantage of the new opportunities made possible by more reliable and affordable Internet access.

“Every kid, every Cherokee kid that grows up, I don’t care where they grow up, they shouldn’t have a disadvantage when it comes to something that’s as basic anymore as getting online and getting an education, getting a job,” he told 5News.

SpaceX has indicated that it has no plans for tiered pricing but does plan to have a lower-cost option for low-income families that may include VoIP, or “Internet phone,” services. Access to Starlink costs $99 per month with a one-time $499 fee for the equipment needed to access Starlink’s satellite constellation, though it is working on bringing the cost of that equipment down.

It is also working with the U.S. FCC and UK’s “Project Gigabit” to develop broadband Internet service for rural areas. Starlink is currently licensed to operate in the United States, parts of Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe, and has recently added Chile to that list as part of a pilot program to test the use of Starlink in isolated communities.

SpaceX has been aggressively working to develop the Starlink constellation with launches of a new batch of 60 satellites every couple of weeks. When it’s complete, the Starlink constellation could have as many as 42,000 satellites that it operates in a low enough orbit to allow for the lowest possible latency for Internet access from space.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said in a recent interview that the total satellite Internet market could be worth as much as $1 trillion, demonstrating the size of the untapped market for reliable Internet access in rural areas that have previously been neglected when developing infrastructure for Internet access. Elon Musk backed that up by saying that there are already more than 500,000 reservations for Starlink access. Populations like the Cherokee Nation are increasingly recognizing the opportunities that could come with improved Internet access.

Technology

Tesla to Open Superchargers to Other Automakers’ EVs

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

When Tesla began making electric cars, it also became the first automaker to produce chargers for electric vehicles. Because it was the only automaker that was actually making EVs when it started out (and is still the only automaker that exclusively produces EVs), the Supercharger was a proprietary technology that only worked with Tesla vehicles.

Now Elon Musk says that Tesla will open up its network of Superchargers to electric vehicles manufactured by other automakers later this year. Tesla had already had plans to make the Superchargers available to EV owners in Norway and was in talks with German officials to do the same in Germany. Now it has plans to allow other EVs access to its worldwide network of over 25,000 Superchargers.

The move will certainly be a welcome one, going by the reactions on Twitter. Some EV owners reported long lines for the more “generic” chargers at charging stations. Others who own Tesla vehicles expressed concern that they might have to wait their turn behind EVs made by Tesla’s competitors, a problem that could be solved by making the millions of chargers that experts say will be needed when EVs become the norm available to the public.

Volkswagen is the only other automaker to invest in charging stations for electric vehicles with its stake in Electrify America, although it had not planned to create proprietary chargers like Tesla did. Other companies that make charging stations include Blink Charging, EVgo, and ChargePoint. These charging stations, which follow new industry standards for charging of electric vehicles, can be found alongside Superchargers at stations like Fastned’s solar-powered installation in Düsseldorf, Germany and a planned Oxford Superhub, which will include 38 charging stations, including 12 Superchargers.

Owners of other EVs will still need to carry adapters in order to charge their vehicles at Tesla’s proprietary Superchargers until Tesla can get its connectors switched over to the industry standard. There is a chance that it may simply choose to develop and sell the adapters, though this move might prove unpopular with owners of EVs made by other auto manufacturers.

Longtime watchers of Elon Musk and his companies may wonder if he has simply presented another timeline for a new product or update to an existing product that might slip. Musk has even admitted that creating a fully autonomous vehicle that can drive itself is more difficult than it looks after several delays from the original timeline in getting Full Self-Driving up to Level 5 on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ scale of the capabilities of driver assist programs.

Elon Musk has not given up on the effort, though. The company recently released Full Self-Driving Version 9 beta, though the $1,500 price for the required hardware did reportedly irk some customers. Tesla has apparently knocked the price back to $1,000 in response to backlash from customers.

It will take time to switch over 25,000 Superchargers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia or distribute adapters for competitors’ EVs. Tesla may surprise people by completing the job by the end of December 2021, though.

Space

Lynk to Launch Direct-to-Cellphone Satellites on SpaceX Rocket

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

A Virginia-based company called Lynk has contracted with SpaceX to launch satellites that will be capable of providing connectivity to cellphones without the phones needing any special modifications. The satellites are scheduled to launch on a rideshare mission as early as December.

The launch of the satellites is still pending regulatory approval, though Lynk CEO Charles Miller seems confident that approval will go through quickly under streamlined rules for small satellites enacted by the FCC in 2019. The company announced its application for approval of up to 10 operational satellites on May 25. Previous rules might have caused concern about Lynk’s ability to monetize its satellite constellation.

“Before the new ‘smallsat rules’ we were thinking we could have dozens of satellites in orbit, but without the authority to provide commercial services,” Miller said.

He indicated that mobile network operators could bring high demand for a constellation like Lynk’s. They currently rely on a network of cell phone towers on the ground. Besides being able to reach areas that would be difficult for a cell phone tower to reach, cell phone satellites in orbit could provide a good backup in case some cell phone towers go down.

The service will be limited to text messages and emergency alerts at first. Lynk plans to beta test the satellites with mobile network operators in 12 countries who will have exclusive access in their respective countries for a short time. The beta phase will eventually be expanded to a total of 36 partners with more than 1.5 billion mobile subscribers.

When the constellation is ready for normal service, Lynk plans to launch as many as 5,000 satellites and produce 200 of them every month by 2025 to keep the network operational and upgraded. According to Miller, Lynk is already “actively looking at launches” that are likely to occur throughout 2022 as the FCC approves the launch and operation of its satellites.

“Our goal is to upgrade the spacecraft like clockwork, just like how iPhone is upgraded every year,” said Miller.

Lynk has already launched five test satellites, including a satellite called “Shannon” that launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission in June. With each satellite, the company makes improvements to the technology and especially the amount of power in the satellite.

Companies in the same niche as Lynk include the Texas-based company AST SpaceMobile, which raised $462 million in an IPO in April. It plans to start launching its cellphone service satellite constellation as early as the second half of 2022 and provide service for 49 countries along Earth’s equator, with a potential consumer base of about 1.6 billion people.

SpaceX has already flown two dedicated rideshare missions, Transporter-1 and Transporter-2, as a more affordable way for public and private organizations to launch small satellites into orbit without having to wait on the launch schedule for larger payloads. In June, Transporter-2 carried 88 satellites, including three of its own Starlink satellites, as well as satellites for a variety of companies that include Lynk, Spaceflight Inc., Exolaunch, D-Orbit, ISILaunch, and Nanoracks. Slots on SpaceX’s Transporter missions are available for as low as $1 million for the launch of a satellite up to 200 kilograms.

Technology

Tesla Enables Subscription Model for Full Self-Driving

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Last December, Elon Musk mentioned that subscriptions for Full Self-Driving could become a reality in 2021. Now Tesla has followed through on that timeline by offering a $199 per month subscription for people who don’t want to pay the upfront $10,000 fee for access to the driver assist software. Full Self-Driving requires a Tesla vehicle equipped with the latest onboard computer, known as Hardware 3, which costs $1500.

Customers who previously purchased Enhanced Autopilot can access the Full Self-Driving subscription for $99 per month, though they may still need to upgrade to Hardware 3. Enhanced Autopilot is no longer available for sale.

Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn told shareholders during an earnings call, “If you look at the size of our fleet and you look at the number of customers who did not purchase FSD up front or on a lease and maybe want to experiment with FSD, this is a great option for them.”

Tesla has recently released the Full Self-Driving Version 9 beta update, which adds features like improvement for off-highway driving. Full Self-Driving (FSD) includes “premium” features that aren’t included in Autopilot, including Auto Lane Change, Auto Park, Summon, and Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control. Some of the features, like Summon, use the mobile app as a remote control to have their car come pick them up in a parking lot.

Upcoming features include “Autosteer on City Streets,” though Tesla has fallen behind its original schedule for developing it. When these features do become ready for prime time, they could help make Tesla’s vision for a fleet of Robotaxis a reality. Robotaxis would function like an Uber for driverless cars, basically making it possible for Tesla owners to monetize their vehicles when they aren’t using them.

As usual, the company issued a warning that the software is still in beta and not quite ready for fully autonomous driving while announcing the new subscription model: “The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”

Communications between Tesla engineers and regulators like the California DMV indicate that the software is currently at Level 2 on the professional engineering association SAE International’s scale of autonomous driving software. Level 2 software can handle things like adaptive cruise control and lane centering, but still requires drivers to remain alert with their hands on the wheel.

Due to issues with drivers failing to stay alert or even pulling stunts like riding in the back seat of a driverless Tesla, the company recently activated a camera mounted to the rearview mirror that can track operator alertness. In doing so, the company overrode concerns from some organizations like Consumer Reports that the interior cameras could violate privacy.

Even so, Tesla continues to improve its Full Self-Driving software through the beta program, which collects driving data that can help it train the central AI behind FSD. The possibility of access to the software remains popular with Tesla’s fans even though it isn’t exactly at Level 5, or full autonomy, yet. The subscription fee will simply make such access easier for people who can’t afford the $10,000 upfront cost for access to Full Self-Driving.

Technology

Tesla to Build Virtual Power Plant in California

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla has announced plans to build a virtual power plant using the Powerwall battery, which could help address issues with the Californian power grid. Californian power grid operators have already called for residents to conserve power as much as possible in the evening in order to address expected heavy loads on the grid.

California refers to this request as a “Flex Alert,” in which it asked residents to limit their use of appliances like the washer and dryer or charge their electric vehicles between the hours of 4pm and 9pm. This could cause some issues for residents who own Tesla vehicles, who might wish to plug their vehicles in when they get home so that they don’t forget to charge it overnight.

The Californian power grid’s problems are being exacerbated by record high temperatures that come with increased use of air conditioning and a drought that is affecting its hydropower plants’ ability to operate. In the past, similar events have caused issues like rolling blackouts for Californians.

The Californian power production industry has faced increased regulatory pressure to invest heavily in “clean” power sources like solar and electric and California also offers tax breaks and incentives for consumers who purchase electric vehicles. Companies investing in clean power in California can be as far-ranging as Apple’s purchase of 85 Tesla Megapacks for a solar power farm in the state. Even with the high level of investment, though, California is not quite ready to rely purely on renewable energy due to its high population and currently high summer temperatures.

The state may have anticipated Tesla’s desire to help with its Powerwall-based virtual power plant concept in a public statement, saying, “As California’s ability to store solar and wind energy with batteries or other technology continues to improve, those crucial evening hours will be less of a challenge and similar emergencies rarer. But for now, collective action to conserve is our most effective way to keep the grid stable.”

Tesla is already working with the Australian government on a similar initiative, which aims to reduce electricity rates. Phase 3 of the initiative, which is centered in South Australia, aimed to connect a total of 4,000 homes to the virtual power plant using Powerwalls and solar panels.

Tesla’s batteries already demonstrated its ability to help the Australian grid survive a negative event when a coal-fired power plant exploded in May 2021, knocking out power for 470,000 customers in the Queensland area. A Tesla Powerpack battery farm called the Hornsdale Power Reserve stepped in with its 150MW/194MWh system in less than two seconds. The event may have contributed to Tesla’s criticism of what it describes as the potential of “disorderly coal plant exits” in a letter to Australia’s Energy Security Board (ESB).

Tesla’s plans for establishing a virtual power plant in California includes the establishment of a net metering credit for sending energy stored in the Powerwall to the grid during peak hours. This would help stabilize California’s power grid and, if the virtual power plant scales to a high enough level, reduce California’s need to increase power production at inefficient and “dirty” power plants like coal-powered ones. If Powerwall owners agree to join the virtual power plant, their Powerwall’s charge won’t ever fall below the power stored in the backup reserve.

Tesla aims to open enrollment for the Californian virtual power plant in the app on July 22.

Technology

Morgan Stanley Floats Possibility of Tesla Entering ‘Flying Car’ Niche

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has floated the possibility that Tesla could enter the flying car market by 2050 in a memo obtained by Business Insider. He says that flying cars could be worth up to $1,000 per Tesla share (NASDAQ:TSLA).

Although Tesla apparently has no current plans to build a flying vehicle or provide services for any future flying car market, Jonas cited Elon Musk’s panache for imagining futuristic concepts:

“The chance that Tesla does not ultimately offer products and services to the [flying car] market is remote. … We’ll have Teslas on our roads, underground in tunnels… on Mars. But not in Earth’s skies? Well… we’re not convinced” that Tesla won’t ever touch flying vehicles with a 40-foot pole, Jonas said.

Of course, this is just speculation at this point, but any future flying vehicles that Tesla might design could see a potential addressable market of up to $9 trillion by 2050. Currently, the use of a privately owned airplane only requires its pilot to have a private pilot’s license. (Sport licenses are also available, though sport pilots are usually limited to lighter and lower-powered planes than a private pilot is legally allowed to fly.)

A sport or private pilot’s license requires a minimum number of hours working with a flight instructor, plus the ability to pass a written exam and final flight exam, which can discourage people who don’t have the money to pay for flight lessons unless they can find a scholarship. However, the idea of sport pilots flying around in “flying cars” could be an attractive one for people who have grown up on entertainment options like the cartoon show The Jetsons.

Adam Jonas says $900 is a good price target for Tesla shares, though he says that this price target doesn’t include theoreticals like a Tesla-built flying vehicle that will likely be either electric or a hybrid. He cited Tesla’s popularization and development work of electric vehicles and the technology behind Tesla’s products, including batteries and fully autonomous driving.

A “flying car” equivalent of autonomous driving vehicles could take the risk of potentially hazardous pilot error out of the picture. Aviation industry insiders have floated the possibility of an automated “air taxi” for passengers at industry events like the annual AIAA conferences. Tesla’s work on creating fully autonomous vehicles includes the recent release of Full Self-Driving Version 9 beta, which it says includes several important updates that include better handling of non-highway driving. Elon Musk does warn beta users to “be paranoid” about using it, though. Although he admits that creating the software for fully autonomous vehicles is more difficult than he first thought, he seems unwilling to give up on creating a fully functional version that could finally take a potentially error-prone human driver out of the picture.

Autonomous operation of flying vehicles would, of course, add an extra dimension of complexity if Tesla does eventually decide to get into the flying car market. Although the company does not officially have plans to yet, analysts like Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas are willing to consider the possibility that it will eventually.

Space

dearMoon Mission Floats Likely Passengers

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

When Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa first announced the dearMoon mission in 2018, he had floated the idea of sharing the ride with professional artists who could express their experience through various media. Although he has backtracked a little on that idea (and also nixed the idea of having a “Bachelor”-like reality show in which he would have chosen a girlfriend for the ride after backlash), he has now floated hints that the finalized list of passengers for the trip around the Moon will be mostly artists, photographers, dancers, athletes, and a DJ named Steve Aoki.

Some professional astronauts have turned to art in an attempt to express what they saw and experienced during their missions. Apollo 12’s Alan Bean featured several of his original art pieces on his official website, a couple of which are still available for sale. Michael Collins apparently took up watercolors as a hobby, including the humorous “Nook One,” in which a fish was being launched instead of a rocket.

Maezawa has not yet made an announcement on who the final winners of the dearMoon contest are. The contest had more than one million entrants, who had to make a video on why they were interested in going with him to the Moon. The entrants came from every country in the world. He says some of the entrants’ videos blew him away.

The idea of a “reality TV show” in which women could compete to be the “girlfriend” that Maezawa would have taken along also attracted 27,000 interested people before it was canceled. He pulled the plug on that contest in March after it drew significant criticism on social media.

That failure does not seem to have discouraged Maezawa much, however. He still plans to fly on the dearMoon mission in 2023. If the plan succeeds, he will join billionaire astro-passengers like Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. Branson has already flown in the VSS Unity during its most recent suborbital hop, although there is some debate on it really counts as a “spaceflight” since it didn’t reach the Karman line, which is internationally regarded as the edge of space.

Jeff Bezos is planning to fly on the first flight of Blue Origin’s spacecraft with people on board. The passengers include Wally Funk, an experienced pilot who had expressed interest in flying in space in the early 1960s. Her story as one of the “Mercury 13,” a group of women who had gone through NASA’s selection process for its first group of astronauts but were ruled not eligible due to their gender, has been told in media forms such as the book Wally Funk’s Race for Space: The Extraordinary Story of a Female Aviation Pioneer. She has also made appearances at events like the annual Spacefest, which is happening in Tucson, Arizona on July 15-18 this year. (That’s right, it’s happening right now at the time of this writing if you happen to be in the Tucson area!)

Elon Musk is also rumored to have booked a flight with Branson’s Virgin Galactic at a relatively “cheap” price tag of $250,000. Branson says he “started the day” with Elon Musk showing up at his house at 3am to wish him success with his flight.

Yusaku Maezawa may make an announcement on who the final “crew” for the dearMoon mission is in the near future. However, the available information indicates that the final selectees may have come close to his original vision of including artists.

Technology

Elon Musk Admits Cybertruck Might Flop

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

During an exchange with followers on Twitter, Elon Musk admitted that the Cybertruck might flop, but he’s particularly fond of the design. The Cybertruck debuted in 2019 at one of Musk’s many product reveal events, during which design leader Franz von Holzhausen threw a metal ball at the windows to demonstrate their shatter-resistant features. The windows did crack but didn’t break all the way through.

Within weeks of the debut, Tesla had more than 250,000 pre-orders of the Cybertruck. By the time Tesla held its Battery Day event last September, it had well over half a million orders – so many, Musk said, that “We stopped counting.”

Its release as a production-ready vehicle has seen several delays, however. At the investor meeting for Q1 2021, Tesla listed the Cybertruck as still “in development.” Recent changes to the Cybertruck include a four-wheel drive designed to help it maneuver out of a tight spot, which will hopefully make it more competitive with vehicles like the GMC Hummer EV and its “crab mode.” Other competing models include the more traditional-looking electric version of the Ford F-150 Lightning. Tesla is expected to issue an update on the Cybertruck at the Q2 2021 meeting on July 26.

Elon Musk has also announced that the Cybertruck will have no door handles and instead be capable of opening its own doors when it recognizes its owner.

Even so, the Cybertruck may find its niche among consumers who want something unique-looking. Some gamers thought that it looked like a low-resolution version of the trucks in their favorite games. Others just like it because, like Musk, they think it looks cool and different from most pickup trucks.

If it can be combined with Tesla’s camera-based Sentinel Mode, the Cybertruck’s shatter-resistant windows will make an attractive tool in Tesla vehicles’ crime-fighting arsenal. The company may have done some work on improving its windows since Holzhausen threw the metal ball at the showroom model.

Although privacy advocates are not particularly fond of the onboard cameras that make Sentinel Mode and Tesla’s driver assist programs possible, Tesla cameras have helped law enforcement officials crack cases like a string of hate crimes in Missouri and some weird highway shootings with a BB gun in California. Sentinel Mode has also captured video evidence in cases of vandalism and theft targeting Tesla vehicles. In response to attempted thefts and work done by security researchers, Tesla did fix one possible security flaw involving the key fob that would have enabled thieves to steal a vehicle in only a few minutes.

The Cybertruck’s design will hopefully be finalized by the time Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin is ready to start producing it. Gigafactory Austin is expected to employ 10,000 people and manufacture larger vehicles like the Cybertruck and Tesla Semi. Tesla already has job openings for Gigafactory Austin listed on its careers page.

Technology

FAA Warns SpaceX Starship Rocket Assembly Tower May Be Unauthorized

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In the latest round of the tug of war between SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the FAA has warned SpaceX that work on a Starship rocket assembly tower has not been approved for environmental reasons. The tower is being constructed at the Boca Chica, Texas, launch test facility for development work on SpaceX’s interplanetary Starship rocket, which it plans to use for eventual journeys to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX has said that orbital test flights for Starship could begin as early as this month, although it could be delayed due to ongoing wrangling with the FAA. Elon Musk has often expressed frustration with the regulatory agency, though the FAA’s Associate Administrator, Wayne Monteith, has recently expressed confidence that SpaceX has fixed the safety issues surrounding the losses of four Starship prototypes in a row during high-altitude test flights. SpaceX has made adjustments based on data from those test flights and successfully landed the SN15 prototype in one piece.

The FAA is still conducting an environmental review of the launch facility and says that SpaceX is building the assembly tower for Starship and the Super Heavy rocket that is designed to lift it into orbit “at its own risk.” The FAA requires that the environmental review be completed before SpaceX can conduct orbital test flights for the Starship / Super Heavy stack.

“It is possible that changes would have to be made at the launch site, including to the integration towers to mitigate significant impacts,” the FAA said in a letter to SpaceX.

SpaceX has responded that it doesn’t think the reviews are necessary since it intends to use the tower for “production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or permitted launches.” The FAA has disputed this claim, saying that available documentation indicates that SpaceX plans to use the tower to integrate the Starship and Super Heavy.

SpaceX has recently faced scrutiny over its environmental impact not only from the FAA, but also from local environmental activists who complain that its operations at the Boca Chica facility have done damage to local wildlife and ecosystems. Worldwide, Elon Musk’s companies’ clashes with environmentalists include Tesla’s legal wrangling with German environmental groups over activities related to its construction of Gigafactory Berlin. It scored a victory in the most recent court case in which German environmentalists claim that they were only seeking “clarification” of provisional permits issued by the local government in whose jurisdiction Tesla is building the victory.

Elon Musk has frequently complained that the FAA’s is getting in the way of actual trips to Mars with its rigorous scrutiny over safety and environmental concerns. His ambitions for Starship includes providing transportation for the building of a significantly sized city on Mars by 2050. He has allowed that such a venture would be risky, though he has previously cracked that he wouldn’t mind dying on Mars, “just not on impact.”

Technology

Tesla Behind on Powerwall Production Due to Chip Shortage

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

The ongoing semiconductor chip shortage has been hard on automakers who are increasingly interested in manufacturing electric vehicles. Tesla has considered securing its own supply of chips for its vehicles by paying in advance or acquiring its own chip manufacturing plant. Now Elon Musk says that the chip shortage is impacting its ability to produce the Powerwall batteries that are a cornerstone for the solar power wing of its company.

He says that, under normal circumstances, Tesla could sell as many as 80,000 Powerwalls this quarter but can only produce 30,000 to 35,000 of them by the end of September 2021. He made his comments during testimony in an ongoing court case in which he defended Tesla’s 2016 acquisition of SolarCity. The investors who brought the lawsuit say that Elon Musk bailed out his cousins, who previously owned stakes in SolarCity, and was not as transparent about the deal as he should have been.

Musk says that the acquisition is part of his wider strategy for Tesla, which he says will not be purely a car manufacturer. Tesla had already been working on the Powerwall and similar “industrial-sized” solar power batteries like the Powerpack before the acquisition. At the Powerwall’s debut in 2015, Musk said that the battery could make it easier for owners of homes with solar panels to live off the grid or avoid interruptions if the local power grid goes down. It could also answer criticisms that electric vehicles run on fossil fuels by making it possible for vehicles to be charges with renewable energy sources like solar.

During Elon Musk’s testimony earlier this week, he said that he had always planned for the Powerwall to be integrated with solar power products like the solar roof, which would have been difficult if Tesla and SolarCity were separate companies. Although Tesla had initially made the Powerwall an optional add-on for the solar roof, it now sells both products as an integrated package. He reportedly frustrated the plaintiffs’ attorneys by refusing to give simple yes-or-no answers to their questions about the timing of the SolarCity acquisition:

“We were beginning development of the Tesla Powerwall battery. And in order to have a compelling product, you really needed to have a tightly integrated solar and battery solution.”

Not that the operations that used to be part of SolarCity have been without their challenges. Elon Musk recently admitted in an investor call that he miscalculated with pricing for the solar roofs in the wake of complaints and lawsuits from consumers who say that Tesla drastically increased the prices of their roofs after they had already signed contracts.

Tesla also had to temporarily put the former SolarCity on the back burner and move its engineers over to working on the Model 3 when difficulties with manufacturing it nearly led to the company’s bankruptcy. This move might have provided ammunition for the investors’ lawsuits since it did seem to imply that developing solar power products was not the priority that Musk made it out to be.

The trial for the investors’ lawsuit is expected to last up to two weeks. Other defendants in similar lawsuits settled before the case went to trial.

Space

SpaceX to Build Next Rocket Factory Near Waco

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Elon Musk has announced plans to build a rocket factory in McGregor, Texas, not far from the city of Waco. This will be SpaceX’s second rocket engine factory and will produce the Raptor 2 engines.

These Raptor engines are designed for use on SpaceX’s Starship rockets, which are still under development with test launches taking place at the facility in Boca Chica, Texas. After four Starship prototype explosions in a row, SpaceX finally managed to nail the landing of the SN15 prototype after making upgrades based on data from the tests of SN8, SN9, SN10, SN11. The mishaps occurred during or shortly after landing, though engineers and technicians say that they got enough data from the tests to make improvements.

Once the new rocket factory is complete, the factory in California will focus on the Raptor Vacuum, which is better suited for use in space, and experimental designs for rocket engines. Meanwhile, the McGregor factory will produce as many as 1,000 engines per year, which is considered a lot in the aerospace industry.

The ambitious plan for McGregor is representative of Musk’s overall ambitions for spaceflight, which relies on the success of Starship. This model is meant for heavy-duty travel to the Moon and Mars. Musk said that the factory is needed for his ultimate goal of putting a significantly sized city on Mars by 2050.

“That’s about what’s needed over ten years to create the fleet to build a self-sustaining city on Mars. City itself probably takes roughly 20 years, so hopefully it is built by ~2050,” he said.

Elon Musk cited “challenges” in the vicinity the Boca Chica facility as the reason for his decision to place the factory in McGregor. He may have been referring to tensions between SpaceX and some of the residents, the latter of which have accused the company of attempting a “hostile takeover” of the local community to create a “company town” that Musk calls Starbase, improperly closing local public beaches and roads, and harming the local environment with the frequent and sometimes explosive test launches, which can scatter debris a fair distance and do minor damage to nearby buildings with shock waves.

Despite the tensions, Elon Musk rents a $50,000 prefab house in Boca Chica from SpaceX after selling all of his properties and has all of his companies investing heavily in the state. SpaceX is still making progress on a manufacturing facility in Austin that will produce Starlink satellites. Tesla is also working on a Gigafactory near Austin that will produce some of its largest vehicles, such as the Tesla Semi and Cybertruck, and will employ 10,000 people. SpaceX already employs 500 people in the McGregor area to prepare for the new SpaceX factory.

In bids to attract qualified employees for all this activity, Musk has made $30 million in donations for community improvement projects and education in the vicinity of the Boca Chica test facility and called for increased housing in the Austin area.

Space

Elon Musk Buys Ticket for Virgin Galactic Spaceplane Ride

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Following Richard Branson’s successful ride in VSS Unity, which went high enough to see the curvature of the Earth but not above the Karman Line, Branson said that Elon Musk had shown up in his kitchen at 3am on the day of the flight to wish him luck.

Branson said of the visit, in which Musk was seen without socks or shoes on, “Great to start the morning with a friend.”

Branson’s ride went up from New Mexico’s Spaceport America. During the flight, he radioed back that it was the “experience of a lifetime” and gave a little inspirational talk. Now Elon Musk has reportedly purchased a ticket for a ride on Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane.

If these reports are confirmed, Elon Musk will have joined a long list of potential customers who are willing to pay $250,000 apiece for a ride on VSS Unity or a similar spaceplane if Virgin Galactic chooses to make more of them. That waitlist includes big names in entertainment like Lady Gaga, who has expressed interest in performing the first musical concert in space. Virgin Galactic says that it won’t comment on possible future passengers.

This may cause some to wonder why Musk doesn’t just fly on one of his own spacecraft, like Branson did and Jeff Bezos plans to do on a spacecraft built by Blue Origin on July 20. (As Richard Branson cheekily put it in a recent interview, “Jeff who?”) SpaceX has already flown crews for NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Program, with the Crew-2 mission still docked to the International Space Station.

However, it is possible that Elon Musk is simply supporting a friend whom he does not have a rivalry with, like he does with Jeff Bezos (plus a $250,000 ticket is probably cheaper than using one of his own Crew Dragons for a flight).

Although Musk has spoken of having suborbital point-to-point flights using the Starship spacecraft, he has mostly focused on orbital flight and eventual trips to the Moon and Mars. Interest for trips into space includes more than 72,000 entries into the Inspiration4 sweepstakes, which generated $113 million in donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and 200 entries into a business competition that promoted the Shift4Shop ecommerce solution.

Events like this indicate considerable interest in “space tourism” even though the cost is still out of reach for most people. Elon Musk has indicated that he thinks it’s reasonable to get the cost per person for a trip to Mars down to about $500,000 if he can start launching Starships to the red planet on a mass scale, though he has admitted that settling Mars will be a highly risky venture.

“The risk is not zero. … When you’ve got a brand new mode of transportation, you have to have pioneers,” he said during the announcement of the finalization of the Inspiration4 crew.

Some critics of Jeff Bezos have trolled him by creating a petition saying that Bezos should not return to Earth during his flight, though it is somewhat crass to wish ill fortune for anyone who is serious about making strides in space. As normal for one of Elon Musk’s companies, SpaceX has not released a statement on Elon Musk’s potential flight on Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity.

Technology

Tesla Vision to Be Capable of Recognizing Hand Signals, Emergency Vehicle Lights

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

According to Elon Musk, Tesla Vision will soon be capable of recognizing hand signals, emergency vehicle lights, other vehicles’ turn signals, and other vehicles’ hazard light signals. This announcement comes after one Tesla owner says that his vehicle is now capable of recognizing that other vehicles are stopped with brake lights on.

Tesla recently eliminated radar in favor of a purely camera-based system for the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software packages. This counterintuitive move came shortly after a Tesla-owned vehicle equipped with what looked like a lidar system was recently seen in Florida, although Tesla has not issued a statement about any possible tests involving lidar. (Lidar systems do look a lot like top-mounted vehicle racks capable of carrying a couple of bicycles or a kayak.) Tesla apparently believes that a vision-based system will be sufficient for its driver-assist programs.

The completely vision-based system did alarm some vehicle safety trackers. Organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reversed their high safety ratings shortly after Tesla’s decision, though the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has since restored the high rating after thorough testing. The IIHS says that Tesla vehicles do an excellent job of avoiding other vehicles and pedestrians even without radar, though of course the vehicles may not be able to respond quickly enough to unpredictable situations like a child suddenly running out right in front of a vehicle.

Tesla did recently release the Version 9 beta of Full Self-Driving, which included several important updates like new off-highway driving features and a recent update to the Autopilot that turned on a camera on the rearview mirror. Tesla has been increasingly concerned about safety following reports of crashes in which Autopilot was initially believed to be engaged (though Autopilot’s logs indicated that this was not always the case) and incidents involving owners being seen riding in the back seat of a driverless Tesla vehicle.

Although these incidents and recent recalls like a massive one in China to fix a problem with the Autopilot that was causing unexpected acceleration has been a cause of safety concerns, some vehicles like the Model 3 do get high marks for safety outside of concerns about the driver assist programs. The Model 3 was the only one to keep its high rating on Consumer Reports’ most recent Auto Reliability Report and was recently restored as Consumer Reports’ “Top Pick” after the results of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s tests came in.

Elon Musk has recently admitted that developing a fully autonomous vehicle was more challenging than it looked, though he seems to remain confident that Tesla will figure it out eventually. New features like the recognition of emergency vehicle lights and turn signals will be especially useful, though it will not be a surprise if someone leaves a comment below that it would be helpful if some people would actually USE their turn signals (lol).

That’s a fair point, considering that Full Self-Driving is not quite ready for prime time yet. Experts say that a truly autonomous vehicle will be capable of handling most driving conditions, with operator input only needed once for every million miles driven. Tesla still issues the disclaimer that drivers should stay alert while using its driver-assist programs and Elon Musk has said that drivers should still remain “paranoid” due to possible unknown bugs in its latest update.

Technology

Tesla Releases Full Self Driving Version 9 Beta

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

Tesla is rolling out a major upgrade for the beta version of Full Self-Driving (FSD) for testers who signed up for its Early Access Program. While FSD is not quite ready for prime time yet and Elon Musk himself recently admitted that developing fully autonomous driving was more challenging than he thought it would be, the new Version 9 Beta of FSD does roll out some important improvements to the software.

New updates include improved off-highway use that includes lane changes and improved visualization of what the vehicle’s exterior cameras can see. It also includes a recent update to the Autopilot software that turned on a camera mounted to the rearview mirror to monitor driver alertness. The camera activation may have been sparked by documented incidents in which Californian Tesla owners were seen riding in the back seat of a vehicle with the Autopilot engaged. Elon Musk further encouraged alertness in a recent tweet:

Like many projects being developed by Elon Musk’s companies, updates for Full Self-Driving have slipped from their original release schedule. Musk had originally planned to release the features included in the most recent update in August 2018 and have as many as a million drivers using the software by 2020.

A limited beta did indicate that they were not yet ready for a wide release and Autopilot still requires an operator in the driver’s seat with hands on the wheel – a function that Consumer Reports says can be fooled with judicious use of a few weights, which may have made the dangerous stunts pulled by those Californian Tesla owners possible.

Tesla may also be especially concerned about safety after a string of crashes that included one in Texas in which authorities initially theorized that the Autopilot was active, although that later turned out not to be the case. The incident was enough to attract an annoying level of attention from lawmakers who called for a probe into the safety of Tesla’s driver assist programs.

Despite the challenges, Full Self-Driving is slowly improving, likely assisted by the amount of driving data that is sent to Tesla’s supercomputers. Tesla recently spun up a new supercomputer in late June to assist with “training” of the AI behind its driver assist programs and plans to have the supercomputer named Dojo up and running by the end of the year. Tesla has said that the AI has access to more than six billion miles of driving data.

Slots for the Early Access Program, which enables public beta testing for Full Self-Driving, are limited and there is a long waitlist for access. Beta testers have been booted from the program due to their failure to stay alert while using FSD because its use can lure drivers into a false sense of security. FSD can already handle driving environments like a parking lot well enough to make the Summon feature possible but is still far from perfect and requires user input for many scenarios. This latest update is a sign that it is improving, though, if a bit more slowly than Elon Musk would like.

Technology

Elon Musk Offers Plan for “Visa Speed” for Dogecoin Payments After Criticizing Ethereum, Bitcoin

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In the latest round of Elon Musk’s complicated relationship with cryptocurrency, he has proposed a plan for making Dogecoin transactions as streamlined as payments made using credit cards like Visa. Following Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision for Bitcoin (okay, IGNORE Craig Wright!), he suggested steadily increasing block sizes and frequency to match available bandwidth.

He also suggested that exchanges could act as a de facto second layer in lieu of attempts to create second layer protocols like the Lightning Network. He criticized both Bitcoin and Ethereum for neglecting their base layer, which caused transactions to be slow and come with high fees. Bitcoin’s recent critics, some of which are longtime cryptocurrency insiders, say that much of the fault lies with organizations like Blockstream, which advocated for keeping blocks small and moving away from development on the blockchain layer in favor of secondary protocols like the Lightning Network.

Of course, some people didn’t miss their chance to plug their favorite altcoins, including the Craig Wright-backed BSV, Nano, Cardano, and Nimiq. Outside of the BSV community, Craig Wright is not very well-liked in the cryptocurrency community due to his claims to be the original creator of Bitcoin, who used the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, and his increasingly frequent lawsuits against other cryptocurrency heavy hitters.

Most recently, Craig Wright forced the current owner of the Bitcoin.org domain to take down the Bitcoin whitepaper with a copyright claim in court. The whitepaper is, fortunately, safe on other platforms including the city of Miami’s official website and embedded on the Bitcoin Blockchain. (You can see the PDF of the whitepaper on Miami’s website here.)

Despite the fact that Musk has jokingly referred to himself as the CEO of Dogecoin in the past, taking his suggestions will be up to Dogecoin’s actual developers and cryptocurrency miners will get a say on if they want to support an upgrade with their hashrate. His ability to influence cryptocurrency prices seems to be waning since his appearance on SNL, when the price of Dogecoin went sharply down. The Dogecoin community does seem to be getting a little disillusioned with him, often saying that he’s had too much influence on the markets as it is.

It doesn’t help that there have been frequent cryptocurrency-related scams coming from people posing at him. One teenager who hacked the Twitter accounts of Musk and a few other billionaires and politicians to conduct a scam in which he made off with at least $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency was recently arrested in Florida. Another scammer used Musk’s likeness and somehow slipped past YouTube’s advertising controls in order to make their scam look legitimate.

Despite the issues, Elon Musk is not eager to give up on Dogecoin and SpaceX has even accepted it as payment for the launch of “DOGE-1”, a satellite destined for the Moon. In the wake of Tesla’s decision to remove Bitcoin as a payment option for electric vehicles, the addition of Dogecoin was one popular suggestion for an alternative that might be a little more environmentally friendly than Bitcoin is. Such a thing could be a way for Elon Musk to do more than publish tweets to support the Dogecoin community.

Elon Musk Reveals Name for New Drone Barge

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

SpaceX currently lands most of its Falcon 9 first stage boosters on the drone barges “Of Course I Still Love You” and “Just Read the Instructions.” Now Elon Musk has revealed plans for a new, fully automated drone barge with the equally humorous name “A Shortfall of Gravitas.”

Unlike the previously two drone barges, this new drone ship will not need a tug ship to bring it and its cargo back to port. Elon Musk has previously said that a third barge was under construction but did not release very many details such as the name.

To date, SpaceX has successfully landed a first stage booster 89 times out of 100 tries. Of the 89 successful landings, 65 of them successfully landed on one of the two existing drone barges. A few missed the barge and went into the ocean but didn’t suffer a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” event during the landing attempt. SpaceX’s drone barges are, fortunately, equipped to fish them out of the water.

SpaceX has reused the successfully retrieved boosters a total of 68 times with the booster with the serial number B1051 seeing the most launches at 10. It developed reusable rockets as one way to bring the cost of space launches down as opposed to using a rocket booster once and then letting it rust in the bottom of the ocean.

SpaceX has also saved on costs by reusing the Crew Dragon that had been used for the Demo-2 mission, in which Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were launched to the ISS in the final test flight for SpaceX’s part of the Commercial Crew program, for the Crew-2 mission, which is still docked to the International Space Station. This is the first time that a privately owned spacecraft has been used for more than one crewed mission.

The company has reused the “Dragon 1” for its cargo delivery runs to the International Space Station a total of 9 times. The newer Cargo Dragon has not been reflown yet, though SpaceX has successfully retrieved one after splashdown.

When a booster successfully lands on a drone ship or landing zone, it can be reused with a minimum of refurbishing when compared to ones that have been retrieved from the corrosive ocean water. SpaceX had also initially tried to catch the fairings that protect cargos during launch with nets but ended the practice after it was only successful nine times out of 32 tries. It has reused half or all of a fairing on a total of 22 launches.

The name of the new drone barge did seem to spark its share of humor from Twitter users. “[T]his video needs the Star Wars Imperial March music over it!” said the Twitter user Glynn R. Frank. The Dogecoin-themed Twitter account Shibetoshi Nakamoto joked, “Looks like something Jared from Silicon Valley would get stuck on.”

Eventually, SpaceX will have the capacity to launch rockets at sea as well as land the boosters. Elon Musk has recently reported progress on the former oil rigs that it is converting into launch platforms. Although this might not address all the concerns that Boca Chica, Texas, residents about having a SpaceX test launch facility in their backyards, they may be relieved that more of SpaceX’s work can be moved offshore in the future.

Space

SpaceX Launches Earth Observation Satellite for Royal Thai Air Force

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

The Royal Thai Air Force’s (RTAF’s) second Earth-observation satellite, Napa-2, was one of 88 satellites launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-2 mission on June 30. The Transporter missions are SpaceX’s dedicated rideshare missions designed to send up more small satellites at the same time than would be possible if a small satellite “piggybacked” as a secondary payload to a larger primary payload.

Like Napa-1, which was launched from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana aboard an Arianespace Vega rocket last September, the Napa-2 satellite is designed to monitor Thai airspace for defense and national security purposes. Both satellites are also designed to provide information that can help improve efforts to respond to natural disasters and monitor environmental conditions like air and water quality.

A Netherlands-based company named Innovative Solutions In Space (ISISPACE) built both satellites. Napa-2 is equipped with what it calls a “Simera Sense Multiscape Imager,” which can detect seven bands in the visual and near-infrared spectrums. Resolution for the imager can get as precise as 5 meters on Earth’s surface.

The Transporter missions are designed to make space more accessible for private organizations and government entities who would like to send up small satellites, but may not have the budget for a dedicated launch. The Transporter-1 launch sent 143 satellites into orbit, setting a new record for the most satellites sent up in a single launch. Customers for the Transporter-1 dedicated rideshare mission included NASA, the University of South Florida Institute of Applied Engineering, Planet Labs, Exolaunch, D-Orbit, Kepler Communications, and Spaceflight Inc.

According to information on SpaceX.com, a dedicated Falcon 9 launch can cost as much as $62 million, though some customers like the U.S. Air Force and Space Force have expressed interest in saving money by launching hardware like GPS satellites on previously flown boosters. Customers can also save money on each launch by discussing a “package deal” of multiple launches with SpaceX.

The lower cost of reusable boosters has also attracted private companies like satellite radio company SiriusXM, which recently launched two new satellites on SpaceX rockets to replace its aging existing constellation.

Space agencies also like the idea of saving money on space launches in an environment where they are so often scapegoats for irresponsible spending by governments even though NASA’s budget is usually lower than the United States’ military spending by at least a factor of 10. Last year, SpaceX launched the Sentinel-6 ocean observation satellite for the European Space Agency. The vastly lower bid price is believed to be a major factor in NASA’s selection of SpaceX’s proposal for the development of a lunar lander for the Artemis Program, though Blue Origin has since held up progress on the lunar lander by challenging the selection.

SpaceX’s goal for the Transporter program is to make the launch of small satellites less dependent on the launch schedule for larger primary payloads while still keeping these launches affordable for more private organizations that are interested in sending one up. Competitors for the small satellite launch market include ArianeSpace and Rocket Labs. Rocket Labs’ recent successes include the retrieval of a booster for its Electron rocket after launching 30 satellites, making it a possible competitor for the reusable booster market.

SpaceX to Launch Advertising Satellite into Space

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

SpaceX has partnered with the Canadian engineering firm Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) and Pointblank LLC to launch a CubeSat capable of displaying banner ads from orbit as part of GEC’s Rideshare program. The CubeSat-based billboard system is expected to launch as early as 2022.

The GEC is still working on the quantum communications system that will allow instantaneous information transfers across large distances. Quantum communication is a more secure way to send communications over a network by making use of the quantum state of particles. Any attempt by an unauthorized party to intercept the communications will cause the data’s “quantum state” to change to a plain 1 or 0 and be instantly detectable to the receiving device. (This may remind you of Schrödinger’s cat, in which the state of the cat is theoretically both “alive” and “dead” until it is observed by someone outside the box.)

Pointblank is working on epaper performance in low-to-no atmosphere environments for the project. Epaper, or “electronic paper,” mimics the natural appearance of ink on paper. Ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle make use of Epaper technology for their displays.

The price of advertising on the CubeSat billboard will be paid with a blockchain-based token. GEC plans to get up to $972,000 per month just for having its billboard above a major city the size of Tokyo. The billboard is expected to rotate around the target city once every 90 minutes, which is about the same amount of time that it takes the International Space Station to make one revolution around Earth.

GEC is, in fact, the first company to pay SpaceX for the launch of a satellite in cryptocurrency – Dogecoin, naturally. The cryptocurrency-funded mission, labeled “DOGE-1,” will send a 40-kilogram CubeSat into lunar orbit as part of SpaceX’s ride share program. The mission will test some of the technology behind the billboard in space by sending a “Space Art” CubeSat to the Moon.

The concept of billboards in space is not a new one. A Russian company named StartRocket proposed having a constellation of satellites that could display logos like the ones for Pepsi and Coke in the night sky in 2019. The plan was only to operate them for a year.

Of course, skywatchers and astronomers were annoyed by the idea of having a lit-up advertisement in the night sky. University of Michigan astronomy professor Patrick Seitzer blasted the idea for its potential to both interfere with astronomical observations and add to the “space junk” problem.

“Launching art projects like this with no commercial, scientific, or national security value seems unwise. … There are over 20,000 objects with orbits in the official public catalog maintained by the U.S. Air Force. Less than 10 percent of those objects are active satellites—the rest are dead satellites, old rocket bodies and parts of spacecraft,” he said at the time.

Anyway, a company could buy a traditional billboard beside a busy section of interstate for about the same price as advertising on GEC’s space billboard. The billboard would also be less of a nuisance to astronomers and astrophotographers who might be annoyed by an advertisement getting in the way of their view when they are trying to take sensitive images of the night sky.

Technology

Tesla Releases Cheaper Model Y in China

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In a bid to address slumping sales in China, Tesla has releases a less expensive vehicle known as the Standard Range (SR) Model Y. With government subsidies, the SR Model Y starts at ¥276,000 ($42,589). Tesla’s website says that deliveries of this cheaper version of the Model Y will begin in August. The original Model Y cost ¥347,900 ($53,700), but the price reduction makes the SR version eligible for government subsidies for electric vehicles that cost less than ¥300,000.

 The Chinese government had originally planned to scrap the subsidies but changed its mind when COVID-19 made its appearance and sales of electric vehicles slumped across the board. Tesla faces competition from Chinese automakers like NIO and XPeng, though the Chinese companies’ home field advantage doesn’t necessarily make them immune to economics.

Tesla has especially faced public relations challenges in the Chinese market. Most recently, it had to issue a massive recall of vehicles to fix a problem with its Autopilot driver assist program. Customers have also complained about Tesla’s lack of quality customer service and protests included one woman who climbed on top of a Tesla vehicle that was on display at an auto show. Chinese bloggers say that Tesla threatened to sue them for what the company alleges are defamatory comments and Tesla is also fighting a legal battle with the Chinese news outlet PingWest. In that case, Tesla alleges that PingWest committed libel by claiming that Tesla makes use of “sweatshop” working conditions at Gigafactory Shanghai. The Chinese government has banned Tesla vehicle owners from parking the vehicles at government facilities due to concerns that their cameras could capture footage of sensitive activities.

Weak sales in China are a factor in Tesla’s slumping stock price after its growth in 2020 was enough for Elon Musk to briefly edge out aerospace rival Jeff Bezos on the top of the list of Earth’s wealthiest people. Tesla shares have dropped 9% of their value so far this year.

Even so, Tesla is unwilling to give up on an important market for electric vehicles. It recently opened a solar powered charging station in Tibet as a test run and floated the idea of building more in Asia as an investment in the infrastructure needed to support widespread adoption of electric vehicles and answer to the criticism that the majority of China’s energy production still relies on coal. Although it denies that the cameras are active on vehicles sold in China, it built a datacenter in China to address the concerns about espionage.

The weak sales and poor PR in China do not seem to have hurt it much in worldwide sales. In Q2 2021, it posted record-setting deliveries of 201,250 vehicles, many of them exported from Gigafactory Shanghai to the European market in lieu of the conclusion of the ongoing regulatory and legal wrangling that is holding up the opening of Gigafactory Berlin. Tesla had floated the idea of acquiring more land near Gigafactory Shanghai but has apparently put that on hold until it can resolve the PR issues and Chinese government’s concerns about espionage.

Technology

Elon Musk Faces Lawsuit Related to Tesla Acquisition of SolarCity

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity in a $2.2 billion deal that must have had some investors scratching their heads at the time. Why would a vehicle manufacturer want to go into the solar power business?

If one wanted to stretch a point, it might make sense to stave off criticism that electric vehicles run on electricity produced in coal-fired plants. Tesla has recently invested in some solar powered charging stations, often in partnership with companies like Fastned. Some Tesla and Elon Musk followers have speculated that it could use the solar power production capacity that used to belong to SolarCity to add solar roofs and solar panels to its charging stations.

“I’m pretty optimistic about how it’s going to turn out. … It’s been extremely well received at the consumer level,” Elon Musk told investors in a November 2016 investor call.

Since then, Tesla’s new solar power wing has faced challenges related to production and delivery of the solar roofs. Most recently, it dropped the ball by drastically jacking up pricing for customers that had already signed a contract for a solar roof at a lower price and offering no options other than paying the higher price or cancelling their reservation. The latest development in that saga had a Californian court considering combining the lawsuits coming out of the increased pricing into a class-action lawsuit.

Now shareholders have brought a lawsuit against Elon Musk over allegations that the acquisition of SolarCity amounted to a bailout of a company in which his cousins had a stake. Before the acquisition, SolarCity had never had a profitable quarter and hadn’t proven out its previous business model of effectively leasing solar panels to customers.

Board members, including Tesla chairman Robyn Denholm, have already settled for $60 million, admitting no fault. The lawsuit had also alleged that the board was lax in its corporate governance duties. Musk refuses to settle and is expected to appear in court on July 12. He could lose about $2 billion if he loses the case.

Although it’s rare for corporate executives like Musk to be held individually liable for wrongdoing, he has gotten himself in trouble with regulators over posts on his Twitter account, which Tesla regards as official company communications in lieu of an actual PR department. He was previously fined by the SEC and had to give up his position as chairman of the board for statements on Twitter that included his desire to take Tesla private. He has since admitted that taking Tesla private would be impossible, though he did tangle with the SEC again over comments he made in relation to Tesla’s production capacity.

(Tesla has set two quarterly delivery records in a row this year, though, including delivering over 200,000 vehicles in Q2 2021.)

Meanwhile, Tesla’s solar power side languished, likely because it wasn’t paying all that much attention to that part of its business beyond trimming costs until recently. Most of the costs were related to SolarCity’s practice of aggressive (and expensive) marketing.

“There were some of the sales channels that we thought were not consistent with the Tesla brand, such as door-to-door, sort of knocking on people’s doors, so we wanted to transition that to sales to the Tesla stores instead. It makes more sense, which I think we’ve mentioned as one of the rationales for the SolarCity acquisition,” Elon Musk said during deposition when the lawsuit was filed in 2019.

Analysts questioned whether the acquisition was a good move for Tesla, especially considering that it seemed to struggle with selling its products at first. It sold just $178 million worth of solar products in 2016.

“When Tesla bought them, supposedly they were going to recapitalize the business and revamp. Instead, it really declined significantly, I think because they weren’t paying that much attention to it and had other things going on,” says Joseph Osha, senior research analyst for Guggenheim Securities.

Those “other things” apparently included difficulties that Tesla was having with the Model 3 electric sedan at the time. It reassigned personnel away from the former SolarCity to work on the vehicle.

The most recent figures indicate that sales of solar products jumped to $1.99 billion of revenue in 2020, mostly driven by batteries like the Powerwall and Powerpack, which are designed to store solar power. Tesla has also mentioned that demand for its solar products is strong and growing this year. Earlier this year, Apple tapped Tesla to provide 85 Powerpacks for the solar farm being developed in California, for instance.

That may not be enough to convince the shareholders involved in this particular lawsuit against Tesla. Despite promises that Tesla can ramp up production of its solar power products at facilities like a large-scale solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York, other companies that specialize in solar power have far more traction in this space.

“The SolarCity acquisition was a deal to forget for Tesla investors as it’s a crowded space with minimal traction since the acquisition,” says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

Technology

Testimony in Lawsuit Claiming Racist Workplace Culture at Tesla Indicates Prevalent Use of “N-Word”

Written By: Heidi
Heidi

In 2017, multiple African-American former Tesla employees filed lawsuits claiming prevalent racism in the workplace, including frequent use of the “N-word” and racist graffiti in bathroom stalls. In March 2021, employees and former employees filed 103 declarations as part of the lawsuit.

“I was directly called n—– and n—- approximately 100 times at the Fremont [California] factory,” Aaron Craven said in his sworn statement.

A former contractor named Aaron Minor says he frequently heard employees refer to African-American co-workers as “cotton pickers.” Another former employee, DeWitt Lambert, says that co-workers frequently called him the N-word and made sexually explicit comments.

In 2019, employees at the Buffalo, New York, factory filed complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the New York Division of Human Rights, alleging similar harassment of minorities.

The 2017 case, officially referred to as Marcus Vaughn v. Tesla, has been filed in Alameda County Superior Court. Marcus Vaughn is a former contractor for Tesla. The California Civil Rights Law Group is providing legal representation for the class-action case. The group has previously lost one similar case and won another in arbitration. A third, Owen Diaz v. Tesla, will go to trial later this year.

The attorneys involved in this and similar cases say that it would be really easy to blame Trump for the upswing in cases related to racism in the workplace. They say that they’ve noticed a sharp uptick in cases since Trump’s election in 2016 and believe that Trump may have emboldened racists.

However, Organ says, it’s not like Trump invented racism or directly injected it into Tesla’s workplace culture: “We have evidence from the Diaz case, dating back to 2015, that there was racist conduct on the Tesla factory floor.”

Despite past legal actions brought by former employees, Tesla and the State of California apparently don’t make it easy to sue former employers. In California, employees must first obtain the “right to sue” from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Out of approximately 120 requests by former Tesla employees, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has turned down nine of them, saying that there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant a lawsuit.

In its employees’ contracts, Tesla also throws up roadblocks in the way of being tied up in court all the time, not that arbitration agreements always works. A former employee recently filed a lawsuit claiming that the company retaliated against him for reporting theft of copper wire at Tesla’s factory in Nevada. In another case in which a disgruntled former employee named Martin Tripp was found liable for violating Nevada’s cybersecurity laws by leaking sensitive documents to the press, he had filed a countersuit claiming that Tesla defamed him and tapped his phone lines in an effort to build a case against him.

“Many of these issues are subject to arbitration because Tesla requires people who sign their contracts as regular Tesla employees to sign an arbitration agreement as part of that contract,” says California Civil Rights Law Group attorney Larry Organ. However, “It also appears there are some people who have not signed arbitration agreements but do work as regular employees at Tesla because they can’t find the arbitration agreements.”

The discrepancy could be explained by changes in company policy since the California Civil Rights Law Group started taking cases on behalf of former Tesla employees, according to Organ: “Tesla started sending NDAs with arbitration agreements to their contractors, to people who were working at Tesla through staffing agencies. They want to try and push everybody out to arbitration.”

Organ mentioned that Tesla does not seem to pay much attention to the conduct of its employees outside of actually making cars. Discovery in the cases alleging racist behavior turned up frequent use of the N-word and use of symbols like the Nazi swastika.

Tesla denies the allegations of tolerating this behavior among their employees, saying in a press release soon after the filing of the 2017 lawsuit, “After a thorough investigation, immediate action was taken, which included terminating the employment of three of the individuals.”