š SpaceX flies Falcon 9 out for Starlink (and lands beautifully)
Musk Reads #247
SpaceX continues Starlink rollout; Musk makes a wild week for crypto; a mystery business made in Muskās image raises eyebrows in the UK. Itās the free edition of Musk Reads #247 ā subscribe now to receive two more editions later this week!Ā
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Musk quote of the week
āIt is high time there was a carbon tax!ā
Musk tweeted May 13, a day after announcing Tesla would no longer accept or sell bitcoin out of concern for its energy usage.Ā
SpaceX: Falcon 9 flies again, delivering 52 satellites and its first rideshare payloadĀ
On May 15, Falcon 9 made its third flight in three weeks, carrying 52 Starlink satellites and two unrelated customer payloads, a Capella Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite and Tyvak-0130, an āoptical spectrum astronomy observation satelliteā according to its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) description.This Starlink payload brings it to the home stretch of completing its first orbital shell, pushing its total to 1,567, a stoneās throw from the satellite projectās 1,584 goal.
The partially reusable rocket departed from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning its descent after 2 Ā½ minutes for its eighth successful landing. You can watch as Falcon 9 makes a gorgeous descent on the āOf Course I Still Love Youā drone ship, which was positioned over the crystal blue Atlantic Ocean:
This Starlink payload brings it to the home stretch of completing its first orbital shell, pushing its total to 1,567, a stoneās throw from the satellite projectās 1,584 goal.
Tesla: Bitcoin gets rebuked, Twitter explodesĀ
Musk made huge waves with a May 12 declaration that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin payments for fear of its environmental impact, only three months after Tesla announced a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin. Read more.
Later, on May 16, Musk was inscrutable on Twitter about whether or not Tesla had sold its Bitcoin holdings. As of Sunday night Eastern Standard Time, his tweet instigated a Bitcoin price drop to around $45,000, its lowest since March.Ā
This is Muskās second instance of Twitter-assisted crypto-influencing last week. Dogecoin briefly surged after Musk tweeted on May 13 that he was working with developers to āimprove system transaction efficiency.ā
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In other Musk newsā¦
āElon Musk Phdā is named as the director of a UK company called Elonspace Ltd on an official business register.
SpaceX reveals first orbital Starship flight plan, launching from Texas and returning near Hawaii.
In other Musk-related newsā¦
T-minus the internet
A ranked list of everything Musk-related and online, handpicked weekly with bionic precision.Ā Ā
10. A branch of the Institute of Social and Political Research is hosting an online symposium centered around Sorgnerās āOn Transhumanismā at the end of May. Read more.
9. On May 14, five members of the SpaceX software team hit Reddit for an AMA on r/spacex. Read more.Ā
8. Self-described āKing of Tesla TikTokā @modelyflex has been pouring various substances on his seats (like Pepto Bismol, olive oil, and most recently, soy sauce) to demonstrate their stain resistance. Ok, thanks?
7. Marvel.ai is a platform that launched this week with the goal of producing voice deepfakes. It sounds cool, but does your voice really belong to you?Ā Read more.
6. Ā Elon Musk has recently been declared a proud stealer of memes. For years, internet denizens have been discussing if meme-stealing is ethical. They canāt seem to agree. Read more.
5. In late April, YouTuber Herr Fuchs created āThe Elon Musk Song [OFFICIAL],ā which, according to the brackets, is the official theme song for Elon Musk. Itās a sort of tame synth pop track, Iād give it a 5.4/10. But look at those visuals.
4. SpaceX Starlink satellites contribute to the universeās existing space junk. Climate change might make it worse. Read more.
3. Forget Mars. Is SpaceX taking over Texas? Read more.
2. A paralyzed man with a brain chip implant has challenged Neuralinkās video game monkey to MindPong. Read more.
1. And a piece of Musk history: In 2015, software engineer Tomas Lloret Llinares adapted Muskās 37-year-old video game, Blastar, to work for HTML5. Itās a charming shoot āem up and is still available to play.Ā Blast off.
The ultra-fine print
This has been Musk Reads #247, the weekly rundown of essential reading about futurist and entrepreneur Elon Musk. Iām Ashley Bardhan, assistant to Musk Reads and mere servant to any potential A.I. overlords. Iām a writer from New York who has covered weird tech for Mel Magazine, the intersection of culture and games for Destructoid, and Iāll be taking over the Monday newsletter for the summer.Ā
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