Tesla Cybertruck spotted; NASA chooses SpaceX for its monthly missions; Tesla’s safety record is in the spotlight. It is the free edition of Musk Reads # 243 – Subscribe now to receive two more editions later this week!
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Musk quote of the week
“I was there, driving Cybertruck to the site where it will be built!”
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The Tesla cybertruck, the future angular electric vehicle, was spotted as a prototype. Twitter user Anthony Leisner distributed an image on April 15 of the Giga Texas factory truck under construction in Austin. He described the truck as “absolutely bad dirty in a real environment”.
Tesla official account also distributed two images of the truck at the factory:
An image showed the truck with a captive audience:
Musk confirmed on Twitter the same day he participated in the site to run Cybertruck. However, when asked if Tesla is still on track to start production at the factory this year, he answered that there will be “limited production of the Y model this year, high volume next year”. Comments suggest that Cybertruck, which will be built exclusively at Giga Texas, will reach faster production rates in 2022.
A big unknown about the truck is its design. In March 2021, Musk claimed Cybertruck would have “no handles.” Because the above prototype still has door handles, it may not represent the final design.
SpaceX
NASA announced on Friday that it has chosen SpaceX to land future astronauts on the moon. The agency awarded SpaceX a contract based on a milestone worth $ 2.89 billion. The SpaceX proposal involves the use of the Starship rocket as a lander. The company is currently developing the giant stainless steel missile at its Texas facility and has so far hosted four high-altitude tests with prototype ship models.
NASA plans to send four astronauts into space using the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. Once in lunar orbit, two astronauts will meet with the SpaceX lander, docking long enough for the astronauts to move between ships and complete their journey to the surface. After a week on the moon, they will return to lunar orbit and re-enter the Orion spacecraft.
While NASA plans to use the space launch system to leave Earth, SpaceX has plans to send humans into space with the astral spacecraft. The company plans to develop a Super Heavy booster, which will be paired with the Star Ship to provide additional power and help the ship leave Earth.
SpaceX has big plans for this Super Heavy configuration. He aims to send the first humans to Mars using the astral spacecraft as a natural precursor to the transformation of humanity into a multi-planetary species.
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In other news about Musk …
- Tesla released the safety report in the first quarter of 2021 on April 17. The data shows that cars using the semi-autonomous Autopilot mode once crashed at 4.19 million miles. With no autopilot or safety features in place, Tesla cars once crashed at 978,000 miles. The company cites NHTSA data showing that cars in the United States crash on average once every 484,000 miles.
- Just two days after the report, a Tesla Model S crashed in Texas, killing two passengers. Sergeant Cinthya Umanzor of Harris County Constable Precinct 4 told reporters that no one was in the driver’s seat. Officials said Washington Post that the battery ignited about 45 minutes after firefighters extinguished the initial flames. It took four hours and 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish the battery flames.
- Stay tuned: SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission, which will send four astronauts to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon capsule, will be launched on April 22.
- When will Starlink, SpaceX’s Internet service, be available globally? The company is about to reach an important stage. Read more.
Ultra-fine printing
That was Musk Reads # 243, the weekly summary of essential readings about futurist and entrepreneur Elon Musk. I’m Mike Brown, an innovation journalist for Inverse.
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