In first, SpaceX lands rocket on ocean platform

RV_ · April 9, 2016

Musk is disrupting the good ol boys again. Today his Dragon space craft and Falcon rocket took a large cargo to resupply the ISS, then returned the first stage of an actual mission vehicle to the sea platform landing successfully for the first time.

Excerpt:

"MIAMI — After four failed bids SpaceX finally stuck the landing Friday, powering the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket onto an ocean platform where it touched down upright after launching cargo to space.

Images of the tall, narrow rocket standing on a platform that SpaceX calls a droneship sparked cheers and screams of joy at SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California.

"The first stage of the Falcon 9 just landed on our Of Course I Still Love You droneship," SpaceX wrote on Twitter, after launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 4:43 pm (2043 GMT).

NASA spokesman George Diller confirmed that the rocket had "successfully" landed, just minutes after the Falcon 9 propelled the unmanned Dragon cargo craft to orbit, carrying supplies for astronauts at the International Space Station."

The article with a video of the actual landing is here:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/spacex-lands-rocket-on-ocean-platform-for-first-time/ar-BBrx8Zl?ocid=ansmsnnews11

Tesla is still privately held by Musk and a couple of investment partners. When they IPO I believe they will be like Tesla and take off like a rocket. No flash in the pan this. It should go sky high.

Seriously though, let's remember that Fidelity and Alphabet gave Musk and Space X a billion dollars to develop mini sats for LEO communication satellite constellations for Internet and cell comm. And they fly their missions using Space X US rocket engines not Russian engines like the 2X more expensive plus ULA charges.

It's a company I'd buy on IPO, just like I did Tesla at $17 & $22.50.

Jack Mayer · April 9, 2016

IMO, if you are on a cellular modem it is worth watching some of this video and using some of your data allowance.

Awhile ago they re-landed that stage one at Kennedy, after a successful launch. Up until yesterday no one had landed a return flight on a barge. If you look at the video you will see that not only did they hit it almost dead center, but that it was not exactly calm out there on the ocean. It is a VERY IMPRESSIVE accomplishment.

I cannot wait for the LEO comm sats to get deployed. It will certainly be a "game changer" if they do it. It has the potential to make all our lives better.

RV_ · April 9, 2016

I agree Jack,

I believe he will too, and soon.

For anyone young enough to look 20 years down the road with any assurance, I'd also look for the IPO whenever. It should do even better than Tesla. I anticipate IPO happening after he finishes perfecting the reuse of first stages, and announces that they are commencing manned flights to the ISS. Once he has his Space X paying its own way for all that, he will turn to Mars.

I don't know if many folks here remembered me admitting the crazy notion he had before doing Tesla or Space X, heck even before PayPal, to have an outpost on Mars so humanity can survive the possibility of nuclear holocaust, and perhaps prevent the end of life on earth from burning fossil fuels by making the first BEVs that were near perfect.. His dream was and is to do two things.

1. To save the planet from ourselves and get rid of fossil fuels and switch the world to renewables before it is too late.

2. He wants to establish a colony on Mars so if we let the planet become survivable from man caused warming/pollution or we start any nuclear exchanges that at least the human race can survive.

Whether anyone agrees or disagrees he is on the way to completing those two goals. In todays finance news this Motley Fool article appeared today:

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: How Big Can Elon Musk's Electric Empire Get?

Excerpt:

"The Tesla Motors CEO is envisioning an electrified future.

Elon Musk is on record saying that he believes over time, nearly all forms of transportation will inevitably transition to being powered by electricity. I say "nearly" because Musk has specifically noted that rockets, ironically, will be the only form of transportation that cannot be electrified due the laws of physics. But it seems that everything else is fair game, which could include everything from air travel to public transit systems to cars.

How big can Elon Musk's electric empire get?

Planes: An electric supersonic VTOL jet

Over the years, Musk has referenced the possibility of an electric vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) supersonic jet on several occasions. It may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but then again so does setting up a human colony on Mars. In fact, Musk has been thinking about how to design an electric jet for nearly a decade.

Back in 2012, shortly after the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model S launched, Musk did an Internet Q&A on Jalopnik, covering a wide range of topics. He dropped this tidbit:

There is this airplane design that I've had in mind for about four years. It is a [VTOL], supersonic electric jet. I started thinking about this when the Concorde was retired. It just seemed so sad that the world's only supersonic passenger aircraft would never fly again and there was nothing planned to replace it

The following year, he spoke during an online event with Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson:

"If I were to start another company in the future, which I don't think is going to be anytime soon, it would be to create an aircraft that is a supersonic, vertical take off and landing electric jet. I think that is the ultimate form of transport. I wish someone would do that. If somebody doesn't do that then maybe at some point in the future, I will."

Here are some more technical details from when Musk spoke at Stanford in 2013, pointing out that an electric aircraft would get more efficient at higher altitudes.

The current task at hand will be to ramp production of the Model 3, which has been the end goal all along. But after the Model 3, Tesla has mentioned the idea of a Model Y, a crossover SUV built on the same third-generation platform. There's also talk about a redesigned Roadster, and Musk openly talks about possibly making an electric pickup truck.

Considering the popularity of crossover SUVs and pickup trucks in the U.S. as well as the profitability of the segment, Tesla has its work cut out for it in the years ahead.

Not yet. But I'm getting there.
It's hard to really appreciate the sheer magnitude of all of these undertakings, and we haven't even really discussed SpaceX. For now, Tesla and SpaceX are where Musk devotes all of his time. The whole reason he open-sourced Hyperloop was simply because he didn't have enough time to pursue the idea. The same is certainly true of making an electric jet.

The article has a video worth watching (for those on a data budget don't worry it does not auto play) and hot links to related articles and white papers. The article also goes on to talk about Trains: Hyperloop and several other topics here: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/09/planes-trains-and-automobiles-how-big-can-elon-mus.aspx?source=yahoo-2-news&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=yahoo-2-news

budeneighe · April 10, 2016

The short version: "Go Elon, GO!"

RV_ · April 14, 2016

I hear ya Bud! And that was with a fully loaded launch of an orbital mission height return of the Falcon engines! If the ULA had been developing the ability to do this then they would not be out, or about to run out, of their Russian made Rocket engines they relied on for our national security flights. Elon is the largest Private manufacturer of orbital plus rocket engines in the world now.

I just posted a good article over in the Veteran's forum that you might find interesting as well. It is about us being smack in the middle of a situation similar to our Sputnik moment. Between it and this article it becomes obvious where some investment opportunities will come from. Not just if Space X goes public, but the suppliers for all of the others as well.

Huah!