Elon Musk News - Issue 91

Elon Musk News - Issue 91 Like Elon Musk? Get two ad-free issues per week with high quality images, discounted apparel, and access to our secret Facebook group by going premium.

Note From The Curator

The top three stories in this issue of Elon Musk News are: SpaceX delivers for Intelsat on heavyweight Falcon 9 mission Tesla Powerpack to Enable Large Scale Sustainable Energy to South Australia Tesla Model 3 production two weeks ahead of schedule, first car expected July 7 It has been an uncharacteristically mixed week for Tesla. Their stock is down ~14% since last Friday, and the IIHS did not award Tesla it's top safety rating. On the other hand, Tesla just landed a major win with a contract from the South Australian Government to install the largest energy storage system in the world. At a press conference in Australia, Elon Musk re-confirmed that Tesla will do this in 100 days or it's free. Tesla has also announced that they will produce the first Model 3 with serial number 1 today! On the SpaceX front, they successfully launched Intelsat 35e on Wednesday. SpaceX has now beaten it's own annual launch record, and is on pace to making this the busiest year for any private launch provider in history. Thanks so much for being part of this community and enjoy issue 91! Sincerely, Zachary

Featured Quote

"I'm interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it and you're like, 'Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'"

— Elon Musk From CBS

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SpaceX

SpaceX delivers for Intelsat on heavyweight Falcon 9 mission Wednesday's mission — the third SpaceX launch in 12 days — carried the Boeing-built Intelsat 35e communications satellite toward a perch in geostationary orbit 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) over the equator. The commercial spacecraft weighed around 14,900 pounds (6,761 kilograms) at launch, the heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched to such a high orbit. SpaceX committed all of the Falcon 9's propellant to send the Intelsat satellite into the highest orbit possible, a ride designed to minimize the spacecraft's own fuel consumption as it maneuvers into its final operating position. SpaceX intended to launch the Intelsat 35e mission Sunday, but software errors led to computer-triggered aborts at T-minus 10 seconds during back-to-back countdowns Sunday and Monday. John Insprucker, the Falcon 9's principal integration engineer who provided launch commentary on SpaceX's webcast, said ground software halted Monday's launch attempt because a measurement in the first stage avionics system did not match a pre-programmed limit in a ground database.

SpaceX Makes History Again with Dragon Cargo Capsule The uncrewed capsule, launched in early June after having been used back in September 2014, made its return to Earth and splashed down into the Pacific Ocean after delivering a shipment of new supplies and resources to the ISS. Before Monday, no other privately-owned craft had gone to the ISS and returned to the Earth more than once — all other non-SpaceX vehicles had burned up in the atmosphere. NASA astronaut Jeff Fischer, currently aboard the ISS, was incredibly enthusiastic about the return. "I could even say it was slathered in awesome sauce," he told mission control in Houston. "This baby has had almost no problems, which is an incredible feat considering it's the first reuse of a Dragon vehicle…"

SpaceX Launch: Elon Musk's rocket company is out-launching its competitors for the first time ever With its successful launch of a communications satellite Wednesday night, SpaceX has flown ten rockets this year. SpaceX has now beat its own annual record, and the firm is on pace to out-launch its key rivals in the commercial launch market, Europe's Arianespace and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. These flights generated well over $500 million in revenue for the company, and SpaceX isn't finished yet. There are still at least ten more flights on its 2017 manifest, which, if completed, would make this the busiest year for a private rocket launcher in history—and mean that SpaceX launched more rockets itself than the entire United States in 2016.

The complete visual history of Elon Musk and SpaceX's single-minded pursuit of rocket reusability for the Falcon 9 While SpaceX is still working toward its ultimate goal—a 24-hour turnaround for previously-flown rocket stages—it has come a long way since it filed a patent in 2004, just two years after its founding, for an important engine component that does not require replacement after every flight, since "reusable rockets are very desirable designs from a cost reduction standpoint." (It is still the only patent the company owns; Elon Musk doesn't believe in them.) Here is a history of that journey, from the very first launch to the most recent landing.

Tesla

Tesla Model 3 production two weeks ahead of schedule, first car expected July 7 The long awaited "Model 3 news" that Elon Musk teased on Friday arrived late Sunday evening via twitter. Tesla Model 3 production is two weeks ahead of schedule and the first Model 3 vehicle is expected to roll off the production line this Friday, July 7. "Model 3 passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule. Expecting to complete SN1 on Friday" read the tweet. Though Musk did not explicitly state what "SN1" meant, it's largely presumed to signify serial number 1 or the first official production Model 3 vehicle. The news is significant in that it's the first time we're hearing confirmation from Elon Musk that the Model 3 is going into production.

Tesla Model 3 'handover party' will be on July 28, first 30 customers will receive keys Tesla will hold a Model 3 'handover party' otherwise known as the Model 3 launch event on Friday, July 28. Elon Musk tweeted that the first 30 customers will be presented keys to their vehicles. Expected in the event is a presentation by Musk touting Model 3's features, including its battery range and performance. The first batch of Model 3 vehicles produced will be single motor rear-wheel drive vehicles, followed by a dual motor and performance variant of the Model 3 in early 2018.

Tesla delivers 22,000 vehicles to reach lower-end of delivery goal Tesla confirmed its delivery numbers for the most recent quarter and it managed to reach the lower-end of delivery goal. They confirmed having delivered "just over 22,000 vehicles in Q2, of which just over 12,000 were Model S and just over 10,000 were Model X" from April through June 2017. Tesla had been previously guiding a delivery goal of 47,000 to 50,000 vehicles for the first half of the year. After delivering 25,051 vehicles during the first quarter, it pushes deliveries to "approximately 47,100." The company attributes hitting the lower end of its guidance to difficulties ramping up production of the 100 kWh battery pack. They wrote in a press release: "The major factor affecting Tesla's Q2 deliveries was a severe production shortfall of 100 kWh battery packs, which are made using new technologies on new production lines. The technology challenge grows exponentially with energy density. Until early June, production averaged about 40% below demand. Once this was resolved, June orders and deliveries were strong, ranking as one of the best in Tesla history."

Tesla Model S misses top rating from IIHS again after another crash test After the Tesla Model S failed to achieve the top crash rating from IIHS last year, the company claimed to have made a 'production change' to improve results on the small overlap test, which was the only issue to obtain the top rating. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tested the vehicle again with the modifications, but they say that it had the same results and therefore, the rating didn't change. In the original test, IIHS said that the safety belt of the Model S "allowed the dummy's torso to move too far forward." Today, they issued a press release stating that they obtained the same results in the second test. Tesla responded in a statement suggesting that the test was designed to suit the IIHS's "own subjective purposes" The Model S did indeed receive the highest safety rating from NHTSA, which doesn't perform the small overlap crash test.

Tesla introduces new performance enhancements to Model S and Model X A Tesla spokesperson confirmed to Electrek that they are rolling out new software and hardware improvements that are enabling those performance enhancements. Since the enhancements include hardware upgrades, those new specs are for new vehicles being built today and not the current fleet. The improvements are more significant for the base versions of the Model S. The Model S 75 and its dual motor version are both gaining a full second of acceleration from 0 to 60 mph. As for the more recent Model S 100D, it's also seeing a slight improvement in acceleration [of 0.1 seconds]. The bigger Model X, which is only available with dual motor, is also seeing some new performance enhancements [1.1 seconds faster for the 75D, and .5 seconds for the 100D].

Tesla Model X in 7-seat configuration finally gets fold-flat 2nd row seats Tesla has finally introduced fold-flat seats in Model X with the 7-seat configuration, joining the 5-seat option as the other configuration designed to maximize interior cargo space. The new fold-flat seat design replaces Model X's "floating" second-row monopost base with a more traditional sliding frame mount. Joining Model X's fold-flat second-row design, previously only available in the five-seat interior option, is the redesigned seven-seat option available as a $3,000 upgrade. A six-seat interior is also available on the Model X which foregoes the center seat in the second-row for either open space or an optional center console. With the second and third row folded completely flat, Model X has an unprecedented 88.0 cubic feet of interior cargo space, besting the 58.1 cubic feet of cargo space found on its sibling Model S premium sedan.

The reasons behind Tesla's 12 percent stock decline this week After hitting all-time highs late last month, Tesla shares have plummeted 18 percent as of Thursday's market open, due to a perfect storm of sales concerns, competition and the safety of its cars. A number of Wall Street firms have expressed doubt over Tesla's sales, with Goldman Sachs analyst David Tamberrino leading the charge Wednesday after he lowered his six-month price target for Tesla to $180 from $190, a 49 percent downside from Monday's close. "Tesla's Q2 production and deliveries report raised more questions than answers, particularly about Model S and X demand," Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a note to clients Wednesday, according to CNBC. Also adding to Tesla's woes is its increased competition in the field, with Volvo announcing Wednesday that it will produce only electrified vehicles by 2019. Tesla's 2017 Model S has [also] missed the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) top-safety pick+ rating, citing issues with the small overlap front test.

New coast-to-coast Tesla record set to raise human trafficking awareness Two men decided to take their 2015 Midnight Silver Model S 85D on a coast-to-coast Tesla record-breaking journey to raise awareness and donations for human trafficking and freedom. On July 1st at 11:30 p.m PST, Jordan Hart and Bradly D'Souza left the Hotel Portofino in Redondo Beach, California, and proceeded east to arrive three days later, July 4th at 6:17 a.m., at the Red Ball Garage on E 31st St, New York, New York. In doing so, the duo set a new record for the fastest transcontinental drive in an electric vehicle by arriving in 51 Hours and 47 Minutes, besting the previous record held by Alex Roy. This is also the first time an electric car has surpassed the famous 1933 "Cannonball" transcontinental record set by Erwin G. Baker in a Graham-Paige model 57 Blue Streak 8, setting a 53.5 hour record that stood for nearly 40 years.

Tesla Gigafactory 1: new aerial shot shows lots of activity as it starts Model 3 production We haven't seen a new picture of the Tesla Gigafactory 1 in Nevada in about two months and during that time, they have been busy preparing for the production of Model 3 battery packs and drive units. Now a new aerial shot of the giant battery factory shows lots of activity as they are starting production. Tesla started the year with about 1,000 employees at Gigafactory 1, but the company also said that it planned to hire about 1,000 more during the first half of the year alone. On top of that, Tesla's battery cell manufacturing partner, Panasonic, is holding hiring events all year and it is seeking to hire 2,000 workers by the end of 2017. Also, other suppliers are under Tesla's roof and plan to employ hundreds more at the location, like a German battery can maker, H&T Battery Components, who expect to employ over 100 at the Gigafactory.

Tesla Energy

Tesla Powerpack to Enable Large Scale Sustainable Energy to South Australia This week, through a competitive bidding process, Tesla was selected to provide a 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack system to be paired with global renewable energy provider Neoen's Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, South Australia. Tesla was awarded the entire energy storage system component of the project. Tesla Powerpack will charge using renewable energy from the Hornsdale Wind Farm and then deliver electricity during peak hours to help maintain the reliable operation of South Australia's electrical infrastructure. The Tesla Powerpack system will further transform the state's movement towards renewable energy and see an advancement of a resilient and modern grid. Upon completion by December 2017, this system will be the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in the world and will provide enough power for more than 30,000 homes, approximately equal to the amount of homes that lost power during the blackout period.

OpenAI

Two Giants of AI Team Up to Head Off the Robot Apocalypse Google's DeepMind and OpenAI have teamed up to make practical progress on a problem they argue has attracted too many headlines and too few practical ideas: How do you make smart software that doesn't go rogue? "If you're worried about bad things happening, the best thing we can do is study the relatively mundane things that go wrong in AI systems today," says Dario Amodei, a curly-haired researcher on OpenAI's small team working on AI safety. "That seems less scary and a lot saner than kind of saying, 'You know, there's this problem that we might have in 50 years.'" OpenAI and DeepMind contributed to a position paper last summer calling for more concrete work on near-term safety challenges in AI. A new paper from the two organizations on a machine learning system that uses pointers from humans to learn a new task, rather than figuring out its own—potentially unpredictable—approach, follows through on that. Amodei says the project shows it's possible to do practical work right now on making machine learning systems less able to produce nasty surprises.

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“Blu notte misteri italiani” – I fatti della banda della Magliana

Blu notte misteri italiani – Carlo Lucarelli

“Blu notte misteri italiani” – La banda della Magliana, andato in onda l’ 08.07.2011. Il conduttore, Carlo Lucarelli, racconta, come una storia di gangster della Chicago degli anni ’30 le vicende dei componenti  della Banda della Magliana. Non solo una storia di omicidi, droga, soldi, vendette e tradimenti che si svolge nella Roma a cavallo tra gli anni ’70 e ’80 ma un mistero italiano che come tutti i misteri…

emanuelaorlandi.altervista.org

Caso Alpi-Hrovatin: oggi con la madre di Ilaria Alpi in FNSI. Vieni anche tu?

Caso Alpi-Hrovatin: il 6 luglio noi saremo insieme a Luciana Alpi in Fnsi. E tu? La madre della giornalista uccisa insieme al suo operatore Miran Hrovatin in Somalia in 20 marzo 1994 presenta il suo libro "Esecuzione con depistaggi di Stato". Domani giovedì 6 luglio 2017 alle 17.30 la sala "Walter Tobagi" della Fnsi, in corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 349 a Roma (secondo piano), ospiterà la presentazione del libro di Luciana Alpi "Esecuzione con depistaggi di Stato" (Kaos Edizioni). L'evento è promosso da Articolo 21,  Fnsi e Usigrai. Sarà importante la partecipazione di tanti soprattutto alla luce della notizia di ieri della richiesta della Procura di Roma di archiviazione dell'inchiesta sull'uccisione di Ilaria Alpi e Miran Hrovatin e dalla recente sentenza emessa dal tribunale di Perugia che ha scagionato l'unico imputato e ha di fatto confermato l'impressionante serie di depistaggi e bugie che hanno caratterizzato questa vicenda. All'incontro saranno presenti, insieme con Luciana Alpi, la mamma di Ilaria Alpi, il segretario generale e il presidente della Fnsi, Raffaele Lorusso e Giuseppe Giulietti; il segretario dell'Usigrai, Vittorio Di Trapani; la presidente e la portavoce di Articolo21, Barbara Scaramucci ed Elisa Maricola; il deputato Walter Verini; gli avvocati della famiglia Alpi, Domenico e Giovanni D'Amati; i giornalisti Rai Chiara Cazzaniga e Fabrizio Feo, che dialogheranno con la signora Alpi approfondendo i temi del libro. Ilaria Alpi, giornalista del Tg3, fu assassinata il 20 marzo 1994 a Mogadiscio, insieme con il cineoperatore Miran Hrovatin, mentre indagava su un possibile traffico di armi e di rifiuti tossici. Da allora, nonostante l'impegno e il coraggio dei familiari di Ilaria, dei loro legali e dei cittadini e delle associazioni che si sono schierati al loro fianco, la verità sulla sorte dei due colleghi non è ancora venuta alla luce. Tanto da portare Luciana Alpi a parlare apertamente nel libro di "depistaggi di Stato". TI ASPETTIAMO GIOVEDI 6 LUGLIO ORE 17.45 A ROMA NELLA SEDE DELLA FNSI http://www.premiorobertomorrione.it

Elon Musk News - Issue 90

Elon Musk News - Issue 90 Like Elon Musk? Get two ad-free issues per week with high quality images, discounted apparel, and access to our secret Facebook group by going premium.

Note From The Curator

The top three stories in this issue of Elon Musk News Premium are: SpaceX Pulls Off Two Drone Ship Landings in Three Days Elon Musk's First Boring Machine Has Begun Tunneling Tesla's Focus Means Victory Versus Complacent Mainstream In Electric Cars, Analyst Says This week Bloomberg published a 1990s esque micro-site called The Future According to Elon Musk. It tracks all of Elon's projects on a timeline, and is updated daily. While you don't get the detail provided by other mediums (like this newsletter 😉), it does provide an excellent macro view of what Elon's working on in an entertaining package. I highly recommend checking it out! Thanks so much for being part of this community and enjoy issue 90! Sincerely, Zachary

Featured Quote

"No longer waiting for Godot. It has begun boring and just completed the first segment of tunnel in LA."

— Elon Musk From @elonmusk

SpaceX

SpaceX Pulls Off Two Drone Ship Landings in Three Days Zach says: Missed the live webcasts (or want to watch them again)? Here they are: June 23: BulgariaSat-1 Launch Webcast June 25: Iridium-2 Launch Webcast Following a successful Falcon 9 launch and high impact landing on Friday off the coast of Florida, SpaceX was back at it again Sunday, this time delivering 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But extreme weather was a factor on Sunday, with fog enveloping the Falcon 9 on the launch pad. Luckily, it was not enough to affect its flight and the mission went off without a hitch. The successful launch and landing marked a momentous weekend for SpaceX, with the company performing droneship landings at each end of the continent on its tightest launch schedule yet. Just before the Sunday launch, Elon Musk was tweeting that the launch would indeed be a little iffy. "Launch at 1:25 delivering 10 satellites for Iridium," he posted. "Droneship repositioned due to extreme weather. Will be tight." Still the weather didn't turn out to be a major detriment as the Falcon 9 ascended the atmosphere, released its cargo, and began its descent towards the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX debuts 'Optimus Prime' Robot, successfully recovers Falcon 9 1029 for the second time Of Course I Still Love, SpaceX's East coast drone ship, docked in Port Canaveral Thursday morning with its Falcon 9 cargo in tow. It became apparent once it was within line of sight that this recovery marked the first use of SpaceX's robotic stage securer, amicably deemed 'Optimus Prime' or 'Roomba' by fans following along. Photos of the robot mated with 1029 confirm that it was designed to grab onto the hold-down clamps located on the outside of the Falcon 9's octaweb structure. It's difficult to tell from the photos available, but it is also likely that the stage is secured simply by the weight of the robot, which is expected to weigh at least as much as an empty first stage.

SpaceX set to launch massive satellite on July 2nd: 3 flights in 9 days Zach says: SpaceX conducted a successful Static Fire test Thursday on pad 39A. SpaceX's launch of Intelsat 35e has been scheduled for July 2nd at 4:36 p.m. PST. A launch from LC-39A on July 2nd would give SpaceX at most nine days from the launch of BulgariaSat-1 to ready the pad once more. There is a possibility that SpaceX could launch three separate missions in as few as nine days. Intelsat 35e will become the largest communications satellite SpaceX has ever sent to orbit, weighing in at ~6000 kilograms. Designed to last at least 15 years in geostationary orbit, it is expected that SpaceX will attempt to place the satellite into a higher energy geostationary transfer orbit in order to reduce the amount of time it takes the commsat to reach its final planned orbit. This translates to an expendable Falcon 9 Full Thrust that will be pushed close to its payload and orbit limits. While it is now somewhat sad to see a Falcon 9 first stage unable to attempt recovery, this will still be a thoroughly exciting launch, especially considering the impressive mass of the satellite.

SpaceX's final Falcon 9 design coming this year, two Falcon Heavy launches next year Zach says: You can listen to The Space Show podcast where these Gwynne Shotwell quotes were taken from here. "We are flying Block 3s right now," Shotwell (President and COO of SpaceX) said. "Block 4s start flying shortly, and then Block 5 at the end of this year. We definitely have gotten better [at] more smooth introducing of change. You don't see the big impacts to production we've had before when we've changed vehicle designs." The Falcon 9 Block 5 is expected to be far more reusable than the Block 3. Shotwell said a Block 5 booster could relaunch " a dozen or so times." The Block 3, by comparison, has an estimated life of two or three missions. Shotwell said Arabsat will be the first customer for the Falcon Heavy when it begins commercial service in 2018, following a demonstration mission later this year. Saudi Arabia-based Arabsat purchased a Falcon Heavy launch for Arabsat-6A in 2015. The Air Force contracted the Space Test Program-2 launch in 2012. Shotwell described both those missions as happening "early next year."

How the SpaceX Droneships Got Their Sci-Fi Names The autonomous droneships used by SpaceX are named after the sentient ships in Banks's The Player of Games, first published in 1988 Here's the relevant passage from the book: "He had a sudden, paranoid idea. He turned to Chamlis urgently. 'These friends of yours are ships.' 'Yes,' Chamlis said. 'Both of them.' 'What are they called?' 'The Of Course I Still Love You and the Just Read The Instructions.' 'They're not warships?' 'With names like that? They're [General Contact Units, a type of ship used primarily for exploration and communication]; what else?' 'Good,' Gurgeh said, relaxing a little, looking out to the square again. 'Good. That's all right.' He took a deep breath."

Tesla

Tesla's Focus Means Victory Versus Complacent Mainstream In Electric Cars, Analyst Says Tesla will win big in the race to sell electric cars to the world, a German analyst believes, because the competition from traditional manufacturers has been complacent and Elon Musk's California upstart will win a near monopoly of the market. Tesla is out investing the competition, which hampers itself by seeking to save money by building on legacy engineering rather than developing new and focused technology, according to a report from analyst Alexander Haissl of Hamburg, Germany-based Berenberg Bank. "To contrast Tesla with even the most forward looking (manufacturers), we estimate Tesla will invest $32.7 billion over the next 5 years – roughly 40% more than Daimler and Volkswagen combined have committed for their EV projects," Haissl said.

Tesla starts pushing new Linux kernel update, hinting at upcoming UI improvements Albeit being about 6 months late, Tesla finally started pushing the new Linux kernel update to the center console in its vehicles this week. While it's only a backend upgrade, Musk associated it with several long-awaited improvements to the vehicle's user interface. Now that the kernel upgrade is here, those improvements shouldn't be too far behind. Interestingly, the upgrade was only pushed to the center information display (CID), the large 17-inch screen at the center of the vehicle, and not the instrument cluster (IC). For most Tesla owners, the release notes of the latest update only refer to "minor software fixes and enhancements", but it also brought navigation and Autopilot to Taiwan, where Tesla started delivering its vehicles earlier this year, but owners didn't have access to the features. Musk said to expect the next update in July.

First Tesla Model 3 spotted outside the US Sunday night, a Tesla Model 3 prototype was spotted arriving in New Zealand through the Auckland airport. It's the first time that the vehicle is spotted outside the US and at the same time, it increases significantly the distance of a sighting from Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters, where most Model 3 release candidates have been spotted so far. If you are speculating on the reason why a Model 3 prototype is showing up in New Zealand, our money would be for creating media content, videos and photo on the country's scenic routes, or snow testing considering it's winter there.

Tesla is paying for the deployment of destination AC chargers that all EVs can use In the US (this is not applicable in Europe and some other markets), those chargers feature a connector proprietary to Tesla and therefore, only Tesla vehicles can charge on them. But we often see other universal J1772 level 2 chargers at the same locations where Tesla installed the Destination Chargers. We assumed that the businesses decided to add chargers for other EVs, but we now learn that in some cases, it was actually Tesla's idea. The company went out of its way to install chargers for other electric vehicles, technically competitors, in order to expand charging infrastructure. Electrek has talked to several business owners with Destination Chargers and some of them revealed that Tesla suggested them to install a Clipper Creek Charger, along with the Tesla Wall Connector, at no additional cost.

Tesla Energy

Tesla starts displaying new 'Tesla Solar' branded solar panels in store While most of the attention around Tesla's effort in the solar industry is currently focused on its new solar roof tiles, the company is still installing regular solar panels under SolarCity, which is currently transitioning to become 'Tesla Solar'. Through that program, Tesla has now started displaying new 'Tesla Solar' branded solar panels in its stores. As of now and since before the acquisition by Tesla, SolarCity, like most solar installers, used solar panels from several different suppliers for its residential and commercial projects, but that's about to change. Like the solar roof, the move is part of Elon Musk's plan to offer solar products with better aesthetics in order to create a distinctive brand that can be differentiated from other installers on a product basis. As part of this effort, Tesla is now advertising those new Tesla-branded panels in store in Washington.

Tesla to install Powerpacks at Europe's largest community battery project Community solar, which enables several households to benefit from a single solar array, has become increasingly popular in certain markets over the past few years – especially for people living in apartments and condominiums. Now community energy storage is also becoming a thing and Tesla is about to help deploy Europe's largest community battery project to date. Blueprint, the developers of a new housing development in Nottingham called 'Trent Basin', announced that they chose Tesla Powerpacks to store energy for the community solar+battery project. The installation will have a capacity of 2 MWh and it will both store energy from the local 375 kW community solar array and provide grid services. During Tesla's annual shareholder meeting earlier this month, Musk said that while they have mainly been talking about their large Powerpack projects with electric utilities, commercial projects are adding up and becoming a significant market for Tesla Energy.

The Boring Company

Elon Musk eyes O'Hare-Loop fast-rail link Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration has opened talks with Elon Musk. When Musk heard of the mayor's continuing desire to speed traffic between the Loop and the airport to raise the city's business profile, he pitched The Boring Company. Chicago Deputy Mayor Steve Koch flew out to Los Angeles late last week to personally meet with Musk, and he came back impressed. "It was fascinating, really interesting. We're going to try to see if they can make it work here. It depends on the cost, but I'm as intrigued as I've been (with anything) for a while." According to Koch, Boring's line to O'Hare would offer smaller-sized passenger cars that would leave more frequently, as soon as they're filled, and travel at speeds of up to 125 mph via an "electric sled" propulsion technology.

Elon Musk's First Boring Machine, "Godot," Has Begun Tunneling Wednesday, Elon Musk announced that The Boring Company's first machine, whimsically named "Godot" after the play Waiting for Godot, has begun work in Los Angeles. When the tunnel's route is complete, it will run from the LAX International Airport to Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood, and Sherman Oaks, and could help alleviate the city's notoriously terrible traffic. "No longer waiting for Godot," Musk tweeted. "It has begun boring and just completed the first segment of tunnel in L.A."

Misc.

Elon Musk's Promises and Goals for Tesla, SpaceX, and More Zach says: This Bloomberg page has been cited by numerous media outlets this week. It's an homage to to great web design of the 90s, and serves as a wonderful reference on everything Musk is doing.

Elon Musk is the most cautious leader in tech, according to IBM data Paysa used IBM's supercomputer Watson to determine the top 11 most cautious tech leaders in Silicon Valley and around the U.S., scoring them on a a scale from 0 (least cautious) to 1.0 (most cautious). To arrive at these results, Paysa "gathered speeches, essays, books, the transcripts of interviews and other forms of communication produced by those highlighted above. After we'd obtained over 2,500 words, we fed these through the Watson Personality Insights API." "Personality Insights extracts personality characteristics based on how a person writes," according to IBM Watson's website. It might be surprising that Musk is considered the most cautious CEO in tech, especially given his moonshot ideas and companies. It's important, however, for leaders like Musk to take calculated risks versus ones that are simply crazy.

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The Falcon Has Landed Celebrate SpaceX's recent Falcon 9 landings with this one of a kind shirt! Get Yours

Elon Musk News Anson Ave Coquitlam, British Columbia V3B 2H6 Canada