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Elon Musk Weekly News Update: Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and More · Elon Musk Podcast

0:01
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
0:05
This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The
0:08
Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink.
0:13
And I'm your host Will Walden if you want uninterrupted episodes
0:18
of the Elon Musk podcast. Please go to club.
0:20
Elon.supercast.com to find out how there's a link in the show
0:26
notes. Elon Musk has announced that his
0:29
AI venture Xai will release its ChatGPT competitor Grok to the
0:35
open source public domain this week.
0:39
It's a strategic move by Musk, who has consistently criticized
0:43
Open AI's profit driven use of AI technology, and it marks a
0:48
shift in AI development and accessibility for a large
0:52
language model like Grok And by open sourcing.
0:55
Grok XAI is set to join the ranks of companies like Meta and
0:58
Mistral, which have already made their AI models freely available
1:02
for modification and use by everybody.
1:06
And the decision to make Grok open source comes on the heels
1:08
of Musk's legal action against Open AIA, company he Co founded
1:12
but departed from in 2018. And Musk's lawsuit accuses Open
1:17
AI of straying from its nonprofit roots and original
1:21
mission, alleging that it has instead pursued profit
1:24
maximization, particularly following its collaboration with
1:27
Microsoft. Now the legal confrontation has
1:31
sparked a big debate in the tech community and what are the
1:34
merits and the risks of open sourcing AI technologies as
1:40
opposed to keeping them closed sourced and for profit?
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While Musk's critique of Open AIS transformation centers
1:47
around it's shift from an open source nonprofit organization to
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what he perceives as a profit focused entity closely aligned
1:54
with Microsoft. Now according to Musk, this
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contradicts open AI stated commitment to developing AI that
2:01
benefits humanity at large. The lawsuit and Musk's vocal
2:05
criticisms highlight the growing tensions between ideals of open
2:09
innovation and the realities of funding and profiting from
2:12
advanced AI research. Now, myself, I'm an open source
2:18
kind of guy. I'm a developer.
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I've been developed apps for companies that have gotten
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millions and millions of uses, and I've open sourced some of my
2:28
technology that large corporations have used.
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So I'm a proponent of open source.
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I'm also a proponent of capitalism and making money.
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And so I understand the two points that are being discussed
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here, but the announcement of Grok's open sourcing was made by
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Moscone X. Of course, it used to be
2:48
Twitter, and it's challenging Open AI directly and other
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leading AI developers. And by offering Grok as an open
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source tool, Xai aims to democratize access to advanced
3:02
AI, potentially fostering a more inclusive, innovative field of
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AI development that's not confined by the commercial
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interest of a few dominant players.
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It opens up the playing field now.
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The debate over open sourcing AI is not new, but has gained fresh
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momentum in light of Musk's lawsuit against open AI, and
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proponents argue that Open Access to AI technologies can
3:23
accelerate innovation and application across diverse
3:26
fields. However, there's significant
3:29
concerns about the potential misuse of open source AI,
3:32
including fears that it could be exploited for harmful purposes
3:36
such as terrorism or the development of uncontrollable AI
3:40
entities. Now Musk's vision for AI
3:43
governance includes the creation of a third party oversight body,
3:47
a concept he advocated for at least last year's AI safety
3:51
summit in the UK. And such an organization would
3:54
monitor AI development across the industry, providing a check
3:57
against potentially dangerous or unethical applications of the
4:00
tech. This proposal reflects Musk's
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ongoing concerns about ethics and safety implications of
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unchecked AI. Now Musk and Xai and also Grok
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were driven by his desire for the alternative to the AI
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development models pursued by Open AI and Google and Microsoft
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and larger companies. And Musk aims for XAI to embody
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a commitment to maximum truth seeking AI, he says, a goal that
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underpins the decision to open source Grok and engage a wider
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community. This development and
4:34
application. Now, Musk's position on open
4:37
source AI was further clarified in a conversation with Lex
4:40
Friedman last November, though, where he lamented the
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development of open AI from its original open source ethos.
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Scathing and his remarks under score this tension between the
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fundamental principles of open AI and its current operational
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model, which Musk's perceived as overly profit driven and
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restrictive in terms of access to AI technologies.
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Now this lawsuit against Open AI presents a pivotal moment in
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Musk's long standing relationship with the
5:09
organization. Having been a founding member
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himself, Musk's departure from the board in 2018 was a huge
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turning point for the company, leading to his current
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adversarial stance. His legal challenge raises
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important questions, though, about the commitments and
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responsibility of AI organizations and their
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alignment with broader societal interests.
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Open A is response to Musk's lawsuit has been to assert its
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continued dedication to developing AI in a matter that
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benefits humanity as a whole. The organization argues that the
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scale resources required for advanced AI development
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necessitated the shift for a for profit model, a decision that
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Musk was purportedly in agreement with in 2017.
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Now this defense highlights the complex balance between Musk's
5:57
ideals of open sourcing AI tech, but also the necessity, the
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absolute necessity of the money that you need to buy these
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chipsets. The NVIDIA GPU is that you need
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to drive the way that these things function.
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It costs a lot of money, and sometimes open sourcing
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technology doesn't make you any money, and most of the time
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that's the case. Now to make money.
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Open AI has different business models, but Elon Musk thinks
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they should be completely open and no privatization of it, and
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no way to capitalize on the finances of the people like
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myself who pay for Open AI. And the legal battle between
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Musk and Open AI is also complicated by the definitions
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and expectations surrounding artificial general intelligence.
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Proves that Open AI has deviated from its mission involving open
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sourcing everything, and they're demonstrating that ChatGPT 4 or
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its successors constitute AGI, a challenging task given that the
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current state of AI technology and the evolving understanding
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of what actually AGI entails. Now, the controversy surrounding
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Open AI's direction and Musk's lawsuit could have broader
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implications on the AI industry, potentially affecting Open AI's
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market position and the trust of its customers and partners.
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I don't think it's going to really do that much, though I I
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think they're going to be competitors.
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In a weird way, I think Elon is more competitive than Sam Altman
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about this. Sam knows his role.
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He knows what's going on and working with Microsoft, he
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almost has an infinite amount of money and capital coming into
7:50
the organization, so we won't really have to worry about that.
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And the recent turmoil within Open AI, including the temporary
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dismissal of Sam Altman, has already raised concerns amongst
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stakeholders about the organization's stability and the
8:04
governance. But Sam is back back on the
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board. And amidst these developments,
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Musk continues to use his platform on X to critique Open
8:12
AI, of course, and advocate for a more open approach to AI
8:15
development. His interactions with users on a
8:18
platform reflects strong opinions on the need for
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transparency and accessibility in AI, as well as his
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skepticisms towards Open AIS current trajectory.
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Now, I want you to think about this for a moment.
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Do you think Elon is kind of mad about being booted from Open AI
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because he he's gone in 2018? That's something you have to
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think about. You can't just sit back and
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accept things the way that they are.
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There's really no reason for Elon to lie to us, right?
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But could he be upset that he's not part of Open AI now?
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Seeing all of their current success and how far ahead they
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are than a lot of the other AI technologies out there?
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There's a possibility. I just want to keep that open,
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make sure that you keep an open to mind about these things
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because you never know what's going on behind the scenes.
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And Grok and the way that Elon is expressing that he wants to
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take everything open source now, which he didn't before, he
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didn't say anything about that before, why would he do that?
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So I just think about that. Could it be the reason could be?
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Maybe. Maybe he.
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Likes the idea of open AI. You know ChatGPT is not open for
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a paying customer, it's not open.
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You can do numerous things with a paid account.
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ChatGPT is open to the public. You can use it whenever you want
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to. There are limitations, but I
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mean, it's a free tool for everybody to use.
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But they don't open source their code, and that's where Elon is
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different than Open AI. He's going to open source the
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code, apparently. We don't know how much he's
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going to open source though. So he could open source 100% of
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this and give everybody a free license to do whatever they want
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with Grok. Or he could open source certain
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segments of the code if he does the certain segments.
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And it's not really open source in my opinion as an open source
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developer myself. If you're going to open source
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something, open source the whole thing, make a tool for somebody,
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make the whole tool available to everybody.
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So the way that he open sources, this is going to be a very, very
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interesting tell on what he's interested in.
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Could he be just opening, open sourcing, something to throw in
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Sam Altman and open the eye's face?
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There's a possibility. Is he spiteful?
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Is he a spiteful person? That's up to you to decide.
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But there's a there's going to be some interesting things
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happening around Open AI and Grok in the near future.
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Because I mean any open source competitor to ChatGPT is going
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to be welcomed for everybody. If somebody could build off of
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Grok also, that's the other thing.
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If he open sources in some certain licenses, open sourcing,
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you can make derivatives. But you also have to make sure
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that eventually if Grok and Xai go private again, you take some
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of your money that you make from this thing 'cause you could open
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like an open source project. If it's fully open source, you
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can do whatever you want to with it.
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You can make as much money as you want to from it.
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But if he rescinds the license at some point, there's a
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possibility you have to pay the guy or you have to pay Xai for
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the tools that you built and the money that you made from it.
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So we have to really be careful of these open source projects
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and which parts of them that he's open sourcing.
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So we'll have more information about the parts that he's open
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sourcing in the future. Of course, it's a strategic
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move, though. It could reshape the dynamics of
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all AI development. There's alternative models now
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that prioritize accessibility and community involvement over
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control and profit. It's a potential to catalyze a
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new wave of innovation in AI. But also Meta has done this
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before too. Meta's open sourcing most of the
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stuff. So you know how much is going to
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change everything? We're not 100% sure, but there's
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tensions between Musk and Open AI.
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Power and control. It's going to be in the hands of
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tech giants now. Sam Altman?
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You know, a rich guy. Elon Musk, super rich guy.
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They're tech giants. There's no difference between
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Xai if it's closed sourced and open AI if it's closed sourced
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or if Xai goes open source. It has to go full open source or
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it's not real true open source. So everything should be open
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source. The language model, that's
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that's up for debate. But the technology running the
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language model, if you supply your own language model, that's
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OK in my eyes. So it's got to be an interesting
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next 3-4 weeks. That's supposed to happen
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sometime this month. And the outcome of Musk's
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lawsuit against Open AI and the impact of Grok's open sourcing
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remain to be seen. Now, it's going to happen in the
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next few weeks and we'll be here for you.
13:47
This episode is going to be a little bit different.
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I'm going to be talking off the cuff about Space XS Starship,
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which will be doing its third test flight hopefully on
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Thursday of this week. Now, either Thursday or Friday,
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we're still waiting for the FAA to approve Starship's flight,
14:06
but everything else is in place. SpaceX has tested the rocket
14:11
booster numerous times. They've done cryogenic testing,
14:15
which means they fill up the booster with cryogenic fluid.
14:19
And that makes it absolutely super cold, because when a
14:24
rocket fires its engines, it gets extremely hot.
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Now the fuel inside is pumped through.
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They make sure that the cryogenics work.
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They make sure that all the plumbing works on the base
14:36
station down at stage zero. Stage zero is where they
14:41
launched the rocket from. So they have the the rocket
14:45
launching facility down at Boca Chica Beach, which is also known
14:48
as Starbase, and the ground facilities.
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They've had a huge revamp recently.
14:55
They've added new, they've added new fuel decks, They've added
14:59
new plumbing to the thing. It's been millions of dollars in
15:03
the making. And they've also added new
15:07
piping. They've added new electronics to
15:11
the the launch deck. They've also added a water
15:14
deluge. System, and if you're not.
15:15
Familiar what a water deer system is.
15:18
It basically pumps millions of gallons of water underneath the
15:22
rocket for noise suppression and so basically the rocket doesn't
15:27
explode the launchpad. This has kilotons worth of
15:33
power. It is the most powerful rocket
15:36
and the biggest rocket that's ever flown.
15:39
They made it to space last time for the IFT 2 flight, IFT 1.
15:44
Didn't go too well, but it went, you know, better than expected.
15:47
Elon has said numerous times he didn't think it was going to
15:50
even get off the pad, but it cleared the pad, it launched and
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now the wonderful thing is they learned from the mistakes in IFT
16:01
One from IFT One and both the rocket and the booster and the
16:05
ship itself. Starship exploded during IFT
16:08
One. Same thing happened during IFT
16:10
2, but during IFT 2 they started this thing called the hot
16:14
staging technique. And hot staging is when they
16:18
ignite the rocket which is on top of the booster during stage
16:23
separation. So about 50 seconds into the
16:26
flight, I think it's about 50 seconds.
16:28
About a minute into the flight, they start to separate the the
16:32
rocket and the booster itself. And that's right after Max Q,
16:36
which is the most dynamic pressure that's put on the
16:40
rocket during this flight. And once they make it past Max
16:42
Q, they know they can go to the next stage, which is stage
16:45
separation. Now stage separation is very
16:48
important because you can't send the rocket booster and the
16:51
Starship to space. The booster has to come back,
16:54
land, get refurbished and then go up again.
16:58
So what they did last time, hot staging at about a minute, ish
17:03
into the flight, they separated, started separating the booster
17:06
in the ship and when they did that they ignited the ship's
17:10
rocket engines, which is in itself.
17:14
This is a rarely done move in Space Flight because it's just
17:17
not needed. But something this powerful like
17:20
need to push the booster away from the ship.
17:23
And they need that extra kick that the ship can get from the
17:27
booster 'cause it's pushing against the booster as the
17:30
booster's still pushing forward and up.
17:32
So they use that kick stage the the hot staging, to push it up
17:37
even further and faster. So when they do that, the
17:40
booster gets set back down towards Earth.
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It does not flip, almost a full flip at that point, and then
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it's going to reignite its engines.
17:50
The booster will reignite its engines, 33 Raptor engines when
17:53
they started, but they're going to do a few of them on the way
17:56
back in, what they do with a Falcon 9 rocket, very similar.
17:59
And then they'll land the booster, this time IFT 3, which
18:04
we're talking about, they're going to be landing that softly
18:07
in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, if this all goes as
18:10
planned, the booster won't blow up.
18:14
They'll do a very soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico because
18:17
they have to learn how to land this.
18:19
Elon said it took about 15 flights for the Falcon 9 to land
18:24
properly. Now if that's the case, SpaceX
18:28
has about 10 more flights before the booster will land properly
18:33
and the ship will land properly. But for Falcon nine, they didn't
18:37
have a top half of it. The fairing and anything on top
18:40
of the booster is expendable, except when they send people to
18:44
space. So the fairing just falls back
18:47
down to Earth for a Falcon 9. And with Starship, there's a
18:50
whole upper stage that they have to land and they're going to
18:53
land this thing vertically. Now the difference between IFT 2
18:57
and IFT 3, there's a couple, there's a few things we have to
19:00
talk about as far as differences go, but before we do that, let's
19:03
talk about what happened to the IFT 2 ship.
19:06
It's a few minutes into the flight after the stage
19:10
separation, after the booster blew up, as it was doing the
19:14
flip, they did the flight termination system because they
19:17
figured that the booster wasn't going to make it, so they blew
19:20
it up and few minutes into the flight after that, the ship was
19:24
exploded as well because it wasn't going to make it.
19:27
They released too much fuel. They were going to do, they're
19:30
going to bleed some fuel out and then they had to terminate the
19:33
flight at that point. So booster didn't make it, ship
19:38
didn't make it. But from the data that they
19:40
gathered from both of those occurrences, they made
19:43
improvements for IFT 3. So when IFT 3 happens, we're
19:48
hoping for a full stage separation, hot staging, and the
19:54
flip maneuver by the booster. This thing is.
19:55
Massive, by the way. If you've never seen this thing,
19:59
it is about 250 feet tall. So think of a 25 story building,
20:05
One of the biggest things that's ever flown to be honest with
20:08
you, because it's so round as well.
20:10
It's so big. It's 30 feet around, It's 9
20:13
meters in diameter, so The thing is massive.
20:17
Massive. And they've got to do the flip
20:21
maneuver, soft land it in the Gulf of Mexico, hopefully.
20:26
And if they do that, that is a huge win.
20:28
That's huge for a SpaceX 'cause. Then they can move forward with
20:32
a guided soft landing out to certain parts of the ocean, or
20:36
they can have a or, sorry, the Gulf of Mexico.
20:39
Or they could do a guided burn back towards Starbase.
20:43
And eventually, I don't think they're going to be doing it
20:45
right away. They have another launch tower
20:47
that they want to build before I believe they're going to do a
20:50
some sort of landing at Starbase.
20:53
So having a landing pad at Starbase would be OK catching it
20:57
with the tower. That's what they're going for,
21:01
because they can't do a landing on the booster without catching
21:06
it, but. If you've never seen the.
21:07
The catch tower, it's it's also massive, 400 foot tall, 410, I
21:13
believe it is 413 feet tall. It's a massive structure and
21:20
when they catch this thing 250 foot tall booster on a 400 foot
21:24
tall tower, it's going to be absolutely amazing.
21:29
So if they do that event, they'll do that eventually.
21:31
I'm probably going to give them about 10 more flights before
21:34
they even try that. They have to do a bunch of
21:36
guided flights, make sure that everything works perfectly fine,
21:40
and then if they can get it nailed for five or six flights
21:44
in a row, I believe there will be ready to catch it.
21:47
But they need to get the second tower up, because if something
21:49
does happen to the catch tower or the launch tower, it's the
21:52
same thing. Launch and catch is the same
21:54
thing, so something happens to one of the towers.
21:57
They need to have a backup because they can't just wait
22:00
months if the booster comes in hot, breaks a bunch of stuff
22:04
because there's hundreds of miles of cables and pipes that
22:08
connect everything at Starbase. If anything goes wrong, this
22:11
thing is made out of stainless steel too.
22:12
So if anything goes wrong, shards of stainless steel could
22:16
explode and just devastate some of these pipes, some of the
22:22
tankers, some of the tanks equipment nearby, it's it would
22:25
be a massive process to get it back up and flying.
22:28
And also at that point they have to deal with federal
22:32
regulations, if FAA etcetera, and then that's gonna be a big
22:37
deal. So if something happens that's a
22:39
mishap, they have to do a full mishap investigation and it
22:42
could push them back a year. So they have to make sure this
22:45
is absolutely perfect for IFT 3. They're going to try to land the
22:50
booster in the Gulf of Mexico and they're going to, which this
22:54
is a cool part. They're going to launch the
22:57
Starship all the way to the Indian Ocean before they were
23:00
going to go to the off the coast of Hawaii, Kauai for the first
23:07
two flights. That was their plan and they
23:09
switched it to the Indian Ocean for safety reasons.
23:12
We're not exactly sure, Elon and SpaceX hasn't released the
23:15
details about the safety reasons, but they're gonna be
23:18
landing in the Indian Ocean and when they land in the Indian
23:20
Ocean with a ship, they would have done a few things in
23:24
between the launch and the landing.
23:26
One of those things is a fuel. It's they're moving fuel from
23:31
one container to another container within the Starship
23:34
itself. This is for a bigger problem
23:36
that SpaceX is solving, which is they're gonna be doing in orbit
23:42
refueling. So they need to make sure that
23:43
the fuel can actually move around the Starship.
23:46
And also they're going to be checking the payload doors for
23:50
Starship, and the payload doors are very important payload
23:55
doors. It's a Pez dispenser at this
23:58
point for the Starlink missions. Now Starlink, if you're not
24:02
familiar, it's space XS, broadband, rural satellite,
24:07
Internet service, and it's a massive moneymaker for SpaceX.
24:13
Now if they could launch hundreds of Starlinks in a month
24:17
as opposed to 30, it would be a game changer for SpaceX, it
24:22
would. The revenue would increase
24:24
dramatically. They can have more coverage and
24:28
more people using the service. Better service for everybody.
24:31
It's just a no brainer. And Starship can hold an
24:34
infinite amount more than a Falcon 9.
24:37
There's just no comparison to it.
24:39
So if they can nail this time the next flight they may launch
24:44
some Starlink satellites into orbit, adjust to test it and see
24:48
if it works. So that might be an interesting
24:50
one for IFT 4, but IFT 3, if they do, they're just gonna test
24:55
the mechanism to launch those out and the Hatch, things like
24:59
that. And as far as we know, that's.
25:01
It. Except for landing in the Indian
25:03
Ocean and getting to orbit, or getting the space for the
25:06
Starship and. As far as we know, that's.
25:10
The Those are the big ones. Those are the big takeaways for
25:12
this launch. I wanna, I wanna thank you, of
25:16
course for listening to the show.
25:17
If you are a Space Flight enthusiast, come check us out
25:21
over on YouTube. Space News Pod.
25:24
Space News Pod on YouTube is my Space Flight channel.
25:28
Please take a second. Go over there.
25:29
Subscribe. Gonna be doing a live launch for
25:34
the Starship tomorrow morning, Thursday morning at 7:00 AM.
25:40
So get ready for that. It's going to be wild.
25:42
Hopefully the FAA comes through with the launch license within
25:46
the next 12 hours. That's all we got though, and
25:50
that's all we're waiting for. Well, thanks again, everybody.
25:53
Take care of yourselves and I will see you in the next one.
25:56
And make sure to subscribe to this show too.
25:58
And the space. News Pod on YouTube.
26:01
Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you
26:31
tomorrow. Hey everybody, welcome back to
26:37
the Elon Musk podcast. This is a show where we discuss
26:41
the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
26:45
Boring Company, and Neuralink. And I'm your host Will Walden if
26:49
you want uninterrupted episodes of the Elon Musk podcast.
26:53
Please go to club. Elon.supercast.com to find out
26:58
how there's a link in the show notes.
27:01
This morning SpaceX launched their massive Starship rocket
27:04
and they completed 1/2 world journey after launching from
27:08
South Texas Starbase Boca Chica. Now this is a low Earth orbit
27:13
launch. It's a crucial capability for
27:16
future launches for Starship, and the launch occurred from
27:19
Starbase at about 8:25 AM Central time.
27:23
This is the third iteration of the full stack Starship rocket
27:27
flight. It's 397 feet tall.
27:30
And its width. Is bigger than a 747 jumbo jet
27:35
is huge. It's about 30 feet around and it
27:37
had its take off time adjusted to ensure the surrounding waters
27:41
were clear of any vessels. So people in boats were hanging
27:45
out in the no fly zone and SpaceX had to take extra little,
27:49
a little bit extra time to move those boats.
27:51
Get those boats out of there. They were supposed to launch in
27:55
about 7:30 AM Central time, so 8:30 AM my time and Eastern
28:00
Time. And they had to push it back
28:03
about an hour to get those boats out of there, which is very
28:06
crucial, very beneficial to those boats because it's very
28:10
dangerous to be under the giant shrapnel tube that is Starship.
28:17
That is if it didn't work out right.
28:18
But this launch went pretty well actually.
28:22
So this flight built on previous test, there's marked
28:27
improvements, and now they're moving closer to operational
28:30
satellite launches for the Starlink.
28:33
They're going to accelerate Starlink satellite deployments,
28:36
and this will contribute to the company's expansive network of
28:41
satellites orbiting the Earth right now and also accelerate
28:45
their bottom line. They make money from Starlink
28:48
and if they can deploy hundreds of Starlinks more per month,
28:53
they will have more coverage and people will be able to get the
28:56
the coverage more and they'll have better coverage for the
28:59
people on the Earth and therefore make more money.
29:02
So Elon Musk celebrated this launch.
29:06
He's prideful about what happened with the team.
29:09
He said Starship reach orbital velocity, which is a huge deal
29:14
for a Starship because the next, probably the next phase is to
29:19
get it to orbit. IFT 4 to get it to orbit, make
29:22
sure that everything works right.
29:23
They open up the Hatch door today, they did a propellant
29:26
transfer demonstration. They closed the Hatch door.
29:30
It was a pretty big milestone, a bunch of little milestones that
29:33
were pretty big. And there's several firsts that
29:37
happened during this flight. And one of those was the payload
29:41
door. That happened.
29:43
The payload door opens and closes sort of like a Pez
29:45
dispenser. That's what they call it.
29:48
And that was that happened for about 20 minutes straight, and
29:52
there was also an internal transfer liquid oxygen
29:55
propellant. They're stepping stones towards
30:00
in orbit fuel refueling, which is a necessity for more extended
30:05
space missions, including the Artemis missions for NASA lunar
30:08
landings and also Mars missions. Now, not all objectives were
30:14
met, though. The Super Heavy booster failed
30:16
to execute a controlled splashdown leading to an
30:20
uncontrolled descent into the Gulf of Mexico, which is you
30:23
know, they plan for these things and they'll learn from it.
30:25
Additionally, a planned Raptor engine restart in space did not
30:29
occur with SpaceX yet to provide any explanation about why that
30:33
happened or why they didn't happen.
30:36
So Starship also allows for substantial payload
30:40
capabilities, promising to deliver up to 150 metric tons to
30:45
lower Earth orbit and an expendable configuration.
30:49
This capacity nearly double S to about 300 metric tons, which is
30:54
an absolutely massive amount of things to send to the Earth
30:59
orbit. It's it's incredible how much
31:04
300 tons, 300 metric tons of things are.
31:09
Now Musk is talking about Starship.
31:12
Recently he envisaged it as a cornerstone in his plan for
31:15
interplanetary human settlement, particularly Mars, and in the
31:18
shorter term, Starship will play a crucial role in satellite
31:22
deployment in an integral role in NASA's Artemis program for
31:26
lunar exploration. Starting with Artemis 3 in about
31:29
2028 probably, the flight demonstrated the reliability of
31:33
the Super heavy booster's 33 Raptor engines, all of which
31:36
performed great. The thrust powered the rocket on
31:39
its initial climb and subsequent trajectory over the Gulf of
31:42
Mexico, now approximately 2 minutes and 42 seconds post
31:45
launch, the booster began shutting down its engines,
31:48
initiating a hot staging process.
31:51
Now this technique, which was inspired by Russian rocketry,
31:55
allows for a seamless transition between stages, avoiding any
31:58
interrupted thrust. So basically the booster is
32:03
still going up and out and as that's happening the stages
32:07
start separating, but when they separate the ship actually
32:11
ignites its engines and it pushes the booster back a little
32:14
bit while also pushing the second stage, the Starship
32:17
vehicle itself up towards orbit faster.
32:20
Now the upper stage is 6 Raptor engines then propelled the
32:23
vehicle to a near orbital velocity reaching a peak
32:26
altitude of 144 miles and like Elon said, they did get to
32:32
orbital velocity. Eventually the design trajectory
32:36
ensured that the spacecraft would re enter the atmosphere
32:38
before completing a full orbit, preventing it from becoming
32:42
space debris. We don't want that.
32:43
We don't want it to burn up. We want to test all the systems
32:46
on the way back in. Now comparing the 1st 3 orbital
32:49
test flights of Starship though, a clear trajectory of
32:53
improvement is evident. The initial flight faced engine
32:56
failures and caused huge damage to the launchpad.
32:59
The second flight saw no engine failures, though a propellant
33:03
tank led to the Rockets destruction.
33:06
Now also the reliability of the Raptor engines has been
33:10
confirmed over the last two flights, addressing earlier
33:13
concerns regarding their performance.
33:15
This is a huge achievement for Space XS rocket technology.
33:19
It shows that they can continue to build these and they're on
33:22
the right track to build hundreds of these.
33:24
According to Elon Musk, now on boards, cameras during this
33:28
flight were unprecedented, including the hot staging
33:32
process and the rocket its whole journey across the globe.
33:37
Their valuable insights into the rocket's performance and the
33:41
behavior in various phases of the flight for SpaceX.
33:45
But also we got to see them as well.
33:48
So that was a really, really great treat for all of us rocket
33:51
fans out there. And this flight was a success,
33:56
but it concluded over the Indian Ocean where Starship RE entered
33:59
the Earth's atmosphere and was ultimately destroyed.
34:02
But we also got great video of that.
34:05
So if you haven't seen that yet, please check it out on Space XS
34:10
X account. But despite all the failures, it
34:13
was deemed the most successful today, fulfilling several
34:16
crucial objectives. And NASA's anticipation for this
34:20
mission stems from $4 billion investment in Starship for lunar
34:25
missions. The test represents a
34:27
significant step forwards for humans to return to the moon,
34:31
especially with that propellant transfer.
34:33
That's something they'll have to do for the Artemis missions to
34:35
get people back to the moon. Now SpaceX has several more
34:40
starships in production. They're continuing to aim for
34:44
test flights throughout the year.
34:46
Elon said he wants to have nine test flights.
34:48
Realistically, if they can get to 9 test flights, that would be
34:52
ridiculous. Everybody that I've talked to so
34:56
far in the spaceflight category has said six at best.
35:02
More than likely they'll have four more this year, but six at
35:06
the best. But if they can get nine, they
35:08
still have to get approval for the 9 as well, which they
35:10
probably will get approval now with each subsequent flight,
35:15
though, they're going to be refining Starships design and
35:17
capabilities every single time. The iterative process is crucial
35:21
for developing the future success of Starship, and every
35:26
single ship will be better, faster, more powerful, more
35:30
reliable, and be able to get things to low Earth orbit in a
35:34
more timely manner. And each test is a learning
35:38
opportunity. Hardware is evolving.
35:42
Software is evolving. The ground systems are all
35:44
evolving every single launch. And SpaceX advances its mission
35:49
of space exploration, and they're inching closer to its
35:52
goals of interplanetary travel and also habitation.
35:56
Every single launch of Starship. So Reddit has recently adjusted
36:01
CEO Steve Huffman's compensation structure in anticipation of its
36:05
forthcoming initial public offering or its IPO.
36:08
Now this is a recalibration of its market value expectations,
36:12
But previously Huffman's compensation included incentives
36:15
tied to the company achieving a $25 billion market valuation.
36:19
Upon going public, these incentives had been revised,
36:22
reflecting a more conservative outlook on the company's IPO
36:25
performance. Now in a detailed review of
36:28
companies documents, it was discovered that in December
36:31
Reddit retracted specific executive awards contingent upon
36:34
the company reaching A lofty market capitalization post IPO.
36:38
This move shows a strategic pivot in the company's approach
36:42
to execute compensation and valuation aspirations.
36:46
And despite the adjustment in valuation based incentives,
36:49
Huffman maintains eligibility for restricted stock units, or
36:52
Rs US, contingent on the company sustaining a $5 billion market
36:57
valuation. Over.
36:58
A 10 day period. A recent updates to the
37:01
company's filing suggests that this revised valuation target
37:04
aligns with Reddit's current market expectations, with a
37:07
potential RSU value estimated at approximately $21 million.
37:12
Now, this recalibration of financial expectations is a
37:16
significant tempering of ambition for Redis IPO posited
37:20
as a notable event in the tech industry's market listings for
37:23
the year. The company initially filed for
37:25
an IPO confidentially in 2021, but decided to postpone,
37:29
influenced by an environment of increasing interest rates in a
37:32
downturn in tech stock valuations.
37:36
The company, Reddit, is poised to list shares on the New York
37:39
Stock Exchange imminently, with pricing markedly low to its last
37:44
private valuation of $10 billion.
37:47
The strategy shows that the company's pragmatic adjustments
37:49
to current market conditions in investor sentiment are 100%
37:53
real. Now there's executive
37:58
compensation amendments going on here, now there's concerns about
38:01
that, too. And there's Because there's late
38:03
changes to Huffman's incentives, these adjustments might not
38:08
adequately motivate the CEO towards substantial post IPO
38:12
stock value growth. It's a potential issue for any
38:16
investor's perspective going into this IPO.
38:20
Now, while Huffman's compensation has been adjusted,
38:22
some aspects of executive incentives remain tied to
38:26
ambitious valuation targets. Notably, Huffman and Chief
38:29
Operating Officer Jennifer Wong retain eligibility for stock
38:32
options and performance awards linked to the company reaching
38:35
$25 billion valuation. This is a mix of conservative
38:39
and aspirational targets within the executive compensation
38:41
structure. Now Huffman, who's a Co founder
38:44
of Reddit, known by the user name Spez, has been pivotal in
38:48
the company's growth and strategic direction since its
38:50
operation and his return in 2015.
38:54
And utter his leadership. Reddit has expanded this user
38:56
base and enhanced its advertising revenue streams,
38:59
navigating through periods of organizational challenges.
39:02
And the delay in Reddit's IPO has afforded the company a
39:06
little bit of additional time to diversify its revenue sources
39:09
beyond traditional advertising, venturing into E com and also
39:12
data licensing. And these initiatives had
39:15
contributed to a revenue increase of over 20% last year,
39:19
totaling $804 million. Although the company has not yet
39:22
achieved profitability with a reporting net loss of almost $91
39:27
million in 2023. Now, this data licensing is a
39:32
key aspect of Reddit's future. With large language models and
39:37
AI, they can use all the data from the users, all the posts,
39:41
all the comments, all the up votes as data for AP is for AI
39:47
subsets. And as Reddit prepares for its
39:49
IPO and a competitive and scrutinized market, its ability
39:53
to attract investor interest remains a little bit uncertain
39:56
right now, especially given its lack of profitability and the
39:59
challenging landscape for digital advertising revenue.
40:03
Company's performance in this regard will serve as a litmus
40:06
test for the market's receptiveness to tech IPOs right
40:08
now. In anticipation of its stock
40:11
market debut, Reddit has outlined strategic plans to
40:14
bolster its fledgling advertising sector and diversify
40:17
revenue streams, including content licensing.
40:20
Company aims to leverage these initiatives to improve financial
40:23
health and engage potential investors by offering IPO shares
40:27
to its user base. A move that could generate
40:29
considerable buzz and engagement.
40:32
Despite these growth efforts, potential investors face the
40:35
prospect of buying into a company that has not yet
40:38
reported a profitable year. And amidst fierce competition
40:42
for advertising revenues from larger, more established
40:45
companies, this context raises questions about Reddit's
40:48
valuation and its appeal to investors seeking substantial
40:52
and sustainable growth and profitability.
40:55
This IPO, with a targeted valuation significantly lower
40:58
than previous estimates, is a cautious approach in a market
41:01
environment that has growth increasingly wary of high
41:04
valuations for unprofitable companies.
41:07
This pricing decision underscores the company's
41:09
adjustment to market realities and also investor sentiments.
41:13
Keep it low, people will invest, and the company's decision to
41:17
reserve a portion of its IPO shares for its user community
41:21
introduces a unique element to its public offering, potentially
41:25
increasing stock volatility due to unpredictable trading
41:28
behaviors of retail investors. And this approach, while
41:31
fostering community engagement, introduces additional dynamics
41:34
that can impact the stock market's performance.
41:38
Now, I was invited to be part of those IPO shares.
41:42
I haven't reserved my shares quite yet, but I may be
41:46
investing in this. And mind you, this is not
41:49
investment advice from me or from the show or from the
41:51
company, so just want to let you know that I got in.
41:55
Hopefully you get it too. Now, Reddit's competitive
41:57
positioning in the social media and digital advertising
42:00
marketplaces will be scrutinized within the next week.
42:04
The company's ability to carve out a substantial niche amid
42:07
formidable competitors will be critical to its long term
42:10
success and attractiveness to new investors.
42:13
After the IPO, the market conditions right now
42:17
characterized by recent listings that are lacklustre in
42:20
performance and an uncertain interest rate landscape, pose
42:23
additional challenges for Reddit's IPO right now.
42:26
The company's market debut will be closely watched all the way
42:29
through 2024 and 2025. We've seen it happen before.
42:33
Tech stocks have been valued so high and within six months
42:38
completely plummet off the face of the earth.
42:41
So Reddit's a cool place. I enjoy it.
42:44
I think it's fun. I don't know if you like it,
42:47
Maybe it's a a good investment for you.
42:50
Maybe you can help support the company, but as they navigate
42:53
the public offerings, the company's performance will offer
42:56
valuable insights into viability of new tech IPOs in the current
43:00
economic and market environment. The outcome of this IPO could
43:05
influence the strategies of other tech companies that are
43:07
similar to Reddit, considering public listings shaping the
43:11
trajectory of the IPO market in the near term.
43:16
As part of NASA's Artemis campaign to return humans to the
43:19
moon for the benefit of all, NASA is working with SpaceX to
43:23
develop the company's large, gigantic Starship Human Landing
43:28
system, the HLS, which will land astronauts near the moon's South
43:32
Pole during the Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 missions.
43:36
And on March 14th, SpaceX launched the third integrated
43:39
flight test of its Super Heavy booster and Starship upper
43:42
stage. This is an important milestone
43:44
toward providing NASA with a Starship HLS for its Artemis
43:48
missions. A complement of 33 Raptor
43:51
engines fueled by super cooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen
43:55
powered this super heavy booster with Starship stacked atop from
43:59
the company's Starbase orbital launchpad at 8:25 AM CDT.
44:05
Now Starship using 6 Raptor engines separated from the Super
44:08
Heavy booster, employing a hot staging technique to fire the
44:11
engines before separation and approximately 3 minutes into the
44:15
flight in accordance with the flight plan.
44:18
Now this was the 3rd flight test of the integrated Super Heavy
44:22
Starship system. Now with each flight test,
44:27
SpaceX attempts increasingly ambitious objectives for
44:30
Starship to learn as much as possible for future mission
44:34
systems development. The ability to test key systems
44:37
and processes and flight scenarios like these integrated
44:41
tests allows both NASA and SpaceX to gather crucial data
44:45
needed for the continued development of Starship HLS.
44:49
Now, the test accomplished several important firsts that
44:52
will contribute to the development of Starship.
44:54
For Artemis lunar landing missions, the spacecraft reaches
44:57
expected orbit and Starship completed the full duration
45:00
ascent burn. An objective closely tied to
45:03
future Artemis missions is a transfer of thousands of pounds
45:07
of cryogenic propellant between internal tanks during the
45:10
spacecraft's coast phase as part of NASA's Space Technology
45:13
Missions Directorate 2020 Tipping Point Awards.
45:17
Now the propellant transfer demonstration operations were
45:20
completed and the NASA SpaceX team is currently reviewing the
45:23
flight data that was received during those tests.
45:26
This tipping point technology demonstration is one of more
45:28
than 20 development activities that NASA is undertaking to
45:31
solve the challenges of using cryogenic fluids during the
45:34
future missions. NASA A key step forward
45:38
understanding how super cool propellant sloshes within these
45:41
tanks when the engines are shut down, and how that movement
45:45
effects Starship stability while in orbit.
45:47
Engineers will study flight test data to assess the performance
45:51
of thrusters that control starship's orientation in space.
45:54
We're also interested to learn more about how the fluids
45:57
movement within the tanks can be settled to maximize propellant
46:00
transfer efficiency and ensure Raptor engines receive needed
46:04
propellant conditions to support restart in orbit.
46:07
Now, storing and transferring cryogenic propellant in orbit
46:10
has never been attempted on this scale before.
46:14
But this is a game changing technology that must be
46:16
developed and matured for science and exploration missions
46:20
at the Moon, Mars and those that will venture even deeper into
46:25
the solar system. Now NASA's Artemis program, the
46:29
agency will land the first woman, the first person of color
46:32
and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar
46:35
surface and prepare for human expeditions to Mars.
46:39
And commercial human launch systems and landing system are
46:42
critical to deep space exploration along with the SLS
46:46
rocket, Orion spacecraft, advanced space suits, Rovers,
46:49
exploration ground systems and also the Gateway space station.
46:55
Now for the second time during this flight, all 33 Raptor
46:58
engines on the Super Heavy booster started up successfully
47:01
and completed a full duration burn during ascent and Starship
47:05
executed its second successful hot stage separation, powering
47:08
down all but three of Super Heavy's Raptor engines and
47:12
successfully igniting the six second stage Raptor engines
47:15
before separating the vehicles. Now following separation, the
47:18
Super Heavy booster successfully completed its flip move and
47:22
completed a full boost back burn to send it towards a splashdown
47:25
point in the Gulf of Mexico. Super Heavy successfully lit
47:29
several engines for its first ever landing burn before the
47:32
vehicle experienced a Rudd, which is a rapid unscheduled
47:37
disassembly now. The boosters flight concluded at
47:40
approximately 462 meters in altitude and just under 7
47:44
minutes into the mission. Starship's six second stage
47:47
Raptor engines all started successfully and powered the
47:50
vehicle to its expected orbit, becoming the first Starship to
47:53
complete its full duration ascent burn and while coasting
47:57
Starship accomplished several of the flight tests.
48:00
Additional objectives included the opening and closing of its
48:02
payload door or the Pez dispenser if you will, and
48:06
initiated A propellant transfer demonstration.
48:08
Starship did not attempt its planned on orbit relight of a
48:12
single Raptor engine due to vehicle roll rates during coast.
48:15
Our results from this demonstration will come after
48:19
post flight data review is complete.
48:22
Starship went on to experience its first over entry from space,
48:25
providing valuable data on heating and vehicle control
48:28
during hypersonic reentry. Now, live views of this were
48:31
made possible due to Starlink terminals operating on the
48:35
Starterm. They're absolutely brilliant
48:37
views. You have to check them out on
48:39
Space XS X page now. The flight test conclusion came
48:43
during entry with the last telemetry signals received via
48:47
Starlink from Starship at approximately 49 minutes into
48:50
the mission. And while the team receives and
48:53
reviews the data collected from the flight, Starship and Super
48:55
Heavy Vehicles are preparing for upcoming flights as they seek to
49:00
increase launch cadence throughout the year.
49:02
They want to do up to 9 launches this year.
49:05
Now, this is a rapid, iterative development approach.
49:09
You build it, you fly it, something happens, you figure
49:13
something out, you learn from that, then you fly the next one.
49:16
It's the basis for all of Spacex's major innovative
49:19
advancements, including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink.
49:22
It's called recursive improvement, and it's essential
49:25
in the way the SpaceX builds spacecraft.
49:27
They want to get Starship into Earth orbit.
49:31
They want to transport humans. They want it.
49:33
Completely. Reusable.
49:35
And they want to help. Humanity, return to the moon and
49:37
ultimately travel to the Red Planet on Mars.
49:40
Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
49:42
I really do appreciate your support.
49:44
If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow
49:47
button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening
49:49
on right now, I'd greatly appreciate it.
49:52
It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never
49:55
miss an episode. And each episode is about 10
49:58
minutes or less. To get you.
49:59
Caught U quickly and please, if you want to support the show
50:02
even more, go to Atreon Stage Zero and please take care of
50:09
yourselves and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.