All the pieces ready for George Jetson's tea at space restaurant...

Techtrepreneurs have done it again...and in a huge way. Space-X's grasshopper reusable test rocket took its eighth and last test flight on Monday, October 7th.

So what's so amazing about a rocket flying upward? After all, rocket scientists have been successfully launching tubes for decades.

The accomplishment is in the words "reusable" and "eighth." Until now, commercial rockets have been considered disposable. After all, without wings and bereft of fuel, what else can a multi-ton, ten-story tall vehicle do but fall back to earth?

Elon Musk, CEO of both Space-X and Tesla Motors, has committed himself and his fortune to changing all of that. As he explains, for mankind to successfully become a multi-planetary species, we must first learn how to access space safely and affordably.

Before Elon and Space-X stepped into what had largely been a government arena back in 2002, space-bound rockets cost approximately sixty million dollars each and were expected to completely burn up or land charred and useless in the ocean upon reentry to our atmosphere.

Imagine if every time we took a flight from the United States to Europe that we had to destroy the plane. Just how far along do you imagine intercontinental air travel would have gotten?

So, Space-X has been working diligently to build a reusable rocket...and they are almost there. The Grasshopper rocket soared 2,500 feet--a full half mile--into the air on Monday, October 7th, and successfully returned to its launch pad. Simultaneously, Space-X has been doing in-space re-ignition tests on their Falcon rockets, and Elon Musk has recently stated that his company now has all the basics needed to launch a rocket into space and return it safely to earth for reuse.

Now some would say that the space shuttles were already reusable...but not really. It took months, years sometimes, to renovate a returned space shuttle, and those repairs ran up bills of literally hundreds of millions of dollars. It was actually costing NASA more to reuse a space shuttle than it would have to simply send our astronauts up in freshly minted rocket ships.

No, what Space-X is talking about is new and breathtakingly revolutionary. They are potentially months away from launching the first fully reusable rocket ship into space, which means that for the first time mankind will be able to reach orbit for slightly more than the cost of fuel ($200,000) instead of the astronomical replacement cost of a complete ship.

Another company, Bigelow Space, has an entire collection of inflatable, orbital buildings ready for launch, and Space-X has contracts to take several of them skyward within the next few years. Since Bigelow Space is owned by a hotel chain billionaire, it's easy to understand how a George Jetson-style luncheon is not far from reality.
 

Mars colony IS happening! NASA testing menu on Mars astronauts in Hawaii...

There is a technological and cultural shift underway, and it is definitely extraterrestrial in nature. While most of us go about our Earth-bound lives, dozens of companies and countries are frantically scrambling to put together various Mars colony missions.

We have talked about many of those efforts in bits and pieces, and in a moment we will check out a Hawaiian study of six men and women testing isolation and food for a space trek. Before we go there, however, it might be worth asking ourselves why all of this is happening now.

In a word: Space-X. In 2002, Elon Musk started his Space Exploration company with the sole intention of rekindling mankind's passion for moving beyond our single-world existence.

He states that there are some very good reasons for roving further out into the solar system and eventually beyond, but first and foremost among them is that our species is a sitting duck for any planet-wide catastrophe, manmade or otherwise. Sure, pragmatists say life has survived on this planet for billions of years and will continue to survive, no matter what.

They would be right.

Unfortunately for the Cro-Magnons, dinosaurs, and saber tooth tigers that is little consolation. And I suspect our ghosts would also fail to appreciate pragmatic logic if and when cockroaches become the sole species on Big Ole Blue.

Aside from a species insurance policy, Elon Musk believes a multi-planetary future gives us something less tangible but even more important: hope. A future of space exploration is exciting and dream-worthy, whereas a dystopian existence on a single crowded planet might be categorized as hopeless.

So, what did Space-X hope to accomplish? Its goal was simple: send a greenhouse to Mars with the hope that it would catch the imaginations of world leaders and spur new interest in space. Somewhere along the way, however, Elon's company was forced to reduce the cost of building rockets, and those savings immediately attracted space payload interest.

In short, Space-X discovered that it could generate enough income to go further than launching one Mars greenhouse. It is now on a mission to become a transportation line to and from Mars and beyond. It hopes to become to modern society what the railroads were to the U.S. in the 1800's.

And, just like the railroad boom, space companies are flourishing and rushing to get their piece of the Space-X dream. Elon Musk is smiling because hope is alive and well.

Though the U.S. government has been nibbling ever-so-slowly at the Mars colonies cookie, it recognizes that mankind is now committed to making that leap. And so, as the grandfather with the most experience in maintaining lives in extra-terrestrial environments, NASA is busy solving the small but important problems, one of which is food.

The space agency has been developing special hybrids of vegetables that could survive and maybe even thrive in the thin Martian atmosphere. It has also been perfecting greenhouses for use on the red planet. Finally, it is now testing recipes and meal interactions among pseudo-astronauts who have been quarantined for four months in a special facility on a lava landscape in Hawaii.

It will be several months before the results of NASA's space food experiment are fully examined, but you can learn more right here: http://www.space.com/22360-mars-food-mock-space-mission-hawaii.html

We may soon be traveling in tubes at 3000 miles per hour...

If you've ever traveled from the East Coast to the West Coast by plane, then you know it makes for a long, long flight. Even in the first class seats, a full day of flying is just too much.

All of that may soon be changing, and once again Elon Musk (Space-X, Tesla Motors, PayPal) may be the personality behind a massive change. Shifting the paradigm is a term I've heard over the years; disrupting industries is another.

Regardless of how you label his efforts, Elon Musk is serving up civilization-altering ideas using technology that already exists. Some say he is Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Howard Hughes, all wrapped into a modern forty-two-year-old package.

So what's happening now? Simply put, Elon is doing it again.

For nearly a year he has been promising to reveal a high-tech option to California's planned high speed railway. The current plan calls for a super-fast train (built by 2029) to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours at speeds just over 200 miles per hour.

What's wrong with that? From Elon's perspective: everything!

Elon believes he could build what he calls The Hyperloop for 1/10th the cost. He also says it would easily make the same trip in under 45 minutes, would be Earthquake and weather proof, and could run entirely on solar power.

I know, I know. It's impossible, right?

Don't be so quick to judge. Elon Musk has already performed not one, not two, but three industrial miracles that have already changed our world.

He first thought it would be a great idea if there were a way to send money over the internet to any country in the world, without involving all sorts of complications like banks and Brinks trucks. PayPal now does exactly that and more.

Elon then decided that world governments were not doing nearly enough to improve the cost and methods of moving mankind into space. And so was born Space-X, a company that has revolutionized the entire space industry, both in affordability and in technological progress. Next up, according to company leadership: a permanent colony on Mars!

Of course, we also don't want to forget Elon's Tesla Motors. Even as a dozen solar car players have struggled or folded, Tesla has successfully brought long-range electric cars to market. Their Model S currently has customer waiting lists that are months long, and Consumer Reports called it the best car--not the best electric car--that they have ever rated.

Not bad for a tiny South African boy with science fiction dreams.

Today, Elon promises to release his plans for the Hyperloop, a 21st-century transportation system that is believed to consist of individual pressurized cars traveling inside an evacuated tube, likely using reverse polarity to keep the traveling compartments soaring, friction-free, above a magnetic rail.

If a can't-miss personality exists today, it's Elon Musk. And the fact that he's releasing his Hyperloop idea to the public, patent free, suggests that he's serious about displacing our current long-distance travel methods. He says if no one can successfully place the Hyperloop into mainstream use, he will do it himself as soon as electric cars are in every driveway and as soon as Mars has a human colony settled and growing.

Knowing Elon, we might want to think about selling our airline stocks.

Watch the news today for the big release. In the meantime, you can learn more about The Hyperloop transport system here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/inventor-entrepreneur-elon-musk-to-share-design-for-super-high-speed-travel-monday/2013/08/12/b4c355ce-0321-11e3-bfc5-406b928603b2_story.html



 

Absolutely True! NASA is working on Star Trek-ish Warp Engine!

There have been teasers floating around about this for six months now, but we now know it is true: NASA has begun investigating a possible warp drive to send spaceships soaring at faster-than-light speeds. The impossible dream has now become the investigated dream.

Elon Musk of Space-X hinted a few months ago that he believed faster-than-light travel was impossible but that it might be possible to bend space in some fashion so that two distant points would effectively be much closer together. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking have both published books that along the way attempted to simplify the concept of flexible space.

The best example I have ever heard (which originated with one of them) goes something like this: imagine our solar system as a huge piece of black rubber stretched across space. Now imagine that someone has pinched and pulled out one section of the rubber: that is what a planet or the sun looks like.

The point being: gravity already has a slight warping effect on space and time. I suppose a warp drive might artificially increase that pinching effect.

In any event, this is simply one more example of how science is finally getting around to revolutionizing human existence in the big ways that were envisioned by science fiction writers starting more than a hundred years ago. With changes like this on the horizon, there is reason to believe the current worldwide economic doldrums will pass!

To learn more details about NASA's efforts, click right here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2374671/NASA-scientists-begin-warp-speed-experiments-change-Star-Treks-science-fiction-fact.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Mars colonists meet in Washington State to prep for one-way trip...

Space enthusiasts rejoice, because for the first time in human history a race is underway to colonize another world. Remember, our last space race was simply to orbit the Earth and visit the Moon, but currently there are at least a dozen organizations prepping real Martian colony plans (there are a couple dozen viable space colony programs afoot if you include plans to colonize the Moon).

We have talked about the various Mars programs by NASA, the European Union, Space-X, and others, but it's been a while since we talked about the Mars One program. Here's the Mars One description from www.Wikipedia.org: "Mars One is a non-profit organization that plans to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2023. The private spaceflight project is led by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who announced official plans for the Mars One mission in May 2012. ^[1]"


On Saturday, August 3rd, a group of 50 applicants for the program gathered at George Washington State University to discuss the permanent colony that will begin launching one-way colonists in 2023. This program is non-profit and is already receiving gobs of funding from corporate sponsors.

Why are corporations interested? Simply because Mars One is going to be the first extra-terrestrial reality program ever created.

While we watch colonists train, fly, and settle on the red planet, corporations will be reaping the advertising rewards of millions of viewers around the world.

You can learn more about Mars One right on their website here: http://www.mars-one.com/en/. You can learn more about Saturday's meeting in Washington right here: http://www.space.com/22238-mars-one-private-colony-volunteers-meeting.html.
  

How can you disrupt your industry and our world?

Our world is teetering on the edge of a precipice, and on the horizon is a gaping black pit known as hopelessness. This blog and its author are known for optimism so this is an odd way to begin a post, but it's imperative that we identify the problem before we prescribe a solution.

When we say hopelessness, we might also mean "less hope." Here's a litmus test: do you believe that life will be better for your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews?

If your answer is yes, then you might find this post pointless. Unfortunately, too many of us have felt just the opposite.

In comparison to twenty years ago, it's harder to earn money, more money is needed, and job/business prospects seem to grow tighter, even bleak with time. Some would say that our world is swirling around a very large economic drain.

It doesn't have to be this way...and this author is not convinced it will be. "Why?"

We need only to look at Elon Musk for that answer. Elon, as readers of this blog know, is the founder of Tesla electric cars and Space-X, the space exploration company that is actually profitable and cutting the costs of getting into space every single day.

Past blogs will talk a little about those efforts, but what we're focusing on today is what is commonly known as disruptive technologies. But what does that mean?

Disrupt simply means to upturn or replace, and that's exactly what Tesla motors is trying to do: it's trying to replace gasoline engines with all electric cars. Profit is not the motive for Tesla, getting the entire population driving electric cars (whatever the brand) is their sole goal.

Space-X is doing the same exact thing...only with cost reductions and quality improvements. They are perfecting materials and technologies to get us into space more cheaply and safely (next up is a reusable rocket that can return to Earth and land on its own legs, which will reduce the cost of launches from sixty million to three million, or less).

Of course, both companies need to pay the bills and seek to make a profit as they grow and develop, but the key here is that profit is only a secondary (though necessary) consideration along the way to the main goal: to change their industry dramatically.

So, that's our point. The internet has disrupted everything from mail, to phone, to banking, to shopping. The list is nearly endless.

But has the internet improved our lives?

It has if you consider email is instant and free. It has if you consider that few people pay long distance charges anymore.

It has if you like the convenience of checking your bank balance, paying your bills, or even scanning checks at home to deposit them. The internet has also improved things if you consider that matching a cup and saucer from your grandmother's china set might have been impossible twenty years ago, and today you can find one in minutes or less.

Finally, I would like to point out that people all over the world can now learn, communicate, and enjoy the benefits of a modern life through minicomputers known as smart phones. The third world finally has a shot of catching up to the rest of us.

There are still thousands of industries that need someone to shake them by the throat and drag them into the 21st Century. Change can lead us to a bright future with improved jobs, wages and life for everyone.

What's required?

That's a great question, and only you can answer it. Technology exists to change everything, and if we will all step up and change our companies, our workplaces, our hobbies, we will find huge improvements sweeping this world.

Is there a better, more efficient, more profitable way to do something at your place of work? Tell the boss and make it happen.

If you own the company, look for incremental changes. Stack up one hundred tiny one-percent changes and you've disrupted your company and chances are your industry by one hundred percent.

Disrupting our world has provided tens of thousands of high-paying jobs to people in the United States while also earning Elon Musk billions of dollars.

What can you do? Are you up for the challenge?

Would you pay $30,000 to never buy gas again?

Elon Musk is 41 years old has already changed the world three times. And we're not talking about tiny little ripples in human history. No, Elon has done the equivalent of inventing fire, the wheel, and the first money, all in the span of about twenty years. Imagine what he might accomplish with his next forty.

 

By now, everyone knows that Elon Musk was a co-founder of PayPal, a company that created a form of online money exchange so revolutionary that, as a never-before-seen hybrid of money transfer and financial institution, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Banking Commission had to split oversight into two separate parts. PayPal was so effective and had such great customer service that its early customers were nearly as zealous as current-day Apple followers.

In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for 1.5 billion dollars, of which 175 million was Elon  Musk's portion. He could have retired to the beaches of the unspeakably rich, but instead Elon set out to fundamentally change the world.

Let's stop and talk about this for a moment. There are some entrepreneurs who, after their companies are established and proven successful,  claim they did it for one exalted reason or another; in Elon's case, however, the philanthropy came first. He said from the outset that paving an optimistic future for mankind was his ultimate goal. To do that, he invested every last cent of his new fortune in three major companies, and all three nearly failed; SpaceX had early rocket failures that brought them to within a hair of utter collapse; SolarCity had almost insurmountable problems establishing bank financing to allow it to grow into profitability; and Tesla Motors had a long string of early design problems and delays that forced them to beg at federal doors. In 2009 Tesla Motors was approved to receive 465 million in interest-bearing loans from the United States Department of Energy.

Now if Elon was simply a business owner, you might say he was too much of a gambler, but if you look at him through the prism of his intent, which is not to make money but to change the direction of human society, those have been small bumps in the road.

Today, SpaceX has righted its technology and its accounting books and now has a long list of first-ever accomplishments that would require several blogs just to list them. SolarCity has not only a sound financial footing, it is already a major electricity supplier in both the residential and commercial markets, and their new no-money-down solar leasing program has virtually revolutionized the industry. It is also in the midst of building a network of solar changing stations for electric vehicles.

Regarding Tesla Motors, Elon said from the beginning that they had to create an electric car with good range. But he knew limited production capability would make the cost of that first model too high for the average driver. It would, instead, need to be built for a luxury audience. The 2008 Tesla Roadster had a price starting at $109,000, and more than 2,400 have now been sold worldwide. In mid-2012, Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan, a car starting at about $60,000. More than 2,500 were sold and delivered in 2012. The company expects to deliver an additional 20,000 in 2013.

 

Finally, let's talk about Tesla Motor's latest announcement, which came directly from Elon Musk via Twitter: "$30k in 2013 ... w 200+ mile range w some really cool tech that we can't talk about yet."

This means that a $30,000, fully-electric Tesla car has finally arrived, and with a one-charge range of over 200-miles, it's well ahead of Chevy's Volt (40 miles per charge) and Toyota's Rav4 (100 miles per charge). The price also ensures that demand will be strong.

It looks as though electric vehicles may now be here to stay. Chalk up another one for Elon Musk.

So I ask you again, would you pay $30,000 to never buy gas again?

 

Space agency readies robots to build moon base....

It seems that every week brings news of efforts to colonize or commercialize space, and this week is no exception. Today we're going to talk about unmanned robots being developed for the sole purpose of building shelters on the moon. It's important to note, these robots are NOT a whim or pie-in-space fanciful dream. They have already been commissioned and tested by the European Space Agency (ESA).

(Image: compliment of ESA)

So when would such a mission take place? Though no dates or time horizons have been announced, it seems we are talking about years not decades. If this concept moves forward, the moon base construction could conceivably be mankind's first permanent foothold on another world, a step that is being cheered by space enthusiasts around the globe.

In a moment, we'll talk about the specifics of not one but two types of automated moon-building robots that would take as little as a week to build a full-sized human shelter out of moon dust, but in the meantime let's talk about how this effort could fit into a much larger, much grander plan.

Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and Solar City) has set his sights on colonizing Mars with 80,000 people starting in 2023. The reason he bypassed the Moon is because it lacks enough frozen water and proper sunlight for a self-contained colony to survive easily. On the other hand, Mars has both in addition to a high nitrogen atmosphere that could support plants in a basic greenhouse right now. NASA is actually working on creating tough hybrid tomatoes and other plants that could withstand the high levels of Mars radiation and drastic temperature swings. You can see more about NASA's efforts here: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2005/mars_plants.html

(Image: compliment of NASA)

The reason I wanted to segue to SpaceX's hop-skip over a Moon colony is that no one organization has to do it all. As a matter-of-fact, the only way space will be conquered is if we have dozens, maybe even hundreds of programs, missions, and commercial endeavors working in concert to create a sustainable human infrastructure in space. There are now at least two companies poised to mine asteroids in space, with one main goal being to process ice into hydrogen fuel, which can then be marketed to other space missions. Effectively, gas stations in space. Two companies have serious plans to colonize Mars. Another is poised to send tourists whirling around the red planet before returning them to Earth. Russia, Japan, China, and the European Space Agency have all indicated a desire to create colonies on the moon. Bigelow Space and a smattering of less serious companies have talked about orbiting hotels, and we of course know that the International Space Station is already in orbit with lots of plans for future missions. These are all potentially symbiotic steps towards our future among the stars.

3-D printers are considered one of the most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st Century. These wonders use detailed 3-D computer scans to recreate anything from a machine gear to art sculptures. A few weeks ago, an 83-year-old woman received a complete 3-D printed titanium lower jaw bone. She was chewing food less than 24 hours later. You can see more about her operation here: http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-lower-jaw-implant/21383/

(Image: compliment of ESA)

Effectively, these printers take a 3-d computer likeness and stack layers upon layers of any given material to perfectly duplicate that object in all three dimensions. In January of this year, the European Space Agency announced that they had commissioned international engineering firm Foster + Partners to develop a robotic, unmanned 3-D printer that could create moon shelters. The chosen printer is called a D-Shape and, by combining simulated lunar soil and magnesium oxide then binding it with structural salt, it has successfully created a material similar to stone or concrete, which can then be used to construct honeycomb like walls that would shield a moon base from meteorites and radiation. At three meters per hour, this wonder could complete a structure within a week. Several of them working together could build an entire lunar city in just a few months.

(Image: compliment of ESA)

However, there is one downfall to the D-Shape process. We would still need to deliver not just the printers but large quantities of magnesium oxide and salt to the moon. It can, of course, be done at a massive expense but what if there was a better way?

(Image: compliment of International Space University)

Space architects from the International Space University in France believe they have an alternate solution. They call it Project SinterHab. This is a concept that they have been working on since 2009 and, like the ESA project, it has already undergone extensive testing and seems quite possible. Effectively, the SinterHab project would still use a 3-D printing head, which they propose mounting on a NASA rover. But instead of using binding products shipped from earth, they would use solar energy to microwave the dust, effectively creating a form of ceramic. The obvious advantage is that once the robots are sitting on Lunar soil, work can potentially continue endlessly.

Lunar skyscrapers and traffic jams, anyone?

Of course, no matter how we mold these lunar shells, we will still need to import all manner of equipment to make the empty domes livable, but thanks to this 3-D futuristic printer technology we may soon have permanent boots on another world.

Would you move to the moon?

 

 

What can tech billionaires teach us about success?

Hi, Everyone:

I want to talk with you about something that can change each and every one of our lives, right now, today. But you'll have to give me a few seconds of geekdom to explain the thinking behind this life-changing information. I've been blogging and spreading my optimism about the recent explosion of futuristic technologies for a while now. The emergence of viable space exploration plans, solar power, electric cars, Google's virtual reality glasses and Martin's real-life jetpacks are all going to change our lives...soon. Apple's iPads and iPhones and even Facebook have already changed the landscape of human life. Before that, there was the advent of the PC computer, video games and, of course, the internet.

But today, I'm not here to talk about technology. What I want to discuss is the mindset of the new technical entrepreneurs that have begun to push mankind's future forward at a much faster pace than ever before. And I believe that by sharing this mindset, we can all live and function like mini- or maybe even full-fledged billionaires.

First, let's start with my version of a series of charts that Peter Thiel shared at 2013's South by Southwest (SXSW) convention. SXSW is a music, film and interactive conference that takes place every spring in Austin, Texas. It has become a huge magnet for the tech geniuses of our time. Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, was also the first outside investor in Facebook, way back when it was just a tiny startup. As President of Clarium Capital, Managing Partner of The Founders Fund and Investment Committee Chairperson for Mithril Capital Management, he is now involved with dozens of similar tech companies. In short, Peter is worth an estimated 1.5 billion dollars and, being only in his mid-forties, seems to just be getting started. Here's a version of Peter's chart from the convention:

(concept courtesy of Peter Thiel and SXSW)

 

I have been saying for a long time that these new tech entrepreneurs have a different worldview than the rest of us, and this is largely it. Let's talk about the text in the pink. For the longest time, the US and populations of other developed countries saw the world through a prism of everything getting better. Each generation felt the future was bright and getting brighter. They had optimism and a clear vision of good things to come. That can be found on the above chart in the upper left: "Positive with Direction." To US citizens, that was the way our world looked for most if not all of the 1900s and even into the early-2000s. People in this mode had a clear and positive view of the future and worked steadily toward it.

 

But then something happened. Our world economy began to sink, and today most US citizens have moved into the mindset in the upper right: "Positive but Aimless." We are still optimistic (largely because it's a habit, I suspect) but we aren't really sure why.

 

Bear with me, I promise the theory will be over in a just a few more words. Then we'll talk about changing our lives, right now!

 

According to Peter, most of the rest of the developed world, China, India, Europe, etc... feel much less positive about the future. They believe things will probably get worse, even if they're not exactly sure how. These people fall into the lower right hand category: "Negative and Aimless."

 

Now the worst category of thinkers would be in be the lower left: "Negative with Direction." These people are not only pessimistic about the future, they are also certain that it's going straight to doom and gloom. They have a vision...but it's for disaster.

 

The terms within the quadrants describe which types of companies/systems generally thrive in each of the four environments. Of course, we all understand that "Wartime Rationing" means that almost no company is doing well.

 

The "Insurance" section also makes sense. People that believe the future is bleak and uncertain will likely invest in insurance to cover those losses. In that quadrant, insurance companies will be the big financial winners. Peter Thiel believes this is why Warren Buffet's largely insurance-centric companies have done so well, because so many countries currently have a bleak outlook on the future.

 

The upper-right quadrant is for companies that are optimistic but lack vision. They tend to spread their product development out among many lines (think Sony) and assume that some percentage of their goods will sell well. In truth, those successes are not at all certain, and the companies earning most in this environment are the legal and financial firms in the background.

 

Finally (yes, we're near the end of the background stuff), companies that are "positive with direction" have a clear vision for the future and develop specific plans to get there. Pixar's and Apple's high-quality successes come to mind.

 

The exciting thing is that anyone with clear vision and direction can not only survive but thrive in any of the four environments. That means that simply by changing our mindset we can enjoy the same bright and definite futures as those positive tech companies.

 

 

I hate to complicate the issue, but there is one more key difference in the way modern tech entrepreneurs think. Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity) says that his successes largely boil down to a single thing: he does not reason by analogy; he instead reverts to the scientific method. What that  means is that his companies do not look to the success or failure of any other company or product to manage their own plans. They instead assume a strong direction and then focus on solving whatever problems they need to to get there. Tesla Motors, for instance, doesn't care that GM's Volt can only travel 40 miles on a charge. Nor does it care that Toyota's RAV4 EV has a range of only 100 miles. Tesla started from scratch and built an all electric car that can travel an average of 240 miles on a single charge. One man traveling at 18mpg actually went 400 miles on a single charge, recently. The Tesla Company set out to solve the need for one-charge traveling range from the ground up. It created an all-new aluminum frame, new battery designs and the most light and streamlined chassis it could conceive.

 

What does this mean for us? Two things. First, there are companies--dozens of them--that are pushing the edges of science and are perfecting products previously believed impossible (aforementioned Martin Jetpacks and Google virtual reality glasses, are two good examples) so there is reason to believe that whole new industries with hundreds of thousands of jobs will continue to emerge.

 

More importantly, what if each and every one of us were to examine our lives? What if we decided to be in the quadrant of optimists with a clear direction for our future? What if we followed Elon Musk's advice and ignored all the outside evidence about what was possible or impossible and instead focused on the maximum possible that we can accomplish? You might be the next JK Rowling, Tom Cruise or Elon Musk. You might have the most amazing idea for creating a bakery, a garden or an industry that could change the world. What if you decided to unleash all of your talents in a planned and positive way and that you were not going to take 'no' for an answer? What if you could find a way to truly make your core dreams come true? 

 

I sincerely think you can. 

 

How about we both start right now?!

 

 

Star Trek is getting closer....

Let's talk about space today. More importantly, let's talk about the tiny leap forward--or would that be upward--that took place on March 7th, 2013. That was the day that SpaceX's 10-story test rocket Grasshopper took it's fourth test flight, blasting 263 feet into the air, hovering for 34 seconds and then settling comfortably back to the center of its concrete launch pad in Galveston, Texas.

(Photo: curtesy of SpaceX): http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20130310

So what exactly is the big deal about all of this?

SpaceX is seeking to build the world's first reusable rocket, one that can launch spaceships into space and then settle back down to Earth, ready for a quick cleaning and maintenance before doing it all over again. But again why, you ask?

It's all about making space flight affordable. It only costs about $200,000 for the fuel to launch a rocket into space. Unfortunately, the rockets capable of doing that jettison their depleted fuel sections along the way and ultimately burn up in the atmosphere on the way down. The cost of that self-sectioning rocket: 60 million dollars. To avoid that needless waste would be a collosal savings.

By perfecting this re-landing technology, SpaceX will be able to cut the cost of every trip down to mere peanuts. People would be able to launch into space at a whim, maybe to have afternoon coffee in the foyer of the new Bigelow Space Hotel or to play a round of lunar golf on Newt Gingrich's planned moon colony (he says boots on lunar soil are possible by 2020).

So what we are seeing is the systematic approach of a new space-faring future. A Star Trek universe is coming, and I for one am jumping with glee every time a new step forward is made.

If you're excited about the new futuristic technologies or are a space-tech or sci-fi/fantasy fan, drop me a note here on the blog. I'd love to follow your blog, too. Also, join me on Facebook and connect on Twitter. I'm Tim Greaton everywhere, and I'd love to make a ton of new geek friends :-)