Daily Archives: June 1, 2020

A SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule, lifts off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Image: AP)

Our apartment is about the same size as our old house on Earth and it has a garden. Alpha was one of the first habitats to be built, so our trees have had the time to grow to a good size. For a town of 10,000 people were in rather good shape for entertainment, four small cinemas, quite a few good restaurants and many amateur theatrical and musical groups. It takes only a few minutes to travel over to neighbouring communities, so we visit them often for movies, concerts or just a change in climate. In Alpha we have our own low-gravity swimming pools. Quite often, Jenny and I climb the path to the North Pole and pedal out along the zero-gravity axis of the sphere for half an hour or so, especially after sunset, when we can see the soft lights from the pathways below.

Its easy to figure out that this passage is from a sci-fi novel. It may be tempting to dismiss such lives lived in space modules orbiting the earth, as too fancy and futuristic. No longer. This extract about spending a whole life orbiting earth is from High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space written by a Princeton physicist Gerard K O Neill in 1976. This novel today stands apart from others in the genre because it is the basis or inspiration of the utopian dream being brought closer to reality by Amazons Jeff Bezoz with his space company Blue Origin.

Bezos got obsessed with the idea of human colonies orbiting in space and leaving the earth behind. According to Franklin Foers writing in The Atlantic in November 2019, a local newspaper reported a speech Bezos made in school in which he said that his intention was to get all people off the Earth and see it turned into a huge national park. Bezoz got the idea from O Neills novel.

Bezos's moon mission is scheduled for 2024 and his larger idea is not to send vehicles to and from the moon but to set up colonies there, which according to various estimates, is just about a 100 years away. But the idea of huge space modules orbiting the earth will be closer in time. Such giant modules can be used by communities to escape viruses like Covid-19 that threaten to wipe out entire populations. Such modules are self-sustained and the atmosphere inside replicates the earth in many ways. The present International Space Station has already spent over 7,800 days in space and more than 230 people have lived in them for various durations so the science and the data for long duration stay is easily available. Clearly, ONeills dream and Bezoss space module project is coming closer to reality.

Along with Bezos on the forefront of such space projects are two other private companies, Virgin Atlantic and Elon Musks Space X. In September 2019, Musk unveiled his latest idea in space travel with the prototype for Space X, a massive reusable launch system: According to Musk, the new version of his Starship will be able to carry up to 100 people to the moon. It will be 387 feet long and will be totally reusable. In its first trip just a couple of years from now, the spaceship will take a few people who have already paid and booked seats for the trip, close to the moon and back.

Starship will allow us to inhabit other worlds. To make life as we know it, interplanetary, Musk wrote on Twitter in September last year. Bezos, Musk and the other space entrepreneur, Virgin Atlantics Richard Branson, have all the money, the dream, and the technology to make possible life beyond Earth and maybe permanent life in modules like O Neill visualised in High Frontiers. Virgin Atlantics commercial space travel programme, Virgin Orbit, did not have a good start when its mighty Launcher One rocket released at 36,000 ft, from its carrier vehicle, a decommissioned Boeing 747, failed to ignite this week on May 25, after take-off from California. But that is not seen as a setback since launching technology has already been perfected.

Our goal is to find ways in which all of humanity can share in the benefits that have come from the rapid expansion of human knowledge and yet present the material aspects of that expansion from fouling the worldwide nest in which we live, O Neill wrote in the forward to his novel. But it almost reads like a present day document. Bezoss large plan or belief is that the Earth must be left alone with no interference from degrading habits of humans.

Never has such a search for living away from earth for long periods sounded so urgent and doable.

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Tired of the Mess Earth is in? Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos Are Readying Outer Space for You to Liv... - News18

Here is the bad news: Earth is a bit of a mess at the moment. Here is the good news: there is still an entire universe out there for humans to destroy. And thanks to the ingenuity of a few space-obsessed billionaires, we might be poised to destroy it sooner rather than later.

On Wednesday, Elon Musks SpaceX company will (unless bad weather delays things) launch astronauts into orbit from US soil; the first time that has happened in nine years. Its one small step for man, but one giant leap for the commercial space industry. We are at the beginning of a new era of privatised, and mainly billionaire-backed, space exploration. Musk has SpaceX; Jeff Bezos has Blue Origin; Richard Branson has Virgin Orbit.

There are some people who find billionaires with big rockets very inspirational. Axioss space reporter, for example, opined: If SpaceX can pull it off, its first crewed flight will mark a beacon of hope in an otherwise dark time for the world. Hope for whom, I want to know? The World Bank estimates that between 40 and 60 million people will fall into extreme poverty (earning less than $1.90 a day) in 2020, thanks to Covid-19. What hope, exactly, does a rocket blasting into space provide when you cant put food on your plate?

Of course, space exploration is not a zero-sum game. You can solve problems on Earth while also trying to expand humanitys understanding of the universe. However, a lot of billionaires seem far more interested in colonising and profiting from space than they do in making life more bearable for their workers. Last year, for example, Bezos cut health benefits for 2,000 part-time workers at his grocery store Whole Foods, saving him a few million. He did that after boasting that he is so rich, the only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is space travel.

Seriously, if you think that billionaires are exploring space for the good of humankind then I have a bridge on Mars I can sell you. They are doing it for their ego and the commercial opportunity. They are doing it because they think they, quite literally, are the masters of the universe.

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Of course billionaires like Elon Musk love outer space. The Earth is too small for their egos - The Guardian

Tesla boss Elon Musk flagged it to his 35 million Twitter followers. Media mogul Steve Forbes cheered it as an absolute must read. And Fox News analyst Brit Hume is also apparently a fan.

Its the story of what may eventually be known as one of the biggest medical and economic blunders of all time, according to tech entrepreneur, military vet and bioengineer Yinon Weiss.

What story is that exactly?

The collective failure of every Western nation, except one, to question groupthink will surely be studied by economists, doctors, and psychologists for decades to come.

Thats his take, posted on RealClearPolitics.com last week, with regard to how governments around the world have handled the coronavirus pandemic.

In the face of a novel virus threat, China clamped down on its citizens, he wrote in his intro. Academics used faulty information to build faulty models. Leaders relied on these faulty models. Dissenting views were suppressed. The media flamed fears and the world panicked.

Weisss critique has resonated in recent days with the likes of Musk, who have consistently raged against lockdowns of business and personal activity to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as perhaps causing more damage than the coronavirus itself.

Weiss took shots at the government for taking extreme action when the fatality rate for those under 65 years old is no more dangerous than driving 13 to 101 miles per day. He used this chart to downplay the risks facing those not in the most vulnerable categories:

Even by conservative estimates, the odds of COVID-19 death are roughly in line with existing baseline odds of dying in any given year, Weiss wrote. Yet we put billions of young healthy people under house arrest, stopped cancer screenings, and sunk ourselves into the worst level of unemployment since the Great Depression.

He then hailed Sweden as a laudable blueprint, because it never closed down borders, primary schools, restaurants, or businesses, and never mandated masks, yet 99.998% of all their people under 60 have survived and their hospitals were never overburdened.

So why did the U.S. take the more heavy-handed approach?

Weiss placed some of the blame on the Imperial College epidemiologist Neil Ferguson for numbers, later slammed as unreliable, that led to the domino effect of the lockdowns.

But it goes beyond that.

If you are a hammer everything looks like a nail, he wrote. I blame government leaders for failing to surround themselves with diverse viewpoints and to think critically for themselves.

Weiss contends that leaders now know the lockdowns were a mistake but wont admit it. Instead, they will claim the lockdowns are the reason for the lower death rates, even as the results from Sweden, as you can see from this chart, suggests otherwise:

They were predicting what would happen in the next two weeks based on months of data, Weiss explained. Yet the daily death peak was 75% lower than the baseline prediction and 96% lower than the worst-case prediction. Swedens short-term results are worse than Norway, Finland, and Denmark, but better than the U.K., France, Spain, Italy, and Belgium.

Meanwhile, according to Johns Hopkins University, the virus has infected 5.5 million people worldwide, killing close to 350,000. The U.S. has seen nearly 100,000 deaths.

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Elon Musk wants you to read this story about one of the biggest medical and economic blunders of all time - MarketWatch

A colossal chess game of immense consequences is being fought in outer space, right now. On March 18 and April 22, two rockets from SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, each put 60 satellites into orbit. Those launches are but the sixth and seventh in a series intended to rapidly make 1,584 satellites available.

The aim is to create a satellite network called Starlink. If Musk has his way, by 2025 no less than 11,943 of his satellites will circle the Earth, and if permission is granted, the ultimate result would be a staggering 42,000. This mind-boggling number must be compared to the 8,000 satellites sent into orbit since the Soviet Sputnik, of which 2,218 are still in operation.

Why such outsized ambitions? To implement his dream of a multiplanetary society, and to fund it by providing all (solvent) Earthlings with high-speed Internet access.

Musk would first target the 3% or 4% of the U.S. population living in remote areas or on islands. The financial benefits of providing Internet access to such a tiny slice of the nation are not obvious. The polar regions are not known for their density of wealthy but underserved American citizens, for example.

Could the expected profitability come from U.S. military spending? The United States maintains hundreds of overseas bases and has already expressed its interest in using SpaceX in putting satellites in a low Earth orbit (LEO) and also for Starlink.

Whatever the potential benefits of such a system, one of the disastrous consequences would be light pollution. As they traveled across the skies, thousands of Starlink satellites would effectively make astronomical images useless by leaving long luminous trails.

At the March 9 Satellite 2020 conference keynote speech, Musk dismissed those worries and claimed his satellites will do no harm to astronomical research if need be, they will be painted black.

This idea was tested with satellite 1130, DarkSat. The results were unconvincing, to say the least. The next generation is supposed to be less luminous than the faintest stars that can be seen with the unaided eye, but this is still far too bright for astronomers ultrasensitive instruments, which can observe stellar objects four billion times fainter than that threshold.

Read:SpaceX launches another batch of mini satellites, tests less-reflective coating

Other satellite operators are worried, too. The low Earth orbit region is already heavily used by scientific, remote-sensing and telecom satellites as well as the International Space Station (ISS). A large-scale increase in the number of satellites would increase the risk of space collisions and the ensuing multiplication of debris in the worst-case scenario, it could render the LEO and near-space environment unusable.

The first incident already took place: on Sept. 2, the European Space Agency was forced to move away one of its Earth observation satellites to avoid a collision after Starlink refused to change the path of its satellite.

Musk asserts that all the satellites be equipped with thrusters to make them fall back on Earth once they reach the end of their active life, but that doesnt reduce the risk while theyre operational.

Since the first launch, six Starlink satellites have already failed. If a mere 5% of Starlinks satellites broke down during their estimated lifespan of five to seven years, they would add many thousands of fragments of space debris to the 20,000 already under surveillance.

Musk initially planned to put a quarter of his constellation at the altitude of 1,110 km (690 miles). Some 75% were due to be placed no higher than 600 km (370 miles). Below this altitude, residual atmospheric drag will eventually cause a failed satellite to fall out of orbit. On April 17, SpaceX modified its plans and requested permission for all its satellites to orbit lower than 600 km. This reduces the risk of broken-down satellite staying in high-earth orbit for centuries, but increases congestion in the low Earth orbit region.

Beyond the operational risks, building, launching and maintaining such a gigantic network of satellites would require an enormous amount of raw materials and energy. Unlike the geostationary satellites commonly used by telecoms, Starlink satellites will stay in a low Earth orbit and cross the visible sky of a given location for just a few minutes. To follow and connect to them, buyers will have to use purpose-built phased array antennas. To make them affordable, they would have to be mass produced, and SpaceX has asked permission for 1 million of them. For starters.

More troublingly, competitors are sharpening their knives. Kuiper is backed by Amazon AMZN, +1.71%, OneWeb by billionaire Greg Wyler, and Hongyan is Chinese. Just as with electrical scooters, investors are rushing into massive production, and the results could be disastrous.

Such unbridled competition has negative consequences from the environmental point of view as well as from the security and business ones. The theory is that whoever is first past the post will gain near-monopoly power, cornering the potentially colossal market. We could well see several redundant satellite networks duke it out in the skies. Yet there will be only one winner. Or none.

On March 9, Musk claimed that thanks to Starlink, anybody will be able to watch high-def movies, play video games and do all the things they want to do without noticing speed. Thus, Musk explicitly underlines his wish to reinforce already massively energy-guzzling digital activities, such as video streaming and online video games. These consume just below the whole electricity consumption of Europe (if you want figures, the world digital energy consumption of 3,834 TWh expected in 2020 is comparable to the 4,077 TWh for European electricity in 2018). Their share of world greenhouse gas emissions is already 4% and could double to 8% by 2025.

Musks declaration ends on an ominous note, in essence saying My clients will be able to do whatever they want, just as I am able to do whatever I want. The Federal Communications Commission appears to be ready to give Musk its blessing. After all, the Commissions space department is not shy about its priorities: authorize more satellites, faster, with much less regulation.

Thus the American authority tasked with regulating U.S. telecoms which recently decided to drop the Net neutrality principle turns a blind eye to the privatization of space by a corporation that wants to take over the low Earth orbit region. All this in the spirit of the 2015 Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, which allows US industries to engage in the commercial exploration and exploitation of space resources.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty declared outer space to be a common good of humankind. Today this may seem quaint to some, but it is more necessary than ever.

Roland Lehoucq is an astrophysics researcher at the Commissariat lnergie atomique et aux nergies alternatives (CEA). Franois Graner is the CNRS research director at the Universit de Paris. English version translated by Jean-Manuel Traimond. This was first published by The Conversation The costly collateral damage from Elon Musks Starlink satellite fleet.

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Elon Musk is polluting the skies with SpaceXs thousands of satellites - MarketWatch

Fox News Phil Keating on SpaceXs historic launch, which is planned for Wednesday afternoon.

Live coverage of the NASA SpaceX launch attempt Saturday at 3:22p.m. ET will be streamed on foxbusiness.com.

On Saturday, Elon Musks SpaceX will attempt to launch its Crew Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The historic launch will be the first time astronauts launch into orbit on a private company's spacecraft and the first time American astronauts launch in an American-made spacecraft since 2011 when the Space Shuttle program ended.

President Trump, who was on hand with Vice President Mike PenceWednesday when the initial launch attempt was postponed due to weather, said he is planning to return to Cape Canaveral Saturday.

MEET NASA SPACEX ASTRONAUTS BOB BEHNKEN AND DOUG HURLEY

Leading up to the launch, SpaceX has been focused on hiring. In early February, Elon Musk tweeted about a career fair in Texas for SpaceX

This is mainly for staffing up 4 production shifts for 24/7 operations, but engineers, supervisors & support personnel are certainly needed too, Musk tweeted on Feb. 4. A super hardcore work ethic, talent for building things, common sense & trustworthiness are required, the rest we can train.

Even as the company prepares for the launch on Wednesday, SpaceX still has a long list of job openings -- more than 500 -- with the promise of competitive salaries, comprehensive health benefits and equity packages, according to the website.

HOW ELON MUSK WAS INSPIRED TO FOUND TESLA, SPACEX AFTER BEING FIRED FROM PAYPAL

The available jobs are primarily located in Texas and California, but there are also postings in Washington state, Washington, D.C., and Florida.

Heres a look at 10 open positions.

SpaceX is looking for a real estate coordinator in Hawthorne, Calif., who will support the Facilities team with corporate real estate matters such as identifying prospective properties of interest, negotiating lease and own acquisitions, dispositions (terminations and subleases/assignments), exercising options and any related matters, the job posting said.

WHERE ARE NASA'S RETIRED SPACE SHUTTLES AND HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO SEE THEM?

For applicants with a bachelors degree in business or real estate, at least three years of experience is required, but for applicants without a degree, at least eight years of experience is required, according to the posting.

According to the job posting, the SpaceX financial analyst will work with company business partners and provide analysis and reporting to management.

SPACEX WILL USE THIS ROCKET FOR ITS FIRST MANNED SPACE LAUNCH

The position is listed for Hawthorne, Calif., and requires a bachelors degree in finance, engineering or a similar subject as well as experience in the finance function, the posting said.

There are several openings for environmental health and safety engineers at SpaceX, including in Brownsville, Texas, Cape Canaveral, Fla., Vandenberg, Calif., Hawthorne, Calif., and Redmond, Wash.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO LEAVE EARTH?

The position entails creating and managing site specific safety policies and programs, and requires a bachelors degree and at least three years of experience developing environmental, health and safety disciplines, the posting said.

At SpaceXs Hawthorne, Calif., location, the company is looking for an electrical design engineer to work on flight hardware specifically on satellites, the posting said.

According to the posting, the engineer will rapidly design, develop and test highly reliable electronics for satellites, among other responsibilities.

SPACEX'S TEXAS INVASION PUTS BOCA CHICA, MCGREGOR ON THE MAP

"We're looking for people who want to dive in and get their hands dirty and those who are not afraid to make important decisions and work to provide a data driven rationale,"the posting said.

The position requires a bachelors degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering or a similar degree and at least two years of professional experience, among other qualifications.

The launch build reliability engineer, located in Cape Canaveral, Fla., will reliably launch astronauts and other payloads by ensuring vehicle, payload and spacecraft processing is efficiently designed and executed, the posting said.

At least two years of professional or internship experience and an engineering-related bachelors degree are among the requirements for the position.

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SpaceX is also hiring a barista for its corporate offices in Hawthorne, Calif. According to the job posting, a high school diploma, GED, or at least six months of barista experience is required.

Several of SpaceXs locations are looking to hire cooks, including in Brownsville, Texas, McGregor, Texas, and Hawthorne, Calif.

The position requires at least two years of experience in kitchen preparation and cooking and a high school diploma or GED, the posting said.

According to the job posting, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based modeling and simulation engineer"will be instrumental to the design, optimization and execution of SpaceX developed satellite constellations and payload missions."

MUSK, BEZOS, BRANSON LEAD BILLIONAIRES IN SPACE RACE

The position requires an engineering-related bachelors degree, and experiences with orbital design and analysis, constellation design, and tools for software modeling.

The modeling and simulation engineer will also need top secret clearance, the posting said.

SpaceX is hiring an internal fleet driver who will transport aerospace production, test, and flight components between SpaceX and vendors within an approximate 100-mile radius of Cape Canaveral, the posting said.

The driver will use LTL vans and flatbeds and the position requires a high school diploma or GED and at least three years of experience driving in a professional delivery vehicle, the posting said.

In McGregor, Texas, SpaceX is hiring a structural, stainless welder, according to the posting.

This position requires skill in a specialized trade in order to complete welding requirements and operational needs, the posting said. The position is responsible for welding piping, structural steel and other facility equipment/infrastructure.

Some of the requirements for the position include a high school diploma or equivalency certificate, at least three years of professional experience with TIG welding and at least three years of professional experience working in a process piping environment, the posting said.

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Elon Musk's SpaceX is hiring: Take a look at some of the positions - Fox Business

A colossal chess game of immense consequences is being fought in outer space, right now. On March 18 and April 22, two rockets from SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, each put 60 satellites into orbit. Those launches are but the sixth and seventh in a series intended to rapidly make 1,584 satellites available.

The aim is to create a satellite network called Starlink. If Musk has his way, by 2025 no less than 11,943 of his satellites will circle the Earth, and if permission is granted, the ultimate result would be a staggering 42,000. This mind-boggling number must be compared to the 8,000 satellites sent into orbit since the Soviet Sputnik, of which 2,218 are still in operation.

Why such outsized ambitions? To implement his dream of a multiplanetary society and to fund it by providing all Earthlings with high-speed Internet access.

Musk would first target the 3% or 4% of the United States population living in remote areas or on island. The financial benefits of providing Internet access to such a tiny slice of the nation are not obvious. The polar regions are not known for their density of wealthy but underserved American citizens, for example. Could the expected profitability come from US defence spending? The United States maintains hundreds of oversea bases and has already expressed its interest in using SpaceX, in putting satellites in a low Earth orbit and also for Starlink.

Whatever the potential benefits of such a system, one of the disastrous consequences would be light pollution. As they travelled across the skies, thousands of Starlink satellites would effectively make astronomical images useless by leaving long luminous trails. At the March 9 Satellite 2020 conference keynote speech, Elon Musk dismissed those worries and claimed that his satellites will do no harm to astronomical research if need be, they will be painted black. This idea was tested with satellite 1130, DarkSat.

The results were unconvincing, to say the least. The next generation is supposed to be less luminous than the faintest stars that can be seen with the unaided eye, but this is still far too bright for astronomers ultra-sensitive instruments, which can observe stellar objects four billion times fainter than that threshold.

Other satellite operators are worried, too. The low Earth orbit region is already heavily used by scientific, remote-sensing and telecom satellites as well as the International Space Station. A large-scale increase in the number of satellites would increase the risk of space collisions and the ensuing multiplication of debris in the worst-case scenario, it could render the LEO and near-space environment unusable.

The first incident already took place: on September 2, 2019, the European Space Agency was forced to move away one of its Earth observation satellites to avoid a collision after Starlink refused to change the path of its satellite. Elon Musk asserts that all the satellites be equipped with thrusters to make them fall back on Earth once they reach the end of their active life, but that doesnt reduce the risk while theyre operational.

Since the first launch, six Starlink satellites have already failed. If a mere 5% of Starlinks satellites broke down during their estimated lifespan of five to seven years, they would add many thousands of fragments of space debris to the 20,000 already under surveillance.

Musk initially planned to put a quarter of his constellation at the altitude of 1,110 km. Seventy-five percent were due to be placed no higher than 600 km. Below this altitude, residual atmospheric drag will eventually cause a failed satellite to fall out of orbit. On April 17, SpaceX modified its plans and requested permission for all its satellites to orbit lower than 600 km. This reduces the risk of broken-down satellite staying in high-earth orbit for centuries, but increases congestion in the low Earth orbit region.

Beyond the operational risks, building, launching and maintaining such a gigantic network of satellites would require an enormous amount of raw materials and energy. Unlike the geostationary satellites commonly used by telecoms, Starlink satellites will stay in a low Earth orbit and cross the visible sky of a given location for just a few minutes. To follow and connect to them, buyers will have to use purpose-built phased array antennas. To make them affordable, they would have to be mass produced, and SpaceX has asked permission for 1 million of them. For starters.

More troublingly, competitors are sharpening their knives. Kuiper is backed by Amazon, OneWeb by billionaire Greg Wyler, and Hongyan is Chinese. Just as with electrical scooters, investors are rushing into massive production, and the results could be disastrous.

Such unbridled competition has negative consequences from the environmental point of view as well as from the security and business ones. The theory is that whoever is first past the post will gain near-monopoly power, cornering the potentially colossal market. We could well see several redundant satellite networks duke it out in the skies. Yet, there will be only one winner. Or none.

On March 9, Elon Musk claimed that thanks to Starlink, anybody will be able to watch high-def movies, play video games and do all the things they want to do without noticing speed. Thus, Musk explicitly underlines his wish to reinforce already massively energy-guzzling digital activities, such as video streaming and online video games.

These consume just below the whole electricity consumption of Europe if you want figures, the world digital energy consumption of 3,834 TWh expected in 2020 is comparable to the 4,077 TWh for European electricity in 2018. Their share of world greenhouse gas emissions is already 4% and could double to 8% by 2025.

Musks declaration ends on an ominous note, in essence saying My clients will be able to do whatever they want, just as I am able to do whatever I want. The Federal Communications Commission appears to be ready to give Musk its blessing. After all, the Commissions space department is not shy about its priorities: authorise more satellites, faster, with much less regulation.

Thus, the American authority tasked with regulating US telecoms which recently decided to drop the Net neutrality principle turns a blind eye to the privatisation of space by a corporation that wants to take over the low Earth orbit region. All this in the spirit of the 2015 Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, which allows US industries to engage in the commercial exploration and exploitation of space resources.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, declared outer space to be a common good of humankind. Today this may seem quaint to some, but it is more necessary than ever.

Roland Lehoucq, Astrophysics researcher, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Franois Graner, CNRS Research Director, University of Paris.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

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SpaceX Starlink: Do the costs of Elon Musks ambitious plan outweigh its benefits? - Scroll.in

Elon Musk got the title of 'real-life Iron Man' after his assistance in Marvel films

Eagle-eyed Marvel fans may have noticed tech mogul Elon Musk make a brief appearance in Iron Man 2, leaving all of his ardent followers in shock.

While the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has several times in the past drawn comparison with the Marvel superhero, it turns out he has been quite involved in the films as well.

Jon Favreau who helmed the first two Iron Man films confirmed in an earlier interview that Musk had done Robert Downey Jr.who essays the role of Tony Stark aka Iron Manseveral favours in the past.

Talking on one of the episodes of Recode Decode, Favreau said: Robert Downey, when we were prepping Iron Man, said, Theres somebody we should sit down and talk with. [He] said, This is a guy who can give us some insight into what itd really be like to be Tony Stark.

And that explains Musks cameo in the Marvel film which features a brief light-hearted exchange with Downeys character of Starkwhich is often linked to Musk himself.

Favreau further confirmed that the filming of the second installment was also done at SpaceX: He let us film there for free. Hes been a very good friend of the Marvel family there, and weve maintained a friendship with him.

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Elon Musk got the title of real-life Iron Man after his assistance in Marvel films - Geo News

Tristan Eaton, a Los Angeles street artist and designer, has work in the Museum of Modern Arts permanent collection. But hes about to join a much more exclusive club of artists this weekend when SpaceX sends its first manned flight into outer space with some of his art on board.

Eaton created a series of indestructible, two-sided gold, brass, and aluminum artworks for the historic flight, which was rescheduled for Saturday after its initial May 27 launch date was postponed due to weather. When the shuttle, called Crew Dragon, makes it out of Earths atmosphere to the International Space Station (ISS), it will be the first time in a decade when American astronauts have gone up, and the first time a privately owned spacecraft takes them there.

The street artist will join a very, very rarified group of artists including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Trevor Paglen to actually send their artwork into space.

As an artist I try to look at the world with a big picture view, Eaton wrote on Instagram this week. No one gets a bigger view of our world than our brave astronauts on the ISS.

Each plate is double sideda gesture meant to represent the duality of Human Kind, our past and our future, according to the artistand features a variety of symbols: an outstretched hand and a chimp with its child, demonstrating nuclear fission; a suite of unfurling flowers and a bird in flight; a smiley face and a peace sign and the stars and stripes of the American flag.

When SpaceX asked me to create art to join these astronauts in space, I wanted to make something inspirational, he explained. Looking down from space to see all of Human Kind together on this tiny planet might remind you how much history and potential we have. Yet we have so much further to go.

Tristan Eaton, Human Kind (2020). Courtesy of the artist and SpaceX.

Each artwork is designed for one of the five astronauts that will be up at the ISS, including the two Americans set to go up this weekend. They come in protective sleeves with a front pocket containing the artist statement and a greeting to the astronauts. The plates are set to return to Earth with Crew Dragon in three-to-four months.

Eaton has been making street art since he was 18 years old. Today, his pop-collage murals adorn buildings around the world. He made headlines earlier this month when he unveiled a massive public painting honoring nurses in Midtown Manhattan.

With kindness, hope and science, Human Kind has changed the world many times over, said Eaton. For a better future, we can do it again.

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Elon Musks SpaceX Commissioned a Street Artist to Create Indestructible Gold Paintings as Dcor for Its First Trip to the International Space Station -...

'); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append('"+val.ihtml+""); $("#expandable-weather-block .weather-index-alerts").show(); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body h2").css({"font-family":"'Fira Sans', sans-serif", "font-weight":"500", "padding-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body p").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body span.wxalertnum").css({"float":"left", "width":"40px", "height":"40px", "color":"#ffffff", "line-height":"40px", "background-color":"#888888", "border-radius":"40px", "text-align":"center", "margin-right":"12px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body b").css("font-size", "18px"); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body li").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"18px", "margin-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body ul").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body pre").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body img").css({"width":"100%", "margin-bottom":"20px", "borderWidth":"1px", "border-style":"solid", "border-color":"#aaaaaa"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).css({"borderWidth":"0", "border-bottom-width":"1px", "border-style":"dashed", "border-color":"#aaaaaa", "padding-bottom":"10px", "margin-bottom":"40px"}); }); } function parseAlertJSON(json) { console.log(json); alertCount = 0; if (Object.keys(json.alerts).length > 0) { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").empty(); } $.each(json.alerts, function(key, val) { alertCount++; $("#mrd-wx-alerts .alert_count").text(alertCount); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").append(''); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } else if (val.fips != "" && val.fipsimg != "") { // $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } // } //val.instr = val.instr.replace(/[W_]+/g," "); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(val.dhtml+"

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Elon Musk and Grimes had to change their baby's name -- a bit - KPTV.com