Buffet dares Musk to beat his candy biz, SpaceX founder accepts challenge

Elon Musk recently took aim at the idea a successful business needs a “moat” -- a competitive advantage that keeps rivals at bay. The pace of innovation, he said, is more important in the long run.

On Saturday, Warren Buffett and his business partner, Charles Munger, shot back.

“Elon says a conventional moat is quaint, and that’s true of a puddle of water,” Munger, 94, said. “It’s ridiculous. Warren does not intend to build an actual moat. Even though they’re quaint.”

Munger and Buffett, 87, were responding to a question at Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s annual meeting about Musk’s comments this week. The pair often talk about trying to expand the “moats” around their businesses.

“First of all, I think moats are lame,” Musk said during an earnings call for his Tesla Inc. on May 2. “They’re like nice in a sort of quaint, vestigial way. But if your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long. What matters is the pace of innovation. That is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness.”

Falcon Heavy: SpaceX's amazing launch, but what about environmental impact?

SpaceX has now launched the most powerful spacecraft since the Apollo era – the Falcon Heavy rocket – setting the bar for future space launches. The most important thing about this reusable spacecraft is that it can carry a payload equivalent to sending five double-decker London buses into space – which will be invaluable for future manned space exploration or in sending bigger satellites into orbit.

Falcon Heavy essentially comprises three previously tested rockets strapped together to create one giant spacecraft. The launch drew massive international audiences – but while it was an amazing event to witness, there are some important potential drawbacks that must be considered as we assess the impact of this mission on space exploration.

But let’s start by looking at some of the many positives. Falcon Heavy is capable of taking 68 tonnes of equipment into orbit close to the Earth. The current closest competitor is the Delta IV heavy which has a payload equivalent of 29 tonnes. So Falcon Heavy represents a big step forward in delivering ever larger satellites or manned missions out to explore our solar system. For the purposes of colonising Mars or the moon, this is a welcome and necessary development.

Falcon Heavy will be a success if it doesn't blow up on launch pad: Musk

The maiden flight of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s larger and more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will be a success if it doesn’t blow up on the launch pad, according to Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.

“This is a test mission, so we don’t want to set expectations of perfection,” Musk said on a call with reporters Monday ahead of the planned demonstration flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “I would consider it a win if it just clears the pad.”

The new rocket, which is expected to take off as early as 1:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, is a reusable “super heavy” launch vehicle that will allow the closely held company to bid on heavier commercial and government payloads. It has double the capacity of its closest competitor, United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy. And competitors are watching closely, with Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin LLC and ULA’s Tory Bruno both wishing Musk good luck via Twitter as tourists swarm Florida’s space coast.

SpaceX launches Air Force's super-secret mini-shuttle

SpaceX launched the Air Force's super-secret space shuttle on Thursday,  a technology tester capable of spending years in orbit.

The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, as schools and businesses boarded up for Hurricane Irma.

It's the fifth flight for one of these crewless mini- shuttles, known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.

The two Air Force space planes have already logged a combined 5 years in orbit. But officials won't say what the spacecraft are doing up there. The last mission lasted almost two years and ended with a May touchdown at the runway formerly used by NASA's space shuttles. The first one launched in 2010.

As has become customary, SpaceX landed its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral for eventual reuse.

This was the first time SpaceX has provided a lift for the experimental mini-shuttle. The previous missions relied on United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rockets. Air Force officials said they want to use a variety of rockets for the X-37B programme, to launch quickly if warranted.

The Boeing-built mini-shuttle is 29 feet long, with a 14 -foot wingspan. By comparison, NASA's retired space shuttles were 122 feet long, with a 78-foot wingspan.

SpaceX stopped providing details about the X-37B's climb to orbit, a few minutes after liftoff at the Air Force's request. The booster's return to SpaceX's landing zone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, however, was broadcast live.
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Watch: SpaceX launches 10 satellites from California air base

A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off yesterday through low- lying fog at 1.25 pm pacific daylight time (PDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rocket's second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches.

Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX.

The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Virginia, company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be so-called on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction.

Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters.

Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said.

"It's hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure we've cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority," he said.

The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerion's space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety especially in remote airspace over the oceans.

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SpaceX's successful Friday launch opens weekend doubleheader

The year’s not half over, and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies is about to launch more missions than it completed in all of 2016.

SpaceX successfully fired up a Falcon 9 rocket for the eighth time this year on Friday, matching its flight total for all of last year. Its next launch is scheduled just two days later, with the ramped-up cadence putting the company on track to achieve the 20 to 24 total missions it’s targeting for the year.

The quickening pace of launches illustrates how SpaceX has bounced back after one of its rockets and a customer’s satellite blew up on a Florida launch pad in September. The company was grounded for four months in the midst of an investigation into the incident before returning to flight in January. By racking up more successful launches, the closely held company has positioned itself again as a driving force in the new-age space race.

The rocket that took off Friday carried BulgariaSat-1, a communications satellite destined for geostationary orbit. It launched from the historic 39A pad at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where Neil Armstrong left from before landing on the moon in 1969.

The launch used a “flight proven” Falcon 9 rocket booster, which means it’s flown to space previously and been returned and refurbished. SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Musk has championed reusability — once derided as a crazy idea — to drive down launch costs and win a growing roster of customers, including the US military. Friday marked the second time it’s used a pre-flown booster. “It’s starting to feel kinda normal to reuse rockets. Good. That’s how it is for cars and airplanes and how it should be for rockets,” Musk tweeted earlier this month.

SpaceX successfully recovered the booster from this mission on an unmanned drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, though it had been bracing for a less favourable outcome.
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