Connect with us

Lifestyle

Space Hero Extraordinaire: Elon Musk

Anyone that can break the cycle of bureaucracy and nay-sayers to get a country focused on things that are super important, things like clean energy and planetary exploration, is a hero in my book. For Elon Musk and the few others like him, wanting something “too bad” isn’t a weakness because the very things you want require that kind of commitment to be attainable. The proof of that concept? Four words: “The Falcon has landed.”

Published

10 years ago

on

Just Another Dreamer

When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more in the world than to be an astronaut. I just knew it was my “calling”. I fed my space addiction as much as the school’s library would allow me to, and I couldn’t even fathom why every other kid in my grade didn’t want the same thing. I still remember laughing when one of them said he didn’t know who Neil Armstrong was, thinking it was a joke, and then being completely floored when he asked me why he should care about some “old” dude.

I was a total geek. I have no problem admitting that. I had even managed to convince my parents to send me to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama where I was selected to be my session’s shuttle commander. This was years before Eileen Collins had become the first female shuttle commander, so it was a big deal to me.

One day, another student told me that I would never become an astronaut because I wanted it “too bad”. I still hate that she was right, but I really can’t hate the reasons why it came to be true. Genetics are genetics, and not meeting a five-foot-four threshold combined with not having twenty-twenty vision are more or less non-starters for the space cowboy wannabes out there. Then life happened, I went down another path (or seven), and the shuttle program was shut down before I ever got the opportunity to see a launch in person.

Mars and Musk for the “Win”

When I finally made it to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it was the same week the very last shuttle had landed. As I stood in the bleachers where hundreds of others had sat to watch rockets take to the sky, gazing out at the launch pad that had held so much human spirit on it, I suddenly felt it again. The “calling”, renewed now with a slightly different purpose. Then I turned to my mostly disinterested brother and said, “Mike, this is my manifesto. One day, I’m going to be part of the effort that takes man to Mars. I got here too late for the moon and too late for the shuttle, but I’m not gonna give up. It’s too much a part of who I am, even today.” He laughed at me, of course, and probably rolled his eyes, but I wasn’t watching him. I was dreaming again.

That’s where Elon Musk came in for me. Cool rich guy does cool stuff with his money in an attempt to go cool places with his rockets, right? No, not really. It wasn’t that simple. I will even admit it took me a fairly long time to actually follow what he was doing. The words “commercial” and “space” just didn’t really mesh well together in my head. What could a business mentality really bring to the spirit of human space exploration that was pure enough to be worthy?

It took an interview with Elon on an episode of StarTalk Radio, hosted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (your personal astrophysicist), to finally “get” what was special about him. This guy’s main concern in life was advancing humanity. It really seemed to me that money was a means to an end for him, not the end itself, and that was something I could respect in a big way. After that, it didn’t take very long for fascination to set in, and now I consider him to be one of my heroes.

“Hero” is a word that tends to be thrown around a lot, but I think in this case it is definitely deserved. It’s about breaking the cycle. The space industry is heavy with bureaucracy, inefficiency that drives high costs, and “big guys” happy to stand in the way of any other “guys” hoping to get in on the action. New technology means less job security for those doing things the way it has always been done, and long-standing relationships between the “big guys” and NASA have kept the “little guys” focused mostly on space tourism rather than pure scientific pursuit or pushing the boundaries of what can be done and where we can go.

Elon Musk: Space Hero Extraordinaire

Enter Elon Musk with SpaceX. He decides he’s going to launch rockets that are better, cheaper, flown more often, and with Mars as the ultimate goal. Shockingly, it doesn’t entirely even matter to him whether he succeeds or not. It’s just that important and must be tried. He didn’t get into the space business to make money; he got in for sake of all of us.

To be fair, Elon is not entirely unique in his desire to explore other planets, especially Mars. I remember watching an IMAX film during my week at Space Camp that had fantastic visuals explaining how we could terraform our red neighbor. I even remember thinking, “Oh, great! We do have a plan.” In reality though, we didn’t have a plan, or at least didn’t until Elon’s effect inspired people to demand one.

Anyone that can break the cycle of bureaucracy and nay-sayers to get a country focused on things that are super important, things like clean energy and planetary exploration, is a hero in my book. For Elon Musk and the few others like him, wanting something “too bad” isn’t a weakness because the very things you want require that kind of commitment to be attainable. The proof of that concept? Four words:

“The Falcon has landed.”

So that’s my angle, my two cents – whatever you want to call it. With SpaceX and Elon taking so much initiative, our future in the final frontier is finally happening again, and I am excited to both have the opportunity to watch everything unfold and to share my thoughts as it happens. I do plan on joining the effort directly, but more on that later. For now, the headlines are filled with the “next steps”, and there’s much to be said about them.

Advertisement
-
Related Topics:

Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration

Tesla is now shipping Cybercabs from Giga Texas with Starlink hardware built in as standard.

Published

1 week ago

on

September 8, 2026

By

tesla cybercab with no manual controls showing a movie with two employees inside

Tesla’s Cybercabs are now leaving Gigafactory Texas with Starlink hardware on the rear hatch in significant numbers, according to drone footage captured Tuesday by longtime Austin drone observer Joe Tegtmeyer. Production at the factory ramped back up after the Labor Day weekend, and his flyover of the outbound lot showed rows of gold Cybercabs alongside Model Y Long Wheelbase units, many carrying the satellite module for the first time as standard equipment rather than a one off retrofit.

Tesla first showed Starlink built into an actual Cybercab on August 10, when the Robotaxi account posted images of a single gold unit with the antenna integrated into the roofline above the taillights and called it the first Cybercab with Starlink integration. That followed a July reveal where Tesla and Starlink jointly posted a cutaway diagram of the antenna placement without a working vehicle to back it up. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI software, said at the time that the connection isn’t required for the car to drive itself. It exists mainly for navigation, customer service and keeping tabs on the fleet.

Musk has made a different case in public. During Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, he said the company can’t afford robotaxis stranded in what he called “Bermuda Triangles of lack of cellular connectivity,” and he separately claimed on X that Starlink will eventually reach every Tesla built, calling it the only way to deliver high bandwidth to billions of vehicles. He has also pitched the antenna as an entertainment upgrade, telling riders they would be able to stream 4K video or play games during a trip.

Advertisement
-

The rollout has moved fast since. Robotaxi service opened to the public in Austin on September 3, and Cybercabs had already been spotted with Starlink hardware in Houston and near Miami International Airport in the weeks before Tuesday’s factory footage showed the module shipping at volume rather than on scattered test units. Whether the satellite link earns its keep is still an open question. Tesla’s unsupervised service currently runs in dense metro geofences in Texas and Florida, markets where cellular coverage is already strong, which is not where the rural dead zones Musk describes tend to show up.

Continue Reading

Lifestyle

Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory

Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

September 3, 2026

By

Tesla Cybertruck construction site

Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.

The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.

The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.

Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.

Advertisement
-
Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years

Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

August 30, 2026

By

Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.

In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.

The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.

Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.

Advertisement
-

This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.

Continue Reading