Heena Sharma Blog

  SpaceX will launch the " DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon " in the first quarter of next year, with Elon Musk's commercial rocket company accepting the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment. "SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year - Mission paid for in Doge - 1st crypto in space - 1st meme in space", Musk said in a tweet https://bit.ly/3betdTm. Geometric Energy Corporation announced the dogecoin-funded mission earlier on Sunday, with the statement not disclosing the mission's financial value. "This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce", SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero was quoted as saying in the statement released by Geometric Energy. Musk said on Twitter in April that SpaceX was going to put a "literal Dogecoin on the literal moon". Read More

  SpaceX has cancelled the planned launch of a Falcon 9 carrier rocket with 60 Starlink satellites. "Auto-abort at T-1:24 ahead of tonight's Falcon 9 launch of Starlink; next launch opportunity is tomorrow, March 1 at 8:15 p.m. EST [03:15 GMT on Tuesday]," SpaceX said on Twitter on Sunday. The company did not specify the reasons behind the delay. The Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to lift off from the Cape Canaveral (Kennedy) Air Force Station in Florida at 01:37 GMT on Monday. The mission aims to put 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. If successful at its next launch opportunity, it will expand SpaceX's fleet of broadband relay satellites to include over 1,200 (some of them are prototypes that are no longer in service). The Starlink project seeks to provide affordable access to broadband internet connection across the world. Read More

  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has awarded Elon Musk's SpaceX $886 million as part of a programme to help bring high-speed broadband Internet to the country's rural areas. A total of 180 bidders won part of the auction support totaling $9.2 billion to be distributed over the next 10 years, the FCC said on Monday. "I'm thrilled with the incredible success of this auction, which brings welcome news to millions of unconnected rural Americans who for too long have been on the wrong side of the digital divide. They now stand to gain access to high-speed, high-quality broadband service," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. Read More

  Tesla Inc has obtained permission to start selling its Shanghai-made Model Y sports utility vehicle in China. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the approval on its website on Monday. Tesla, now sells its Model 3 electric cars in China and has been building new car manufacturing capacity in Shanghai to make its Model Y SUVs. It applied for the Shanghai-made Model Y SUV sales permission earlier this month. It started delivering vehicles made in its Shanghai factory last December and sold more than 13,000 vehicles in China in October. The company has started exporting China-made Model 3 cars to Europe and said last week it plans to also start making electric vehicle chargers in China in 2021. Read More

Tesla Inc 's highly anticipated unveiling of its futuristic pickup truck suffered a setback after its " armoured glass " windows shattered during a demonstration. During the tightly choreographed unveiling of the Cybertruck to cheering fans on Thursday, Tesla boss Elon Musk had taken a stab at the design, power and durability of mainstream trucks, only to be shaken when his boast about his new truck's windows backfired. With a starting price of $39,900, the Cybertruck's futuristic, angular body in gun-metal grapy resembles an armoured vehicle and takes aim at the heart of Detroit automakers' profits. Musk singled out the Ford F-150, the top-selling vehicle in the United States, to highlight the capabilities of the Cybertruck, showing an edited video of the two trucks in a back-to-back "tug-of-war" in which the Cybertruck takes off, dragging the F-150 behind it shortly after both trucks accelerate from starting position. To show off the...

Jack Ma believes artificial intelligence poses no threat to humanity, but Elon Musk called that "famous last words" as the billionaire tech tycoons faced off Thursday in an occasionally animated debate on futurism in Shanghai. The Chinese co-founder of Alibaba and the maverick industrialist behind Tesla and SpaceX frequently pulled pained expressions and raised eyebrows as they kicked off an AI conference with a dialogue that challenged attendees to keep up, veering from technology to Mars, death, and jobs. However, the hot topic in the hour-long talk was AI, which has provoked increasing concern among scientists such as late British cosmologist Stephen Hawking who warned that it will eventually turn on and "annihilate" humanity. "Computers may be clever, but human beings are much smarter," Ma said. "We invented the computer -- I've never seen a computer invent a human being." While insisting that he is "not a tech guy,...

Not content with monitoring almost everything you do online, Facebook now wants to read your mind as well. The social media giant recently announced a breakthrough in its plan to create a device that reads people’s brainwaves to allow them to type just by thinking. And Elon Musk wants to go even further. One of the Tesla boss’ other companies, Neuralink, is developing a brain implant to connect people’s minds directly to a computer. Musk admits that he takes inspiration from science fiction, and that he wants to make sure humans can “keep up” with artificial intelligence. He seems to have missed the part of sci-fi that acts as a warning for the implications of technology. These mind-reading systems could affect our privacy, security, identity, equality and personal safety. Do we really want all that left to companies with philosophies such as that of Facebook’s former mantra, “move fast and break things”? Though they sound futuristic, the technologies needed to make brainwa...

Tesla Inc said board member Robyn Denholm will replace Elon Musk as its chair, more than a month after the billionaire had to step down as the electric-car maker's chairman as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators. Tesla had until Nov. 13 to name an independent board chairman under the settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said Musk's tweets about taking the company private were fraudulent and that the billionaire could retain his role as CEO but should quit as chairman. Musk said in August he was considering taking Tesla private in a $420 a share and that he had secured funding for a deal that was later scuttled but attracted scrutiny from several government agencies. The appointment of Denholm caps months of turbulence for the company and its stock and investors called for stronger oversight of Musk, whose recent erratic public behavior raised concerns about his ability to steer the company through a rocky phase of growth. ...

Tesla Inc on Thursday introduced a new $45,000 version of its Model 3 sedan on its website, launching the car as U.S. tax breaks for Tesla cars are about to decrease. According to the website, the rear-wheel-drive model has a "mid range" battery, a range of 260 miles, 50 miles less than the long-range battery that the more expensive Model 3 is equipped with. The new version has a delivery period of six to 10 weeks, according to the website, which would customers eligible for the current $7,500 U.S. tax credit if they take delivery by the end of the year. The tax credit for Tesla cars will drop by half on Jan. 1. Although Tesla has promised a base-level version of the Model 3 priced at $35,000, so far it has only produced higher-cost versions starting at about $49,000. Tesla has said that it would not manufacture the base-level version of the Model 3 this year. Adding the mid-priced version of the Model 3 appears to be a strategic way to lure possible bu...