Author Topic: Musk on PBS (Read 4790 times)

aero313 · « **on:** 01/04/2007 03:21 pm »

While flipping through the channels last night, I happened to stumble onto Elon Musk being interviewed on the premier of the WIRED Science show on PBS. The first part of the interview was about his investment in the Tesla electric car project. Seems that now that he's put LockMart and Boeing out of business, he's gunning for Porsche and Ferrari. The interview then moved to SpaceX. The interviewer pointed out that there was a lot of enterpreneurial interest in space, with Bezos, Branson, et al. He asked Musk about the market competion facing SpaceX. Musk paused for what seemed to be a long time, then answered "We have no competition."

That's when I lost it. Good thing that Tesla car is a roadster. It must be tough to fit a head that big into a coupe.

By the way, the interview is at www.pbs.org/wiredscience, but good luck getting it to run.

Damon Hill · « **Reply #1 on:** 01/04/2007 03:52 pm »

It's true that the Tesla has no competition; there's really no sports car >or< electric car like it. I'd love to drive and perhaps even own one, should I win the lottery big time. I'm curious to see if it can actually be driven like a sports car, hard and fast, for more than 50 miles.

But I don't know if or when the Tesla's actually gone into mass production, and Falcon has yet to establish a successful flight record. It'll be interesting to see if the Tesla gets a toehold in the market and how well the lithium batteries hold up in extended use on the road.

So, yeah, Musk does come off as a bit too confident. I'll forgive him, for now.

braddock · « **Reply #2 on:** 01/04/2007 04:14 pm »

hahaha, I gotta say, being in a tech startup myself, that is exactly what they always tell you NOT to say.

Kudos to the interviewer for letting the statement kinda hang there in a moment of silent incredulity.

A pretty stilted interview - Musk looks like he coulda used a stiff drink in the green room.

Heh, I like this quote Musk used: "A startup business is like eating glass while staring into the abyss."

edkyle99 · « **Reply #3 on:** 01/04/2007 04:53 pm »

Musk recovered from that "we have no competition" bit (he seemed to be trying to say that the other new space competitors were only doing the suborbital thing while SpaceX was trying to build an orbital launcher) with a nice quote something along the lines of:

"Developing a launch vehicle looks hard, and it is harder than it looks."

- Ed Kyle

aero313 · « **Reply #4 on:** 01/04/2007 05:09 pm »

Quote

Damon Hill - 4/1/2007 11:35 AM

It's true that the Tesla has no competition;

He was talking about SpaceX at the time

R&R · « **Reply #5 on:** 01/04/2007 11:57 pm »

Actually he's totally correct. One must have something that others would compete with to actually have competition.

aero313 · « **Reply #6 on:** 01/05/2007 02:02 am »

Quote

R&R - 4/1/2007 7:40 PM

Actually he's totally correct. One must have something that others would compete with to actually have competition.

So you're saying there's not much of a market for SSTO (single stage to ocean)?

(Sorry, sorry, but that was waaaay to easy...)

Comga · « **Reply #7 on:** 01/05/2007 02:58 am »

Quote

aero313 - 4/1/2007 9:04 AM

Musk paused for what seemed to be a long time, then answered "We have no competition." That's when I lost it.

By the way, the interview is at www.pbs.org/wiredscience, but good luck getting it to run.

Sure the guy has a big ego. He has earned it.

And in some way he is right, although it is a pushy way to say it. He doesn't see Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin as competitors because they are in a solidly sub-orbital market, as he states. Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites talks about orbital, but admits its years off and hasn't shown any hardware. T-Space is taking a very limited approach, which has a pretty low maximum performance. The only one I would dispute is Kistler-Rocketplane. They claim to have hardware, and were "awarded" a similar COTS "contract". However, they also have a pretty low ceiling, and own very little of the production chain.

His other point is that he is not being driven by competition. They only have to beat their own mistakes. If they do succeed, and I have my doubts that they can succeed at all they have started, their issues will be with creating a viable business, not in keeping it from competitors.

The interview ran just fine from www.pbs.org on my machine. Thanks for the address. I enjoyed watching it.

braddock · « **Reply #8 on:** 01/05/2007 03:50 am »

Well said. If only Musk had put it so well; it was a little too coy for him to leave it as he did without explanation.
In Musk's mind no one is competing with him because no one else is trying to colonize Mars.
I won't fault him for ambition, or what was obviously an uncomfortable interview for an introvert, or even being too "cute" when he should be direct (which he seems to do all the time).
The question is whether all of this points towards an ego that is unable to listen and adapt enough to succeed.
Beats me. I guess the hardware will tell.

Avron · « **Reply #9 on:** 01/05/2007 04:26 am »

If you are having a problem open this link in Quick time:
http://www.pbs.org/media/kcet/wiredscience/conv-elon_480.mov

josh_simonson · « **Reply #10 on:** 01/05/2007 09:09 pm »

The quicktime one worked for me, not the WMV.

I thought that interview actually went pretty well, it was kind of awkward when he said he had no competition. The interviewer didn't really seem to know how to handle that response either. It would have been more interesting to see why he didn't feel that he was in competition with Sea Launch or Orbital.