SpaceX Option Package For New Tesla Roadster Will Include Rocket Thrusters, ‘May Even Allow A Tesla To Fly’
The SpaceX option package for the new Tesla Roadster will include 10 small rocket thrusters, arranged seamlessly around the car, Elon Musk announced today via Twitter.
The SpaceX, Tesla founder, and CEO claims these rocket engines will improve speed, cornering, breaking, and acceleration, and maybe even “allow a Tesla to fly.”
The new Tesla Roadster will, according to Musk, “exceed all gas sports car in every way.”
Musk, the South African-born American business magnate, investor, and engineer, has made some bold promises in the past, but he has also delivered on quite a few. For instance, in February, 2018, as the Inquisitr reported, Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon Heavy rocket, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“We want a new space race. Space races are exciting,” the SpaceX founder and CEO proclaimed after the launch.
Musk seems to have shifted his focus on Tesla, at least for now. During a recent shareholder meeting, Tesla said customers would be able to get a SpaceX upgrade package, according to the Business Insider. He did not describe what the package would include, until today, although he had previously hinted that the Roadster could be able to “fly short hops.”
During the same meeting, Musk told shareholders that his Tesla will indeed be able to outperform gasoline cars, partially because Telsa and SpaceX employees frequently collaborate. For instance, as Musk said, SpaceX employees advised Tesla employees on how to identify a problem on an aluminum auto part.
19 years ago, when my 1st company got bought, I had to decide between buying a house in Palo Alto or a McLaren F1 (best car ever imo). Was no contest. I bought F1 & a small condo that was much cheaper than the car. New Tesla Roadster will exceed all gas sports cars in every way…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2018
After announcing the news via Twitter, Elon Musk told the story of how he, 19 years ago, had to decide between buying a house in Palo Alto or a McLaren F1 — his favorite car — and chose the latter. Musk, he tweeted, arrived in North America with $2,000 and “a backpack and suitcase full of books,” paid his own way through college, and then dropped out of Stanford with $110,000 in debt.
After dropping out of university, Musk, created an internet startup with the late Greg Khouri. Called Zip2, Musk’s startup, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, provided a searchable business directory, acting as an internet version of the Yellow Pages.
Musk tweeted today how he wrote the entire software of the website.
At Zip2, I wrote entire V1 of software for drawing vector maps & calculating point to point directions anywhere in US (first ever company to do so), as well as white pages & business listings w reviews (an early Yelp). Also wrote V1 of classifieds, autotrading & real estate apps.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2018
In 1996, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, Mohr Davidow Ventures agreed to invest $3 million in Zip2 in exchange for majority ownership. Musk was then replaced as CEO, but remained chief technology officer and executive vice president.
In April, Musk said that Tesla will be profitable in the third and fourth quarters of 2018, adding that the company will not have to raise any money from investors. This drove shares in the electric carmaker higher, Reuters noted, following widespread Wall Street speculation that Musk’s company might be forced to return to capital markets, in order to raise more funds.
