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I don't think Elon Musk's thing is risks... his thing is goals. He's not building rockets because it's risky, he's taking risks to make humankind multiplanetary
by erikpukinskis 10y ago
I don't think Elon Musk's thing is risks... his thing is goals. He's not building rockets because it's risky, he's taking risks to make humankind multiplanetary. He's not starting a car company because it's risky, he's making cars to accellerate the transition to sustainable energy.
What's the goal for getting 50 tonnes of gold and platinum to Earth? Cash? Musk is just raised $1.2 billion for Tesla this week, no asteroid required.
- lucaspiller 10y agoJust wait until a metal rare on earth, but abundant in asteroids, is discovered to make much better batteries than we have now.
- mabbo 10y agoHe borrowed $1.2 billion. He took on an incredibly large debt. No one ever got rich applying for credit cards. The purpose of getting 50 tonnes of rare earths is to pay back those debts, and pay for the next big project that needs a billion dollars. Lowering the cost of rare metals would also be a big boon for humanity. Mining in Earth is not an industry known for its safety or cleanliness, and lower prices of those metals would bring down the cost of many technological innovations to levels that more people can have them. I see asteroid mining as not just a profitable thing, but a project worthy of doing at a level beyond finance.
- geezerjay 10y agoAccording to Bloomberg, Musk sold 250 million dollars worth of Tesla shares and emitted 750 million dollars in convertible debt. That's not exactly the same as borrowing 1.2 billion dollars.