@David Killens

Want to know what his rockets are really for? https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-how-i...

He needs a way to get 12,000 + satellites up in to low earth orbit, and to replace them as needed.

This is a big BIG deal.

Why do you ask? If this satellite system works, he and his company could eventually gain control of all human communication (barring other countries/competition in this same sector.) Except he might/probably win the race. He might have his satelites up there, taking the primo airspace for these satellites before anyone else.

Imagine if you will, gigabit+ internet speeds for millions of people simultaneously anywhere in the world, (except maybe the poles.) This includes on planes, cruise ships, cars, all without needing ground infrastructure, no power, no lines nothing. As we grow to an increasingly connected society, we can have high speed internet in any and all places. Not only that but if this works as advertised it will be significantly faster than even the fastest ground based connections. Once this internet hits critical mass, he could charge us 10 bucks a month for unlimited gigabit+ internet speeds. (Less in countries where people generally cannot afford that.)

This also will change how we get our media content. We won't need computers anymore, just small screens with batteries that are permanently connected to high speed internet. A smartphone and a viewing device/interface is all we will need. And if current rates of cellphone use is to be expected to transfer over to this, we will all be connected, constantly.

The rockets can bring people to space but that is only a tiny sidebar media sound byte of what these rockets really will be used for.

The investor in me says do not invest long term in any cable/wire based company. If Comcast/Verizon/AT&T/others/etc do not get with the program quickly or convert over to media content production they will cease to exist 10-20 years from now if Elon Musk can pull off this satellite internet, or if some other entity pulls this off.

@ZeffD

Nuclear power is not green energy, it is the opposite. No proper account is taken of the cost of storing nuclear waste or burying it.

Kind of depends on how you define "green energy." Nuclear releases less CO2 into the air per kilowatt hour then solar, wind, hydro (all of these including nuclear do not directly release any, but their production/installation/disposal definitely do!)

I am a huge fan of solar, and to a lesser extent wind and hydro, (hydro is actually quite greenhouse warming gas expensive!) But they are not without their problems. Solar's main problem is the power storage problem, wind is "space" and hydro is mostly maxed out.

No proper account on nuclear waste disposal/storage is true, they mostly been storing it onsite as NIMBY is strong for nuclear and nuclear waste. Luckily they are building right now nuclear power plants that take nuclear waste and reuse it, further reducing, and we are inching closer to deuterium based fusion, and if we can successfully somewhat economically conqueror that, that changes everything. Power could essentially become "free" once the plants are built, and we can use our existing power lines to distribute it. Plus there is hope for miniaturization of both nuclear and possibly fusion.

Nuclear is our best option, (until fusion) but powerful fossil fuel industry has successfully made a boogeyman out of nuclear while hiding the true cost of coal/oil/gas. (Like coal releases tremendous amounts of radiation strait into the air, and their radioactive debris gets stored all over the place, with new neighborhoods being built on top of these radioactive debris fields!) If we spent 1/10th the amount on nuclear as we do on the US highway system....'sigh.'
 
 

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The equities/stock market is one giant gambling machine. Just; if you do a wide spread and go long, the odds are actually in your favor to make a buck, as opposed to most traditional gambling where the odds are always in favor of the "house."

Although I do worry capitalism, (esp. in the US,) is nearing its end game based on current policy from Washington DC. And economic forces out of DC's control. Things like: dwindling resources in the face of ever larger populations and as more people leave poverty and start buying more things putting further strain on the dwindling resources.