April 18, 2013

New Earth-Like Planets Found (Source: Carnegie Institution)
A team of scientists has discovered two Earth-like planets in the habitable orbit of a Sun-like star. Using observations gathered by NASA’s Kepler Mission, the team, led by William Borucki of the NASA Ames Research Center, found five planets orbiting a Sun-like star called Kepler-62. Four of these planets are so-called super-Earths, larger than our own planet, but smaller than even the smallest ice giant planet in our Solar System. These new super-Earths have radii of 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.9 times that of Earth.

In addition, one of the five was a roughly Mars-sized planet, half the size of Earth. Theoretical modeling of the super-Earth planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, suggests that both could be solid, either rocky--or rocky with frozen water. “This appears to be the best example our team has found yet of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star,” Boss said.
 
Kepler-62 is one of about 170,000 stars observed by the Kepler Space Telescope, with a mass about 69% of that of our Sun. The Kepler Space Telescope reveals for planets orbiting a star by detecting a small, temporary dimming of the star as a planet passes between it and the telescope. The two super-Earths with radii of 1.4 and 1.6 Earth radii orbit their star at distances where they receive about 41% and 120%, respectively, of the warmth from their star that the Earth receives from the Sun. The planets are thus in the star’s habitable zone; they have the right temperatures to maintain liquid water on their surfaces and are theoretically hospitable to life. (4/18)

India Targets June Launch for Navigation Satellite (Source: Space News)
The first of a planned seven satellites for India’s regional navigation constellation is slated for launch this June aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the head of the country’s space agency announced April 17. Koppilli Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), made the announcement at a satellite navigation conference in Bangalore. The entire Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), including the ground segment, will be in operation by 2016, he said. (4/18)

Mars vs. Europa: Are We Looking in the Wrong Place for Alien Life? (Source: NBC)
A British astrobiology conference has revived a years-old debate over the best place to look for life elsewhere in the solar system: Mars, or the moons of Jupiter and Saturn? "For reasons I don't really understand, the wider solar system and the potential for life there has not been high priority," The Telegraph quoted Robert Pappalardo, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as saying on BBC Radio 4.

Pappalardo's remarks were occasioned by this week's astrobiology conference at the UK Center for Astrobiology in Edinburgh, Scotland. The center recently established the International Subsurface Astrobiology Laboratory, or ISAL, half a mile (1 kilometer) beneath the surface in Yorkshire's Boulby mine. Biologists will use that facility to see how organisms hold up in extreme environments, learn about life's chemical signatures, and test instruments that could look for those signatures on other worlds. Click here. (4/18)

Intelsat Gains After Initial Public Offering Raises $348 Million (Source: Bloomberg)
Intelsat SA (I), the world’s largest satellite services business, climbed on its first day of trading after raising $347.8 million in a U.S. initial public offering. The shares rose 7.6 percent to $19.36 at 11:10 a.m. in New York, reversing earlier losses. Intelsat sold 19.3 million shares for $18 each, and had earlier offered 21.7 million shares for at least $21. (4/18)

Stephen Hawking's Lame Argument for Space Exploration (Source: Huffington Post)
I want humanity to be a multi-planet civilization, and eventually, long after I'm gone, a multi-star one. It's still hard to conceive of ever being able to leave our quadrant of the Milky Way. But if we humans succeed in finding water somewhere other than Earth and taking the initial steps of moving away from our home planet, then perhaps it's only a matter of time before we visit another of the roughly 200 billion planetary systems within our galaxy, another quadrant and ultimately another of the estimated 200 billion galaxies in our universe. Forget the possible "other" universes.

I agree with Stephen Hawking; we "must continue to go into space for humanity." In a recent talk, the acclaimed theoretical physicist said, "I don't think we will survive another thousand years without escaping our fragile planet." In a 2011 interview he said, "Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space." Sadly, the argument goes, "We've done such a crappy job of caring for our planet that we really do need to look for another place to live."

I suppose that's what bugs me about Mr. Hawking's call for more public money for space exploration. It's the rationale. If we're going advocate for more government spending on space, then for God's sake let's come up with a better argument. Otherwise, why not take the money we would use for colonizing another planet and invest it in cleaning up the mess we've made on Earth? We should tie any program to return to the moon or go to Mars with some concrete vision of how that could truly help address the problems of the majority of the people on Earth. (4/18)

Stephan Israel Succeeds Le Gall as Arianespace Chief (Source: Space News)
Commercial launch services provider Arianespace on April 18 named Stephane Israel, now in a French government ministry and formerly with Arianespace’s biggest industrial shareholder, EADS, as chief executive officer, effective April 22. Israel replaces Jean-Yves Le Gall, who after a decade at Evry, France-based Arianespace has been appointed president of the French space agency, CNES, which is Arianespace’s biggest single shareholder. (4/18)

First Space Hacker Workshop Planned for May 4-5 in Silicon Valley (Source: Citizens in Space)
Are you a hardware hacker? Do you have the Right Stuff to become a citizen scientist or citizen astronaut? Here’s your chance to find out. Citizen scientists and hardware hackers will learn how to do “space on the cheap” at the first Space Hacker Workshop for Suborbital Experiments. Participants at the two-day workshop will learn how they can build and fly experiments in space, and even fly in space as citizen astronauts, through the Citizens in Space program.

The Space Hacker Workshop takes place May 4-5 at the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, California, across the street (literally) from NASA Ames Research Center.  The workshop is sponsored by Citizens in Space, a project of the United States Rocket Academy, and the Silicon Valley Space Center. Citizens in Space has purchased 10 flights on the XCOR Lynx spacecraft, now under construction at the Mojave Air and Space Port, which will be made available to the citizen-science community.

“We’re looking for 100 citizen-science experiments and 10 citizen astronauts to fly as payload operators,” said Edward Wright. “This is a chance for citizen scientists to develop and test new technologies--like bioreactors and 3D printing--in zero gravity; to collect microorganisms from the extreme upper atmosphere; to experiment with new processes for creating new materials; and do many more cool things. The Space Hacker Workshop will provide participants with information and skills needed to take advantage of our free flight opportunities.” Click here. (4/18)

JPL Suspends June Open House, Cites U.S. Budget Woes (Source: LA Times)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is suspending the open house that had been scheduled for June 8 and 9, making the popular yearly gathering the latest casualty of the automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration.
The “difficult decision” to put off the event was reached Tuesday, JPL spokeswoman Veronica McGregor said in an e-mail to The Times.

“If we can hold it later in the year after the budgetary dust settles, we will,” she wrote. Last month, NASA issued an internal memo suspending “all education and public outreach activities … pending further review” because of sequestration. In the memo, the agency asked departments to help assess which activities should go forward. (4/18)

Four Oddball Alien Planets Get Fingerprinted (Source: Space.com)
Scientists have collected the startling chemical fingerprints of four huge alien planets, successfully sifting through the blinding light of their parent star. The atmospheric composition of the four warm, cloud-covered alien planets orbiting the star HR 8799 — a star five times brighter than our sun that lies 128 light-years away from Earth — took researchers by surprise.

"These warm, red planets are unlike any other known object in our universe," astronomer Ben Oppenheimer, chair of the astrophysics department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said in a statement. "All four planets have different spectra, and all four are peculiar. The theorists have a lot of work to do now." The four planets are all more massive than Jupiter. At about 1340 degrees Fahrenheit (727 degrees Celsius), they're considered just lukewarm as far as celestial bodies go. With such temperatures, astronomers would expect to see ammonia and methane coexisting in their atmospheres. (4/18)

Intelsat Execs Cast Tamped-down IPO Results in a Positive Light (Source: Space News)
Intelsat Chief Executive David McGlade said he is “extremely pleased” with the company’s initial stock offering given the markets’ recent volatility, saying Intelsat succeeded in placing about 25 percent of the company’s equity value, which is about average for recent stock-market introductions.

In an interview, McGlade and Intelsat Chief Financial Officer Michael McDonnell said the company knew going into the April 17 IPO that the markets were more nervous — about terrorism concerns in the United States and slowing growth of the Chinese economy — than is ideal for a new stock issue. “In light of everything the market has been through this week, we’re extremely pleased” with the result, McGlade said. (4/18)

Space Leaders Featured in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential List (Source: Space.com)
In a year filled with asteroid flybys, a meteor explosion and new leaps forward in American commercial spaceflight, it only makes sense that the leaders in space innovation would be recognized for their efforts. Time Magazine prominently features two of those space leaders in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, released today (April 18).

Featured in the "titans" category, Elon Musk (the founder and creative mind behind SpaceX) is helping to make American commercial spaceflight a viable option now and in the future. So far, the billionaire mogul has already flown two successful unmanned missions to the International Space Station using the private spaceflight firm's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. The two missions were part of a $1.6 billion deal SpaceX penned with NASA to fly a dozen missions hauling supplies and experiments to the space station.

Listed in the "pioneers" category, Don Yeomans is NASA's chief space rock hunter. He keeps an eye on the sky from the space agency's Near-Earth Object Program Office. In light of a meteor explosion over Chelyablinsk, Russia and the unrelated flyby of Asteroid 2012 DA14 on Feb. 15, the public seems to be more aware of the threats posed by falling space rocks than ever before. According to Rusty Schweickart — the founder of the asteroid hunting B612 Foundation and the author of Yeomans' section in the magazine — Yeomans is "one of the reasons we can all sleep a little better at night." (4/18)

Embry-Riddle Teams with Aerospace States Association for STEM Scholarships (Source: ERAU)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is partnering with the Aerospace States Association in support of the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC), an annual high school competition aimed at increasing the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Embry-Riddle will award up to seven $50,000 scholarships – $12,500 annually per student – to winners of the national competition who attend the university, and its professors will serve as mentors to high school teams and as judges in future national-level challenges.

The agreement, starting with the competition in 2014, expands Embry-Riddle’s continuing efforts to encourage young people to pursue technical careers. Embry-Riddle is the only university formal partner in the competition in which teams of high school students and their teachers try to solve an engineering challenge faced by industry, one in aviation and one in ground transportation. Students first compete in a state-level Governor’s Cup and then each state’s best team competes in the national finals in Washington DC. (4/18)

NASA's Swift Satellite Observes Massive Supernova Stars (Source: BBC)
The great thing about astronomy is there's so much of it out there and so much we just don't understand. But never underestimate how ingenious science can be in trying to find out what's going on. NASA's Swift satellite is just one example of this - a small satellite designed to detect and then quickly turn to face gamma-ray bursts as they occur anywhere out there in the universe. Unusually for a space mission, Swift doesn't stand for anything. Instead, the satellite is named for its ability to move so rapidly.

Since its launch in 2004, Swift has detected over 700 gamma-ray bursts. Some bursts are over in a minute, some last a little bit longer but now researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered just three that last for several hours. Dr Andrew Levan from the University of Warwick says these longer gamma-ray bursts are actually caused by really, really big stars going supernova. That is using up all their fuel and exploding in a brilliant burst of energy. (4/18)

Levin: Find Stopgap Sequester Solution (Source: The Hill)
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-MI, wants a one-year solution for sequestration until a longer-range deal can be forged. "We simply cannot continue to ignore the effects of sequestration," Levin said this week. His backing of a one-year fix is a reversal of his earlier position, in which he said the entire sequestration should be addressed in one deal. (4/17)

War of Words Over Naming of Exoplanets (Source: Astronomy Now)
Uwingu, the crowd-sourcing company founded by scientist Alan Stern, has hit back at the International Astronomical Union's claim that only they can give names to astronomical bodies, including exoplanets. Uwingu allow anybody to nominate a name for an exoplanet for $4.99, or vote for a name that has already been nominated for $0.99. In return, participants receive a certificate with their chosen nomination. Up to half the money raised will then be donated to the 'Uwingu Fund', which will provide grants to scientists and educators for astronomical research or outreach projects.

Currently how an exoplanet is named depends upon how it was discovered. Planets that have been found using the transit method, when the planet passes in front of its star and blocks some of the starlight, are named after the project or mission that discovered them, such as Kepler-22b or WASP-12b (the 'b' refers to the second object discovered in the system after the star). Alternatively, planets found via the Doppler shift in their parent star's motion as the star and planet orbit around a common center of gravity are named after their star, such as alpha Centauri Bb or tau Ceti b.

Such names are chosen to maintain an unambiguous naming scheme, but unfortunately these conventions can lead to some nigh on impenetrable names, such as HD 40307b or 1RXS1609b - designations that some scientists sardonically refer to as 'telephone number' names. Uwingu suggest that it is time to change that and make these exoplanets feel more relatable to the public. Click here. (4/18)

Space Missions Should Refocus on the Moon, Experts Say (Source: Aerospace Daily)
The U.S. should aim for the moon, not asteroids or Mars, say space veterans Robert Walker, former chairman of what is now the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and Scott Pace, director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute. The U.S. should talk to other nations about partnering in space, they say. And, Pace said, "[w]hen you do that, you don't hear we want to go to Mars next week. You will not hear asteroids. You will see a willingness to work with the U.S. But the one thing they could do, which is return to the moon with the U.S., has really been left on the cutting room floor." (4/17)

Smith: U.S. Needs Vision, Plan to Reignite Space Program (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Throughout history, great civilizations have always explored. I don't know if space is the final frontier, but I believe it is the next frontier. Space exploration encourages innovation and improves Americans' quality of life. But we need vision, leadership and resolve to overcome stagnation and once again recognize the importance of our nation's space program.

[When] we beat the Russians to the moon [we] became the undisputed global leader in space. But now other nations are again accelerating investments in space, while our own human space program is without a clear mission. The stakes are high. Leading in space exploration means also leading in technological innovation and scientific discovery.

If China lands a man on Mars before the U.S., it would be devastating to our standing in the global community. We already know that China has plans to go to the moon. America must be committed to investing in the future, even in challenging economic times. Unfortunately, our vision for the future has been obscured by the present troubles facing our nation and our economy. Click here. (4/17)

JPL Inventory Check Shows Stolen NASA Laptop (Source: La Cañada Valley Sun)
A laptop belonging to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was allegedly stolen from a contract employee last summer, but the agency didn't realize it was missing until an inventory was conducted in January. JPL hired La Crescenta resident Jeffrey Mart in 1997 to complete contract work and he was given an Apple MacBook Pro laptop to monitor space flight operations from home. Mart applied to work at the agency full time and was on a waiting list when he was asked to report to JPL's Security Department on July 24, 2012 regarding his background check, according to the report.

Mart allegedly did not show up and left his job at JPL. The agency noticed that the laptop, valued at more than $1,800, was missing in January during an inventory check, according to authorities. JPL reported the incident to the sheriff's station on April 10. Sheriff's officials recently made attempts to contact the 51-year-old Mart at his residence, but he did not respond. (4/17)

Georgia: Embrace the Commercial Space Industry (Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Aerospace transport companies like Space X are drastically reducing the cost to launch payloads into low earth orbit. XCOR Aerospace is drastically reducing the cost per tourist of a sub-orbital flight, and Bigelow Aerospace is launching inflatable space habitats intended for tourism, with one of the first to be installed on the International Space Station. You may be surprised to know that all of these companies are interested in locating and launching from Spaceport Georgia in Camden County.

It is reasonable to assume that if Georgia initiated a serious market development effort, a 1 to 3 percent increase in U.S. space market share is feasible in three to five years. In an $80 billion space industry, a 1 percent market share increase equals $800 million of additional direct investment in Georgia. How many other markets is the state pursuing that match that kind of potential? (4/17)

Britain's Plan to Harpoon Dead Satellites, Clean Up Space Junk (Source: Daily Mail)
The business of cleaning up the trail of space junk left by more than 60 years of space exploration has long baffled scientists. Now British space experts think they may have the answer - a space harpoon. Next week, at a European Space Agency conference in Darmstadt, Germany, experts from across the globe will discuss the state of our skies and the growing threat posed by space debris.

But Britain already has a unique answer. Dr Jamie Reed, from Astrium UK, said 'We've built a harpoon.' It comes as the Stevenage based company announces it has been awarded a study contract by the French space agency CNES to tackle the problem of space junk. The study, awarded as part of the Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) programme, will focus on the removal of large pieces of space debris between now and 2020.

Astrium's plans would see a 'chase' satellite fitted with five or more harpoons which can fire at a moving target. Using laser and radar guidance systems, a piece of space junk would be targeted, and then captured with a gas-propelled harpoon on a tether. Once the space junk is secured, a smaller sub-satellite detaches from the chase satellite and pulls the junk downwards to burn up as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. (4/18)

Sex in Space Could Be Out of this World ... Or Not (Source: Space.com)
Getting busy might sound like a good way to pass the time on long space journeys, but it may not be the best idea, experts say. If humans attempt to push the boundaries of exploration, space-based procreation will be an essential part of keeping a crew alive for the lifetime of a mission to a distant star. However, scientists don't know how safe sex in space and childbirth may be.

In light of the Inspiration Mars Foundation's plan to send a married couple on a 501-day manned mission around Mars in 2018, the first documented case of human sex in space might be on the horizon. "Well, I'm sure that the couple chosen for the Inspiration Mars plan will have sex in space," Laura Woodmansee, author of the book "Sex in Space," told SPACE.com in an email. "No doubt there! I think that’s kind of an unwritten requirement. That’s why, I suppose, the foundation is planning to send a married couple."

Microgravity does strange things to the body. From bone density loss to odd fluid distribution, the human body was not built to live in low-gravity conditions. Astronauts combat these less-than-ideal conditions through exercise and other methods, but scientists are not sure how they will affect a mother and child. "The thing is, a baby created and born in space could be perfectly fine," Woodmansee said. "We just don’t know enough about the subject. We've evolved here on the Earth, so moving to outer space is moving evolution in a different direction." (4/18)

Early Umbilical Separation Prompts Antares Launch Scrub (Source: America Space)
Despite fluctuating worries about cloudy weather conditions, it was the premature separation of a loose second-stage umbilical cable which ended today’s attempt to get Orbital Sciences’ new Antares rocket into orbit on its “A-ONE” maiden voyage.

The countdown to launch from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Va., proceeded normally until less than 30 minutes before the scheduled 5:00 p.m. EDT liftoff time, when “an anomaly” was noted and the long-awaited launch was called off. Early indications are that a delay of perhaps 48 hours will be necessary to ready Antares for another attempt, although this has yet to be officially confirmed. (4/17)

Kentucky Space LLC Announces Creation of Space Tango (Source: SpaceRef)
Kentucky Space LLC announced the creation of Space Tango, one of the nation's first business accelerators specifically for space enterprises and entrepreneurs. Space Tango is an early-stage venture fund, business accelerator and community of entrepreneurs for space-driven startups, with the goal of assisting businesses in developing innovations, novel applications and diverse markets.

In the initial round, Space Tango will invest in up-to six companies from across the U.S. These enterprises will participate in an intensive twelve week on-site program, centered in Lexington, Kentucky, that will provide a complete constellation of services, advisors and networks necessary to successfully start and grow a space-driven business. Companies will be selected primarily on the basis of their idea, science, technology, market fit, customer understanding, management team, and readiness level. (4/17)

GAO Applauds NASA Progress in Program Management (Source: Space Policy Online)
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) applauded NASA's progress in reforming its management of major programs in a report released today. The congressional watchdog agency said that, excluding the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), cost growth and schedule delays have decreased to about one third of their 2009 levels. GAO excluded JWST because it has a "disproportionate effect" on the portfolio of programs NASA manages.

In this fifth review of NASA's program management challenges, GAO looked at 18 NASA projects with an estimated life-cycle cost exceeding $250 million. It did not make any recommendations, but highlighted areas where NASA leadership needs to remain vigilant: a) managing competing priorities within the context of constrained budgets; b) estimating costs associated with large-scale projects; c) improving overall cost and schedule estimates; and d) using consistent and proven design stability metrics. (4/17)

5 Things You Didn't Know About the Antares Rocket (Source: NBC)
1) Antares' engines were made for the moon. The AJ26 is based on the NK-33 engine, which was originally developed to launch Russia's giant N-1 moon rocket in the 1960s. 2) It is the largest rocket ever to launch from Virginia. 3) The rocket's name comes from a long cosmic legacy. It is the name of a red supergiant star in the constellation Scorpius. It's one of the largest stars ever found, with a diameter several hundred times that of the sun. 4) Orbital Sciences is a key player in missile defense, and has executed about 50 major launches for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force and the Navy to create a robust missile defense system in the United States.

And 5) This test flight will deliver tiny satellites into orbit. The Cygnus mass simulator being flown on Antares will deploy a few tiny satellites for a commercial customer and NASA before burning up harmlessly in the Earth's atmosphere.
The satellite payload includes the Dove-1 nanosatellite for a commercial client and two versions of NASA Ames Research Center's Phonesats, which are about the size of a coffee cup. (4/17)

Northrop Grumman Wins Contract for Six More GPS 3 Antenna Sets (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman Aerospace will supply antenna sets for six more GPS 3 next-generation positioning, navigation and timing satellites under a contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the multibillion-dollar Air Force GPS 3 program, which as currently structured would field a constellation of up to 32 satellites. The company has firm orders for four satellites and has been authorized to begin work on another four. (4/17)

Law Society Hosting Panel on Space Law (Source: Berkshire Eagle)
The Williams College Law Society is hosting a panel on space law and policy at 7:30 p.m. on April 18, at Williams College. The discussion features Professor Henry Hertzfeld of Elliott School of International Affairs, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University, and Professor Joanne Gabrynowicz, director, National Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law, University of Mississippi School of Law. (4/16)

Ken Mattingly Explains How the Apollo 13 Movie Differed From Real Life (Source: Universe Today)
Many astronauts seem to like the Apollo 13 movie, but being technically minded folk they also enjoy pointing out what actually happened during that so-called “successful failure” that landed safely on this day in 1970. Thomas “Ken” Mattingly was supposed to be on that crew, but was yanked at the last minute because he was exposed to the German measles. The movie shows him wallowing on the couch with a can of beer before hearing of an oxygen tank explosion on board.

He then spends most of the movie stuck in a simulator, helping to save the three men on board the spacecraft. Real life wasn’t quite the same as the movie portrayed, the real Mattingly said in a 2001 interview with NASA. For one thing, Mattingly had no assigned role in the rescue as he was a backup crew member. He ended up working in a lot of teams rather than a single project or two. There also were some technical differences between the movie and real life. Click here. (4/17)

NASA Proves 3D Printing is Headed to the Stars (Source: Venture Beat)
3D-printed space technology is no longer science fiction, as NASA and other space companies are making it a reality. Engineers and researchers at the Ames Research Center are already working with 3D printing technology to make it applicable for use in both space travel and the study of our universe, according to a recent CNET report. The potential for 3D printing on space travel is endless. The technology itself can theoretically allow structures like satellites and spacecraft to be built in space, and it’s being developed here on earth.

One private company, Made in Space, is already piloting zero gravity 3D printing. It started testing in early 2011, and has made great strides in the future of out of this world 3D printing and design. The company is working under a contract with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and they are building the first zero gravity 3D printer for space. The project, The 3D Printing in Zero-G Experiment, will launch into the atmosphere in 2014 headed to the International Space Station. (4/17)

Elon Musk Doesn't Let Up at Tesla, SpaceX (Source: USA Today)
If endless hours are a requirement to become a business icon, Elon Musk has put in his share. Nearly every week, he shuttles 400 miles between electric-car maker Tesla Motors in the San Francisco Bay Area and rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in this Los Angeles suburb. He is CEO of both. His bruising seven-days-a-week schedule means heading for Tesla on Monday nights, returning on Thursdays to run SpaceX — as the rocket business is commonly called — then often spending the weekends at Tesla. All the while, he juggles responsibilities that go with being father to five young boys. Click here. (4/17)