Just an earthbound misfit

OK, so Twitter might currently be a disastrous experiment in “libertarian tech bros putting their money where their mouths are,” but how are things going with Elon’s other businesses?

Big rockets emit tremendous amounts of energy — and none more than SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket in the world, which generates thrust twice as powerful as the Saturn V rocket that flew the Apollo astronauts toward the moon.

So when it lifted off Thursday, the nearly 400-foot-tall Starship scattered debris for hundreds of yards like mortar fire, leaving a crater under its launch mount, dents in nearby storage tanks and questions about the extent of the repairs and when SpaceX might be able to attempt to launch again.

The public road that passes the site remained closed all day Friday, making it difficult to assess how widespread the damage was. Photographers needing to retrieve their remote equipment were told they would not be allowed to do so until Saturday afternoon, at the earliest. The delay suggested damage had been greater than expected.

Videos shared on social media showed a piece of debris slamming into a van several hundred feet away from the launch site as cameras toppled nearby. They also showed shrapnel striking the nearby beach and pummeling the shoreline, making it seem like a war zone. Splashes from debris plummeting into wetlands can be seen on multiple sides of the launchpad for 10 or more seconds after the launch.

The cloud of dust thrown up by the rocket wafted into communities miles away.

But is this really hurting the bottom line?

Elon Musk’s personal fortune took a hit of almost $13 billion on Thursday as the world watched a SpaceX rocket explode while Tesla delivered underwhelming earnings.

Pretty soon we’ll be talking about real money!