Daily Archives: January 7, 2024

Surprise, surprise: SpaceX plans to set more spaceflight records this year.

Elon Musk's company launched 96 orbital missions in 2023, a big jump from its previous high of 61, which was set a year earlier. And SpaceX is planning another big leap in 2024, one that will take it well above the century mark.

"As we look to next year, we want to increase [our] flight rate to about 12 flights per month, or 144 flights," Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability, said on Oct. 18 during a hearing of the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Space and Science.

That works out to one launch every 2.8 days, a cadence that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But SpaceX has a history of reframing our ideas of what is possible in spaceflight, so that ambitious target seems eminently achievable.

Related:8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight

Roughly two-thirds of SpaceX's launches in 2023 were devoted to building out Starlink, the company's satellite-internet megaconstellation. That trend will likely continue in 2024, for the network is nowhere near complete.

Starlink currently consists of about 5,230 operational spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. But SpaceX has permission to deploy a total of 12,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), and the company has applied for approval for another 30,000 on top of that.

So Starlink batches should keep flying from both coasts Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center throughout 2024.

We'll also see some more SpaceX astronaut launches this year.

The company launched three crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023 two for NASA and one for Axiom Space, a Houston-based company that aims to get its own outpost up and running in LEO a few years from now.

SpaceX will send five astronaut missions skyward this year, if all goes according to plan. The Crew-8 and Crew-9 flights for NASA are scheduled to lift off in February and August, respectively. Axiom's Ax-3 mission will launch on Jan. 17, and Ax-4 is targeted for no earlier than October. And, in April, SpaceX plans to launch Polaris Dawn, a free-flying mission to LEO that will feature the first-ever spacewalk by a private astronaut.

Related: SpaceX's Ax-2 mission for Axiom Space in photos (gallery)

Ninety-one of SpaceX's 96 orbital missions last year were flown by its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, and the company's powerful Falcon Heavy accounted for the other five.

But 2023 also featured two test flights of the launcher that SpaceX thinks will spur a revolution in spaceflight and exploration Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.

The Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy both feature reusable first stages, a serious breakthrough in spaceflight tech. But Starship, which stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall when fully stacked, is designed to be fully reusable. Indeed, Musk wants Starship's huge Super Heavy booster to land directly on its launch mount after liftoffs, to enable rapid inspection, refurbishment and reflight.

Starship's two test flights lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas, in April and November of last year, respectively. Both missions aimed to send the vehicle's upper stage most of the way around Earth, with splashdown targeted for a patch of the Pacific near Hawaii.

The April flight didn't last long. Starship suffered several serious problems, including the failure of its two stages to separate, and SpaceX intentionally destroyed the tumbling vehicle just four minutes after liftoff.

Starship made progress on its second flight; Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines all fired as planned, and the booster separated successfully from the upper stage. But this mission too ended early, with the destruction of the upper stage about eight minutes into flight.

We shouldn't have to wait long for flight number three. Just last week, SpaceX test-fired the engines of its latest Starship prototype, which it plans to launch pretty much as soon as it gets a license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. (The FAA is currently overseeing an investigation into what happened on the November Starship flight.)

SpaceX is also working to get other Starship vehicles ready, in keeping with the company's development philosophy, which prioritizes frequent test flights and rapid iteration.

"I think maybe by the end of the year, they actually get it down pat in a functional way. Not on cadence, but just demonstrating the reusability," Justus Parmar, CEO of the venture capital and advisory firm Fortuna Investments, which focuses heavily on the space industry, said of SpaceX's Starship efforts. "So, that's going to be huge."

Time is of the essence for Starship's development. NASA chose the giant vehicle to be the first crewed lander for its Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent, sustainable human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s. The plan calls for Starship to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time on the Artemis 3 mission, which is currently scheduled to lift off in late 2025 or 2026.

Related: NASA's Artemis program: Everything you need to know

The last two years have been rough for investors in most fields, and space was no exception.

"Growth has been crushed," Parmar told Space.com. "Everything's down like 70 to 90%."

But he sees a turnaround coming. Money will start flowing into the space ecosystem in a serious way again this year, potentially leading to a "banner year" in 2025, Parmar predicts.

"The technology is the furthest it's ever been, and yet we've got valuations that are somewhat the lowest they've ever been in a certain capacity. So I think that setup with new capital is really promising," he said.

Low prices and rapidly advancing technology aren't the only factors that are poised to move the needle. The continued success of SpaceX, which dominates the private spaceflight industry, is showing investors that there is money to be made in the final frontier. And that's critical, according to Parmar.

"In every burgeoning or emerging industry, you always need a frontrunner you need a success story," he said. "If there are no winners in the industry, nobody's ever going to support [it]."

Google was such a frontrunner in the early 2000s, when investors needed a success story after the internet bubble burst, Parmar noted. Google ended up reshaping the entire internet economy, and SpaceX may do something similar in the final frontier.

That's not to suggest that SpaceX will be the only spaceflight company to have a big 2024. Parmar thinks Blue Origin, which Amazon's Jeff Bezos founded back in 2000, is poised for a breakout year.

Blue Origin just got a new CEO Dave Limp, who had been Amazon's senior vice president of devices and services. In addition, Bezos recently announced that he's moving from Seattle to Miami. He broke the news in an Instragram post, which also noted that "Blue Origin's operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral." The Space Coast liesjust a few hundred miles from Bezos' new home in South Florida

These signs point to Bezos prioritizing Blue Origin more than he has in the past, and being more actively involved in the company's activities, Parmar said. (Like SpaceX, Blue Origin has bold ambitions; Bezos has said he wants to help humanity extend its footprint out into the solar system.)

"I think everything that they've been doing is just going to get sped up," Parmar said. "He's going all in on this."

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Starship, Starlink and more - Space.com

TAMPA, Fla. SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink satellites designed to connect directly to unmodified smartphones Jan. 2 after getting a temporary experimental license to start testing the capability in the United States.

Six of the 21 Starlink satellites that launched on a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:44 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carry a payload that the company said could provide connectivity for most 4G LTE devices when in range.

SpaceX plans to start enabling texting from space this year in partnership with cellular operators, with voice and data connectivity coming in 2025, although the company still needs regulatory permission to provide the services commercially.

Initial direct-to-smartphone tests would use cellular spectrum from SpaceXs U.S. mobile partner T-Mobile. SpaceX has also partnered with mobile operators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

During the launch webcast, Kate Tice, SpaceX senior manager for quality systems engineering, said the first six direct-to-cell satellites would be brighter than the 15 Starlink V2 Mini broadband satellites joining the mission without the hardware to connect to smartphones.

SpaceX plans to work with astronomers to review the impact on their observations before making hardware adjustments to ensure its direct-to-cell spacecraft are as dim as possible, Tice added.

In November, SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission that it expected to deploy 840 direct-to-cell satellites over the following six months.

Its first direct-to-cell launch was originally slated for mid-December, but was delayed to become SpaceXs first mission in 2024 and 296th overall.

This was also the first flight for the booster on the Falcon 9 mission, which landed shortly after lift-off on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean for reuse.

SpaceX announced 11:47 p.m. Eastern that the Falcon 9 had deployed all 21 Starlink satellites.

The 15 Starlink V2 Mini satellites on the mission will add more capacity to SpaceXs existing low Earth orbit broadband constellation, which provides high-speed broadband to tailor-made fixed and mobile satellite user terminals.

Meanwhile, early-stage ventures AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global are closing in on fundraising deals to expand their dedicated direct-to-device constellations.

AST SpaceMobile said Jan. 2 it is seeking to secure funds this month from multiple parties ahead of launching its first five commercial satellites early this year on a Falcon 9.

Lynk Global, which is currently providing intermittent texting and other low-bandwidth services to phones outside cellular networks in parts of the Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, and Palau, plans to raise funds by merging with a shell company run by former professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez.

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SpaceX deploys direct-to-smartphone satellites in first launch of 2024 - SpaceNews

SpaceX is suing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after the agency accused the Elon Musk-owned company of illegally firing employees. In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday, SpaceX claims the NLRBs actions are unconstitutional.

On Wednesday, the NLRB filed a complaint alleging SpaceX illegally fired a group of employeesfor drafting an open letter that criticized Musks behavior. The NLRB also claims SpaceX interrogated employees about their involvement with the letter and encouraged employees to quit if they participated in organized activities.

Now, SpaceX is responding with a lawsuit that says the open letter was a distraction to SpaceX employees around the country. It claims the NLRBs proceedings, which involve a hearing in front of an NLRB administrative law judge (ALJ), violate SpaceXs constitutional right to trial by jury. The company also accuses NLRB of violating the Constitutions rules on the separation of powers, stating the agencys structure is miles away from the traditional understanding of the concept. The NLRB declined to comment.

SpaceX is asking the court to deem the provisions restricting the removal of NLRB members and ALJs unconstitutional, as well as declare that the NLRBs proceedings deprive SpaceX of its right to trial. Its also asking the court to pause the current proceedings. A hearing is scheduled in front of an NLRB ALJ on March 5th, 2024, but theres an option to appeal the decision to the board and then a federal appeals court.

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SpaceX is suing to bust up federal union protections - The Verge

SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket sends Starlink satellites to space from a California launch pad. (SpaceX via Twitter/X)

The first satellites capable of providing direct-to-cellular service via SpaceXs Starlink network and T-Mobiles cellular network have been sent into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Six of the cell-capable satellites were among a batch of 21 Starlink satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:44 p.m. PT Tuesday. The satellites were deployed successfully, and the rockets first-stage booster made a routine landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX plans to launch hundreds of the upgraded satellites in the months ahead, with the aim of beginning satellite-enabled texting later this year. 4G LTE satellite connectivity for voice and data via unmodified mobile devices would follow in 2025, pending regulatory approval.

Todays launch is a pivotal moment for this groundbreaking alliance with SpaceX and our global partners around the world, as we work to make dead zones a thing of the past, Mike Katz, president of marketing, strategy and products for Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile, said today in a news release.

The partnership between SpaceX and T-Mobile is one of several efforts to merge the realms of satellite telecom service and cellular service. The most recent models of Apples iPhone already offer emergency texting service via satellite. Amazons Project Kuiper satellite effort is partnering with Verizon and other telecom companies for hybrid connectivity. AST SpaceMobile (which has AT&T as a partner) and Lynk Global are among other players in the market.

In the 16 months since T-Mobile and SpaceX announced their partnership, other wireless providers have signed up for Starlinks direct-to-cell service, including Rogers in Canada, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, KDDI in Japan, Salt in Switzerland, and Entel in Chile and Peru. And the invitation still stands for any carrier with the shared goal of global connectivity to join, T-Mobile said.

Over the next few months, SpaceX and T-Mobile will be testing direct-to-cell service on a limited basis in sites across the U.S. including Redmond, Wash., where Starlink satellites are manufactured to ensure that the system wont interfere with other telecom services.

The development of SpaceXs Starship / Super Heavy launch system is another variable in the timeline: Once Starship enters service, that would accelerate the deployment of SpaceXs next-generation Starlink satellites.

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SpaceX launches the first set of Starlink satellites for T-Mobile's direct-to-cell plan - GeekWire

Enlarge / Ship 28, the Starship for SpaceX's next full-scale test flight, fires up one of its engines on December 29 in Texas.

SpaceX

It's no secret that Elon Musk has big ambitions for SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket. This is the vehicle that, with plenty of permutations and upgrades, Musk says will ferry cargo and people across the Solar System to build a settlement on Mars, making humanity a multi-planetary species and achieving the billionaire's long-standing dream.

Of course, that is a long way off. SpaceX is still working on getting Starship into orbit or close to it, an achievement that appears to be possible this year. Then, the company will start launching Starlink satellites on Starship missions while testing in-space refueling technology needed to turn Starship into a human-rated Moon lander for NASA.

SpaceX's South Texas team is progressing toward the third full-scale Starship test flight. On December 20, the Starship's upper stage slated for the next test flight completed a test-firing of its Raptor engines at the Starbase launch site on the Texas Gulf Coast. Nine days later, the 33-engine Super Heavy booster fired up on the launch pad for its own static fire test. On the same day, SpaceX hot-fired the Starship upper stage once again on a test stand next to the launch pad.

With those milestones complete, ground teams rolled the booster back to its hangar for final preflight checks and reconfigurations. The ship, too, will need to be rolled back to its high bay.

SpaceX could be weeks away from having both vehicles ready to fly, but the company hasn't released an update on lessons learned from the previous Starship test flight in November. That flight was largely successful, with apparently flawless performance from the 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster during launch. The Starship upper stage reached space before self-destructing downrange over the Gulf of Mexico. The booster exploded during a maneuver to bring itself back to Earth for a controlled splashdown at sea.

The company's engineers will want to understand and correct whatever caused those issues. The Federal Aviation Administration then needs to approve SpaceX's investigation into the last Starship flight before issuing a new commercial launch license. When it flies again, Starship will try to reach near orbital velocity, enough speed to travel most of the way around the world before reentering the atmosphere near Hawaii.

Verifying the performance of Starship's heat shield tiles during reentry will be valuable learning for SpaceX, but Starship first needs to be fully successful with a launch. This is just the start for the privately funded Starship program.

Originally posted here:

Elon Musk: SpaceX needs to build Starships as often as Boeing builds 737s - Ars Technica

Press Association/AP Images

SpaceX, the space flight company owned by Elon Musk, illegally fired eight employees after they criticized Musks social media behavior, a new complaint from the National Labor Relations Board alleges.

The complaint stems from a June 2022 open letter that was shared on the companys internal chat system in which the fired employees called on SpaceX to swiftly and explicitly separate itself from its owner because of Musks increasingly erratic and inflammatory social media posts. The letter also claimed that SpaceX had failed to uphold its zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy, as well as its No Asshole policy. Now, after a yearlong investigation, the NLRB has found evidence of at least 37labor violations.

Elons behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, the letter stated, according to a report by The Verge. As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceXevery Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company.

Nine employees were terminated shortly after the letters release. (The NLRBs complaint involves eight of them.) According to reports from the Associated Press,five employees were fired one day after the letter was sent, while the remaining four were terminated weeks later.

The new NLRB complaint adds to the growing labor complaints surrounding Muskss companies. In February 2022, Tesla employees filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Tesla, with one Black employee claiming to hear racial slurs at least 50 to 100 times a day. As my former colleague, Edwin Rios wrote:

They heard racial slurs from their fellow workers and supervisors. They saw racist graffiti on the walls. They spoke up but their voices were unheard. The factory in Fremont, California, where they worked, was nicknamed the plantation. This was the life of a Black worker at Teslas main factory in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a new civil rights lawsuit filed by Californias Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Then in September 2023, X failed to pay more than 6,000 employees severance, resulting in more than 2,000 arbitration cases against the social media platform. SpaceX reportedly has until Jan. 17 to file a formal answer. The case will proceed to trial in March 2024.

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Federal Agency Accuses SpaceX of Illegally Firing Employees for Criticizing Elon Musk Mother Jones - Mother Jones

SpaceX is facing a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that alleges the company illegally fired employees for writing an open letter that criticized CEO Elon Musk.

In the complaint filed on Wednesday, the NLRB accuses SpaceX of interrogating workers about their involvement with the letter and told employees not to discuss these interviews. NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado told Reuters that SpaceX violated the federal right of workers to collectively push for better conditions.

The labor agency claims SpaceX created an impression of surveillance by reading and showing screenshots of messages between employees, adding that the company attempted to prevent employees from handing out the open letter. SpaceX also allegedly invited employees to quit and threatened discharge if they participated in organized activities.

The NLRB is asking SpaceX to post a notice about employee rights for 120 days and wants the company to write letters of apology to each of the employees it fired, among other things. A hearing with an NLRB administrative law judge (ALJ) is scheduled for March 5th, 2024, provided that SpaceX doesnt try to settle the charges. Whatever decision the judge makes can be appealed to the board and taken to the federal appeals court.

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SpaceX accused of illegally firing employees who criticized Elon Musk - The Verge

Enlarge / One of the most historic rockets in SpaceX's fleet toppled over Christmas Day on the return trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida, following its previous mission.

The Falcon 9 rocket that launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on SpaceX's first crew mission in 2020 launched and landed for the 19th and final time just before Christmas, then tipped over on its recovery ship during the trip back to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This particular booster, known by the tail number B1058, was special among SpaceX's fleet of reusable rockets. It was the fleet leader, having tallied 19 missions over the course of more than three-and-a-half years. More importantly, it was the rocket that thundered into space on May 30, 2020, on a flight that made history on several counts.

It was the first time a commercial rocket and spacecraft launched people into orbit, and ended a nine-year gap in America's ability to send astronauts into orbit from US soil, following the retirement of the space shuttle. This mission, known as Demo-2 and launched by SpaceX under contract with NASA, ended US reliance on Russian rockets to send crews to the International Space Station.

SpaceX recovered the booster on one of its offshore landing platforms after the historic launch in May 2020, while the Falcon 9's upper stage fired into orbit with the Crew Dragon spacecraft containing Hurley and Behnken. Then, the rocket went into SpaceX's fleet rotation to launch 18 more times, primarily on missions to deploy Starlink Internet satellites.

Hurley, who commanded the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-2 mission, kept up with the booster's exploits well after his return to Earth. He regularly exchanged text messages with Behnken and Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's vice president of launch, as the rocket just kept flying.

For Bob and I, that particular booster was always pretty special for a lot of reasons," said Hurley, a veteran Marine Corps fighter pilot who retired from NASA's astronaut corps in 2021. He now works at Northrop Grumman.

Hurley told Ars he would like to see the booster's remains displayed in a museum alongside the Crew Dragon spacecraft (named Endeavour) he and Behnken flew in 2020. "In a perfect world, Id love to see Endeavour and at least now part of that booster in the Smithsonian or in a museum somewhere," he said.

Its kind of a bummer," Hurley told Ars. But he understands SpaceX got a lot of use out of this rocket. SpaceX also has a lot of love for Hurley and Behnken. The company named two of its recovery ships for payload fairings "Bob" and "Doug" after the astronaut duo.

SpaceX has got a business to run," he said. "I think, at this point, certainly Endeavour is going to fly more, but this booster isnt, so hopefully they can find a spot to display it somewhere. Even part of it would look kind of cool somewhere. They could figure something out ... People, I think, can get a lot of inspiration from seeing stuff thats actually flown in space, and being able to get right up close to it, I think, is a big deal to a lot of people.

NASA

The 19th launch of this booster on December 23 was just as successful as the previous 18, with a smooth climb into space before shutting down its nine kerosene-fueled Merlin engines. The booster coasted to the highest point in its trajectory72 miles (116 kilometers)before Earth's gravity pulled it back into the atmosphere.

Two engine burns slowed the rocket as it descended toward SpaceX's drone ship positioned near the Bahamas, and then four carbon-fiber legs deployed moments before an on-target touchdown. Then, as usual, the recovery vessel started its slow journey back to Florida with the 15-story-tall booster standing vertically.

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A commander's lament on the loss of a historic SpaceX rocket - Ars Technica

Hadnt seen this yet here, so wanted to post it before hitting the lights. For this to have made it past the Journals lawyers and the Murdochs, things must be grave and off the rails.

Headline

Elon Musk Has Used Illegal Drugs, Worrying Leaders at Tesla and SpaceX

Subhead

Some of executives and board members fear the billionaires use of drugsincluding LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms and ketaminecould harm his companies

http://www.wsj.com/

Two key grafs

People close to Musk, who is now 52, said his drug use is ongoing, especially his consumption of ketamine, and that they are concerned it could cause a health crisis. Even if it doesnt, it could damage his businesses.

Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceXs billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program.

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WSJ - Musk's Drug Use Worries Executives and Board Members at SpaceX, Tesla - Daily Kos

Elon Musks public use of marijuana is hardly a secret. He smoked marijuana on commentator Joe Rogans podcast in September 2018.

But executives and board members in Musks companies have grown increasingly alarmed about his private drug use in recent years, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Saturday.

Senior executives worry that Musk's use of illegal drugs could impact the business operations of the six companies he oversees, including EV-maker Tesla, SpaceX and X, the former Twitter.

Citing sources close to Musk, the newspaper said the mercurial billionaire routinely uses hard drugs like LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms at private parties. Guests at the events sign nondisclosure agreements and agree to give up their phones, it said.

Musk, age 52, has also publicly said that he uses ketamine a psychedelic-like painkiller and anesthetic to treat depression. He took acid at party he hosted in Los Angeles in 2018, magic mushrooms one year later in Mexico and ketamine with his brother, Kimball Musk, at Art Basel in Miami in 2021, the news outlet reported.

The entrepreneur's other companies include tunneling concern The Boring Co., a brain implant startup called Neuralink and the xAI artificial intelligence startup. With a net worth of more than $243 billion, according to Forbes, he's the world's richest person.

Some of the executives in the report were not named. But one, former Tesla director Linda Rice Johnson, decided not to seek re-election to the electric vehicle companys board of directors in 2019 over concerns about Musks drug use.

The Journal added that SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stepped in for Musk when he was incomprehensible and slurring his words during a 2017 speech at an all-hands meeting.

SpaceX, where Musk is CEO and founder, has roughly $14 billion in U.S. government contracts for civilian and military space missions. The executives are concerned that Musk's drug use could run afoul of federal laws requiring contractors to support a drug-free culture. Teslas code of conduct forbids drug use, the newspaper reported.

Some executives worry that Musk was on drugs when he wrote a 2018 post on X, then called Twitter, about taking Tesla private for $420 a share the number is slang in cannabis culture for pot consumption, the newspaper reported. The post, which violated Securities and Exchange Commission rules, resulted in an investigation by the agency that forcedto step down as Tesla chairman.

While executives have raised concerns in private, they've kept silent at board meetings where their worries would be recorded, according to the Journal. Some of them once approached Musk's brother Kimbal for help in approaching the billionaire about his behavior, but they didn't use the word "drugs," the newspaper said.

Musks attorney, Alex Spiro, did not reply to a request for comment from The Messenger on Sunday, but told the Journal that the billionaire is regularly and randomly tested for drugs and has never failed. His response said that the newspaper's reporting contained other false facts, but did not elaborate.

Excerpt from:

Elon Musk's Recreational Drug Use Alarms Tesla, SpaceX Executives, WSJ Reports - The Messenger