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Legendary horror writer Stephen King, who is also famous for his frequent critiques targeted at X owner Elon Musk, has published a tweet that again aims criticism at the innovative tech entrepreneur.
This time, the writer does not bash Elon Musk for his rebranding Twitter to X.
SpaceX burns whole in ionosphere
In his X post, Stephen King referred to an article by Popular Mechanics scientific magazine, which stated that the “Space X explosion in November blew a hole in the ionosphere,” according to King’s tweet.
The article speaks of Nov. 18, 2023, when the SpaceX team was testing its Starship rocket. The space vehicle exploded in the sky above Texas, where it was launched, four minutes after liftoff.
🤦♂️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2024
The explosion took place approximately 93 miles above the Earth's surface. Now, Russian scientists, according to Popular Mechanics, claim that the explosion caused severe damage to the ionosphere – the atmosphere layer that protects the Earth from harmful solar radiation.
Elon Musk responded to King’s jab by posting a “man facepalming” emoji in the comments, as if not taking the tweet seriously.
Elon Musk announces timeline for mission to Mars
In the meantime, tech mogul Musk has made an announcement regarding the timeline for launching the first spaceships to Mars to start making his long-term goal real – to make humanity a multi-planetary species.
The first starships made by SpaceX will be sent to the red planet in two years - as soon as the next Earth-Mars transfer window emerges. Then, the two planets will temporary have the shortest distance as they will be aligned with the sun. During this nine-month window that occurs every 26 months, the distance between the two planets shrinks from 401 million kilometers (249 million miles) to 54.6 million kilometers (33.9 million miles).
The first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2024
These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 years.
Flight rate will… https://t.co/ZuiM00dpe9
Musk stated that the first rockets will bear no human crews, to see if they will be able to land on the planet safely. If these visits go off without a hitch, then in four years, the first starships with crews will go to Mars.
Musk's ultimate goal is to establish “a self-sustaining city in about 20 years” to make sure humanity survives in case of a global catastrophe on Earth.