Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk expressed how confident he is about the safety of the Dragon spacecraft made by his other company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Asked by Peter Cook how safe the Dragon is, the Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) boss noted that they have made the Dragon as safe as they can. SpaceX, which Musk founded, is hoping to be the company to supply spacecraft that will be used by NASA and other space agencies to go on missions including those to the International Space Station.
The Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO told Bloomberg’s chief Washington correspondent that if someone else has ideas to make the Dragon a safer craft, he would love to hear it. However, he emphasized that he thinks SpaceX has done all it can do to make Dragon as safe as possible.
He noted that the spacecraft has eight thrusters side-mounted to its body which give it a redundant escape system. They can be fired, for example, to pull astronauts from a malfunctioning rocket, he said. He added that there are eight of these thrusters in order for the vehicle to still be operational even in the case of multiple thruster failures. The Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO also noted that the Dragon has a redundant parachute system with three main parachutes in case of a total propulsion system failure. He explained:
“From a design standpoint, I’m not sure what more one could do. You have multiple engines, multiple parachutes. Space is a dangerous thing…Humans did not evolve to be space-going creatures. In as much as someone can make certain design decisions to make a spacecraft safe, we’ve endeavored to make those decisions and I’m at a loss to think of anything more that we could do. If we can think of something more, we will do it.”
Watch the video below where Tesla Motors Inc’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) top executive also talked about winning contracts for space missions and why he brought the Dragon spacecraft to Washington to show members of the Congress the real thing.
Shareholders in Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) includes Bridger Management managed by Roberto Mignone with a holding that’s made up of 300,000 shares. Cliff Asness’ Aqr Capital Management also reported 271,606 shares valued at about $56.62 million in the car manufacturer as of the end of March.
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