Science & Technology
Updated October 22, 2024
A collection of videos about SpaceX
SpaceX explained
3:21No other private corporation has done more for humanity's efforts in space than Elon Musk-owned Space Exploration Technologies Co., the California-based company pioneering reusable rockets, launching thousands of communications satellites into orbit, and building spacecraft to colonize Mars. Curious about SpaceX? 1440's got your breakdown of how it works.
Relevant articles, podcasts, videos, and more from around the internet — curated and summarized by our team
Elon Musk’s rocket company first began developing working prototypes of the Starship rocket in early 2019 in Boca Chica, Texas. An early version, nicknamed “Starhopper,” focused heavily on the ability to land a rocket after launching its vehicle into orbit—an enormous, but critically necessary, engineering challenge. Watch the evolution from an oversized tin can to the elegant Starship (along with some explosive failures).
Dozens of ships launch from Earth and dock at the International Space Station every year, rotating astronaut crews and delivering supplies. While it’s become standard practice, guiding a ship into an orbiting station takes exception skill. This simulator lets you try your hand at docking a SpaceX Dragon 2 at an ISS arrival port, using the same interface and controls as NASA astronauts.
Smithsonian Institution
Everyone's talking about colonies on Mars or the moon—but what about colonizing space? Learn about a pioneer in the idea with this short article. In the 1970s, Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill popularized the idea of building 15-mile-long cylinder-shaped colonies manufactured from lunar and asteroid materials, which would spin to create gravity. His legacy continues through work at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin where O'Neill has served as an inspiration.
The Space Race
NASA and SpaceX have become close partners in upcoming missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. This video explores the latest scientific proposals for how humans could terraform or colonize the red planet, evaluating feasibility, current technologies, and timeline. Learn why we'll probably need an army of labor robots who have dug massive underground habitats before the first human pioneers have their first long-term stay on Mars in this video.
The vast majority of space exploration has resulted from the deployment of single-use rockets, massive engines which fall to the ocean after delivering their payload. SpaceX has revolutionized the industry with its Falcon 9 reusable rocket, cutting launch costs in half or more. Learn about the rocket's design, its engines, and how it slows to 10 miles per hour just before landing on its ocean barges.
Everyday Astronaut
The setting for some of SpaceX's most daring tests is Starbase near the town of Brownsville in southern Texas. The location has become a veritable tourist spot for space aficionados lining up to see retired test vehicles and the mammoth Starship itself, the world's tallest and most powerful rocket system. Click here for the low down on the space explorer's mecca.
Search and uncover even more interesting information in our vast database of curated SpaceX resources
1440
No other private corporation has done more for humanity's efforts in space than Elon Musk-owned Space Exploration Technologies Co., the California-based company pioneering reusable rockets, launching thousands of communications satellites into orbit, and building spacecraft to colonize Mars. Curious about SpaceX? 1440's got your breakdown of how it works.
Smithsonian Institution
Everyone's talking about colonies on Mars or the moon—but what about colonizing space? Learn about a pioneer in the idea with this short article. In the 1970s, Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill popularized the idea of building 15-mile-long cylinder-shaped colonies manufactured from lunar and asteroid materials, which would spin to create gravity. His legacy continues through work at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin where O'Neill has served as an inspiration.
Flatlife
The first three failed attempts at launching his first rocket, Falcon 1, burned through SpaceX founder Elon Musk's initial $100M investment, endangering the company's future. However, the successes quickly piled up, with iterations and progress along the way. This video breaks down the steady evolution of the company's transformative rockets, from the Falcon series to the Starship system.
The Planetary Society
Rather than competitors, SpaceX and NASA are collaborators, together harnessing the confidence of public support and the adventurousness of private enterprise. Without NASA contracts, SpaceX may have run out of funding just a few years into its existence; without the low-cost tech of SpaceX, NASA would have been without a US-based launch system. Learn more about the synergies between NASA and private companies in this explainer article.
ModelThinkers
Reinventing the rocket and the car required Elon Musk to question and simplify past approaches to design. This short article summarize the five-step algorithm used across SpaceX, Tesla, and X. Musk's radical approach tests every detail of a design to determine—in the tech CEO's characteristic style—whether how it's previously been done is "dumb," or if a certain feature should even exist, let alone be optimized. This first principles approach has helped Musk develop some of the most valuable companies in the world.
The idea of "Elon Musk" goes hand-in-hand with "Mars" these days, and that's due to the tech leader's determined commitment to the original vision he cast in 2002: to make humanity a multiplanetary species. This riveting long read catalogs Musk's obsessions and evaluates their implications. The South African-born CEO has described all of his projects—including Tesla's efficient batteries and xAI's robotics—as united toward that singular goal of colonizing Mars.