Free Republic

Solar panel installer SolarCity Corp filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $201 million in an initial public offering that could help rekindle investor appetite for cleantech stocks. ....Companies including Google Inc and U.S. Bancorp have provided funds to finance SolarCity's projects. Those investors are able to collect a 30 percent federal tax credit for solar energy systems...... ...SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive along with their cousin, PayPal co-founder and Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk.... SolarCity hopes it can buck the lackluster trend among recent cleantech IPOs.... ....[SolorCity's] total revenue was $46.6...

Tesla Motors Inc., the electric-car maker led by Elon Musk, fell the most in two months after cutting its revenue outlook for the third quarter because of supplier shortcomings and other delays in the production of its Model S sedan. Tesla slid nearly 10 percent to $27.64 Tuesday after the company said in a regulatory filing that it expects to generate $44 million to $46 million in third-quarter sales, compared with analyst estimates of $83.1 million. ..........Already the company's largest shareholder, Musk may buy 33,311 more shares, the company said in the filing. Tesla, whose investors include Toyota Motor Corp....

Space Shuttle Discovery sailed off into the sunset and the United States for the first time in a half century has no proven ability to put men into space. Thank President Obama. Or maybe, thank SpaceX founder Elon Musk. (See Rand Simberg’s very different take on things.) SpaceX is getting federal dollars that NASA would otherwise use. .......While NASA dollars have moved into the pockets of SpaceX, we now know that Elon Musk is an Obama bundler. Yesterday I had a conversation with a Congressman who revealed to me that Musk is a big Obama friend and bundler. Musk has...

Despite the news and pictures from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, America's once great space program is on life support because we no longer have a serious manned space exploration program....And the Obama Administration's unimaginative and amateurish vision for space exploration -- even if successful -- will not revive the dying program. It merely follows the disturbing pattern of the Solyndra scandal, funneling tax dollars to Obama donors and fundraisers. [SNIP] ....SpaceX collects tax dollars so that it can learn how to build and develop something that other companies were doing a generation ago. It is curious that SpaceX is now...

(CNN) – Riding the momentum of his South Carolina win on Saturday, Newt Gingrich said Sunday he planned a week of big speeches offering “big solutions for a big country.” “I’ll be at the space coast in Florida this week giving a speech — a visionary speech — on the United States going back into space in the John F. Kennedy tradition,” the former House Speaker said on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.” He said the days leading to Florida's Jan. 31 primary would include other speeches on health care, housing, the economy, Cuba and Latin America. “I hope really once a...

[Elec car maker Elon] Musk: Tesla "will not be applying" for additional DOE loan Tesla CEO Elon Musk Despite reports to the contrary, Tesla Motors won’t ask the U.S. Department of Energy for an additional Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan, according to the automaker’s chief executive officer. Palo Alto-based Tesla has “significant” capital reserves and more than enough funds to develop its Model S sedan, CEO Elon Musk told reporters in Washington last Thursday. Apparently, Tesla’s initial $465-million DoE loan is all the government money that’s needed for now. Quoting Musk: We don’t need any additional DOE funding. We...

Elon Musk's space company, SpaceX has raised another $50 million in funding, according to a SEC filing. A company rep tells us, "Existing investors expressed an interest in making an incremental investment and we accommodated their request."

HOUSTON, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) today announced the signing of a Space Act Agreement with NASA regarding development of human spaceflight hardware. SpaceX and Johnson Space Center (JSC) will identify joint opportunities in pursuit of cost effective human spaceflight systems. "This agreement provides a framework for working with NASA on future spaceflight needs in support of low Earth orbit space missions and other steps in the Vision for Space Exploration," said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. "We look forward to working with NASA to create an exciting future in human spaceflight." Space Act Agreements are...

Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Hearing Charter: Future Markets for Commercial Space Future Markets for Commercial Space April 20, 2005 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon 2318 Rayburn House Office Building Purpose: On Wednesday, April 20, at 9:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a hearing to examine the future of the commercial space market and the government's role in that future. Last year, the President signed into law the Science Committee's Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, which dealt with regulating one aspect of commercial space - private, human suborbital flights, which are generally intended for space tourism....

VAN HORN, Texas - Even skeptical locals, who've become wary over the years of city slickers with big ideas for their town, perked up when Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos made his pitch — a spaceport for commercial travel into the beyond. Bezos flew into this West Texas town a few weeks ago to tell key leaders how he planned to use his newly acquired 165,000 acres of desolate ranch land. He also gave his only interview so far on the spaceport to the Van Horn Advocate, the weekly newspaper Larry Simpson runs from the back of his Radio Shack store....