He also seems to be good at getting government money.
Which is of course a good part of growing a company these days.
Unfortunately.
He also is a skilled self-promoter.
Take for example sending his car on a journey out of the solar system.
He could have as easily opened a contest to college students to design and build a payload for the test.
I think that would be a more useful use of the test launch.
He also is a skilled self-promoter.
...
So is President Trump.
Using the Tesla as a payload will probably be worth more in free advertising to his companies than the cost of the launch. I’d say the shareholders are thrilled about that.
Tesla has the highest customer satisfaction rating of all car companies and SpaceX customers are thrilled with the value for their dollar.
Musk has generated more tax revenue than the “subsidies” his companies have received. Net win for taxpayers.
So was Thomas Edison - often to his own detriment. You could have asked Nikola Tesla, or any of the other talented young inventors Edison hired at Menlo Park.