[Weekend Money] "A Flying Car Has Taken Off"... Here's How Musk Did It

Tesla Unveils New Roadster
Merger Rumors with SpaceX Draw Attention

"I thought it was a video made with artificial intelligence (AI)."

That was one of many reactions from online users after Tesla released a video of its next-generation Roadster on October 16 at a SpaceX rocket test site in Texas. The Roadster raced up a ramp, climbed a vertical wall and hung upside down before rotating in midair and landing gently on the ground. It also leaped over six vehicles. It was only natural that online users' expectations for flying cars would grow.

Tesla's new Roadster performs a jump. Tesla

The technology that makes the Roadster's flight possible is SpaceX's cold-gas thruster technology. The Roadster will be equipped with a total of 10 thrusters. They work by expelling air compressed to high pressure. Because there is no combustion, the system is simple in design and responds quickly. The same principle is used in the nitrogen cold-gas reaction control system (RCS) that SpaceX's Falcon 9 boosters use to adjust their orientation in space and set their trajectory for reentry, bringing rocket technology into automobiles.

Rocket technology is also used to store the propellant. The 600 liters of compressed air supplied to the thrusters are held in carbon-fiber composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), which are distributed throughout all available space in the chassis. COPVs are components designed to minimize weight while storing gas at extremely high pressure. The technology is used in SpaceX rockets to store high-pressure helium inside propellant tanks.

Elon Musk has applied technologies across the companies he owns. In the Tesla Roadster, technologies such as SpaceX's thrusters and COPVs have been incorporated. Conversely, Tesla's batteries and power conversion and control technologies have been applied at SpaceX. Since SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk has also pursued plans to bring Grok AI to Tesla vehicles.

The synergies between Tesla and SpaceX have drawn market attention to the possibility of a merger between the two companies. Around SpaceX's IPO in May, reports emerged that a merger with Tesla was under consideration. At Tesla's earnings announcement in July, Musk hinted at the possibility, saying the businesses of the two companies were increasingly overlapping.

The possibility took more concrete shape at SpaceX's third-quarter earnings announcement on October 20 (local time). According to foreign media reports, Musk said that each company had formed a special committee to consider a merger between SpaceX and Tesla. He added, however, that no merger terms had yet been agreed upon.

"As joint projects between the two companies, including Terafab and AI robots, are expected to continue, market interest in a merger is likely to intensify," said Jeong Euihoon, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.