In today’s newsletter we discuss Elon Musk borrowed $1 Billion dollars, making Oxygen on Mars, the Pentagon’s UFO website is live, Atari gets nostalgic, and $30 Trillion dollars in home equity.

Business

Not a day goes by that Elon Musk isn’t in the news, and this week is no exception. It was reported by Reuters that Elon took out a $1 billion loan from SpaceX when he was raising funds to buy Twitter (now known as X). For the record it has been reported that he has paid back the loan in full, including interest, to SpaceX after the completion of his purchase of Twitter. The rumor for years has been that Elon is a cash-poor Billionaire, meaning the majority of this net worth is tied up in equity in companies including Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly known as Twitter), Neuralink, and The Boring Company to name a few.

Elon Musk borrowed $1 billion from SpaceX in same month of Twitter deal, Wall Street Journal reports

Tech

Look who just made oxygen on Mars! No, not Elon Musk (although that was my 1st thought also). NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars back on Feb. 18, 2021, carries a microwave-size device called MOXIE, or Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (love those NASA acronyms). According to this article on CNN “the experiment produced 12 grams of oxygen an hour at 98% purity or better, which is twice as much as NASA’s goals for the instrument.” The instrument works by converting carbon dioxide, which is available in abundance on Mars) into breathable oxygen.

The first experiment to produce oxygen on another planet has come to an end

Space

So the Pentagon just opened a new website where U.S. government and military personnel can report their own UFO sightings. In completely unrelated news good luck to any U.S. government and military personnel getting a promotion for reporting an UFO sighting. The only thing more worthless that I can think of would be the eventual opening of this website to the general public. Then every conspiracy nut and X-Files fan can submit their “sightings” and patiently wait for a visit from a 3-letter government agency.

Pentagon UFO office unveils official website for US government personnel to report sightings

Entertainment

Atari is serious about nostalgia these days. They just announced they are acquiring AtariAge, a popular online community for Atari enthusiasts (otherwise known as people who still live in their parent’s basements). AtariAge will continue to operate as an independent website, and will continue to support the homebrew gaming community with plans to publish 20 new games on various retro platforms. The acquisition follows the release of the new Atari 2600+ that can play original Atari 2600 cartridges and new releases.

Atari doubles down on retro, buys beloved Atari homebrew maker

Real Estate

What if I told you American’s were sitting on an insane record amount of home equity. If I told you $1 Million dollars (said in the voice of Dr. Evil) you’ve be way off. What about $1 Billion dollars? Nope, not even close. How about $30 Trillion dollars in home equity?!?! Do I have your attention now? Good, because thanks to skyrocketing housing prices Americans have an unprecedented amount of equity they can tap into thanks to HELOCs, or home equity line of credit for those of you who are still renting.

‘House-rich’ Americans are sitting on nearly $30 trillion in home equity. Here’s how to tap it

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris