The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Questions on ElonsFAQ asked in this interview (3)
Transcript
0:02Stephen ColbertFor villain. That's what a super villain does.
0:06Elon MuskYeah.
0:07Stephen ColbertSuperman doesn't say it will drop thermonuclear bombs. That's Lex Luthor man.
0:12Elon MuskYeah. The slow way would be to release greenhouse gases like we're, like we're doing on Earth to, you know, we've gotten a lot of experience releasing it.
0:22Stephen ColbertExport. We could export some of our greenhouse gases from Earth to Mars. Now you also have ways for us to get there because as I said, you're, you're one of the CEOs of Space X and I'm incredibly excited.
0:36Stephen ColbertYou're the CEO. I'm sorry.
0:43Elon MuskYeah, okay.
0:44Stephen ColbertSorry.
0:45Elon MuskYeah.
0:46Stephen ColbertStruck a raw nerve again. Super villain. Now the thing that excites me as SpaceX is that you want to have rockets like the sci fi rockets I was promised when I was a kid.
1:01Elon MuskYeah, absolutely.
1:02Stephen ColbertUse them.
1:03Elon MuskYeah. This is the key to getting life to be multi planetary is to have reusable rockets. So if you throw the rockets away every time, it's crazy expensive to go to space.
1:15Elon MuskBut if you can refly the rockets, it could be comparable to air flight in its costs.
1:21Stephen ColbertAnd you've got a rocket called. Is it called the Falcon?
1:25Elon MuskYeah.
1:25Stephen ColbertOkay. The Falcon rocket. And your goal is to try to land the Falcon rocket on a barge at sea so you can reuse a ship. A ship.
1:35Elon MuskIt has engines, everything, everything.
1:38Stephen ColbertSeems to be insulting you this year. Well,
1:43Elon Muskif it's got engines, it's a ship.
1:45Stephen ColbertOkay, good.
1:45Elon MuskYeah.
1:46Stephen ColbertOkay. And is anybody driving the ship?
1:49Elon MuskNo, it's a drone ship.
1:50Stephen ColbertOkay. We have a footage of the. This is the last attempt, I think to land the rocket after it successfully delivered a payload. Here it goes. And. Come on baby.
2:04Stephen ColbertYeah, come on. You can do.
2:07Elon MuskBroke a leg on landing. So it took over.
2:11Stephen ColbertIt broke more than that.
2:12Elon MuskYeah.
2:13Stephen ColbertOh, how heartbreaking is that to see that when you get that close.
2:17Elon MuskThat's definitely, definitely heartbreaking.
2:20Stephen ColbertYeah. You don't seem heartbroken.
2:24Elon MuskWell, that happened several months ago. So I, but the, the.
2:29Stephen ColbertShake it off. You just shake it off.
2:33Elon MuskThe. I think we were actually feeling, I mean sad but happy at the same time that because if we could reduce the landing velocity we could get it to land and stay upright and not explode.
2:46Stephen ColbertSo that is one of the goals of rockets is not to explode.
2:51Elon MuskYes.
2:51Stephen ColbertHow long before that's going to be safe enough that my wife would be okay with me getting on a rocket and going someplace?
2:59Elon MuskProbably. Well, I'm not sure if I don't know your wife, but she's right out there.
3:05Stephen ColbertOk. Yeah.
3:07Elon MuskBut I think in terms of when it will be safe enough for people, it's probably about two to three years.
3:13Stephen ColbertYou're kidding. Yeah, that's nothing. Seriously. So two to three years from now. So two to three years now, it could be the beginning of like, here's Joy, George Jetson and Steve Colbert.
3:30Elon MuskWell, in approximately two years, we'll be transporting NASA astronauts to the space station.
3:36Stephen ColbertWhat's the next thing that you want to do that is a hopeful future? One of the things I like about what you do is that your vision of the future is very hopeful.
3:48Stephen ColbertThat is, it is fixable that the world. There's so much despair, people throwing up their hands at problems of the world that can't be solved. You think that we can put our minds to it and actually make the world a better place.
4:02Stephen ColbertWhat do you think need more than anything else?
4:05Elon MuskWell, I think the most important thing we need to solve this century is sustainable energy. That's.
4:17Stephen ColbertWell, you seem like the guy to do it. Thank you so much for being here and thank you for trying to make the future a better place.