Missile sales are the number two defense export in the U.S. and production is dominated by a handful of companies such as Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. As technology advances, will expensive missiles and hypersonic glide weapons dominate the market, or could start-ups and cheaper technology change the missile economy?
Category Archives: Business
Technology: ‘How SpaceX Makes Money’ (Video)
As side hustles go, Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is really quite something. Entirely separate from the humdrum day job at Tesla, where his only real challenge is weaning humanity off the internal combustion engine, Musk’s multi-billion dollar SpaceX operation sets itself no less a target than bringing down the cost of space travel and ultimately helping mankind colonise Mars.
Spoiler alert – firing gigantic rockets into space every other week is not a cheap undertaking. And while there’s no question Elon Musk has a few bucks to his name, his pockets aren’t bottomless. Somehow, all those dazzling launches – and landings – need to pay for themselves. So strap in and get ready for ignition sequence, while we investigate today’s burning question – how does SpaceX make money?
In October this year, influential investment bank Morgan Stanley went on record saying it believed SpaceX would very soon be worth a cool 100 billion dollars.
Sustainable Foods: Inside A ‘Wind-Powered Vertical Farm’ In Denmark (Video)
Inside a warehouse in an industrial zone in Copenhagen vast stacks of plants soar almost to the ceiling. In time, this newly opened vertical farm will be one of the largest in Europe, while power from Denmark’s windfarms will ensure it is carbon-neutral, according to the company behind it.
Social Media: ‘Tik Tok As A Platform For Business’
TikTok is becoming a popular forum for Gen-Z and Millennials to learn about entrepreneurship and making money. To find out more, WSJ spoke with three TikTokers who are attracting large audiences that support their thriving online businesses.
Wine & Spirits: Making Handmade ‘Fire-Charred Whiskey Barrels’ (Video)
Adirondack Barrel Cooperage uses traditional coopering methods to build spirit barrels out of American oak. Their one-of-a-kind barrel charring and toasting process imparts complex flavors in spirits, like smoke, coconut, vanilla, caramel, and more.
Website: https://www.adirondackbarrelcooperage…
Credits: Producers: Carla Francescutti, Pelin Keskin Director: Carla Francescutti Camera: Murilo Ferreira, Carla Francescutti Editor: Carla Francescutti
The Future Of Work: ‘Is Working From Home A Long-Term Trend?’ (Video)
The white-collar world has been forced by Covid-19 into a “work from home” experiment, and the results are in. It turns out we can be just as productive at home, if not more so, and many don’t want to go back to the office — at least not full time. So what will happen to the office? Will we see workers coming in only when they have to? And if so, what does that mean to the multibillion- dollar commercial real estate industry?
Online Shopping: ‘How Amazon Drone Delivery Will Look & Work’ (Video)
It’s well over a decade since Amazon launched its Prime delivery service; in fact it was 2007 when the company first introduced us to unlimited next-day shipping on what was at the time almost a million products.
But in 13 years, we have seen little change. That is, until recently. Many areas now offer same-day delivery, but behind closed doors Amazon had been working on an ambitious plan to realise almost instant delivery. The goal? Just 30 minutes, from the click of the ‘order now’ button to the tangible products, in our hands.
Every delivery company can agree that the final mile or so of a product’s journey is the most expensive. As it leaves a shipping container, and steps away from the lorry’s vessel, it enters the smallest vehicle yet – vans, and sometimes cars. Rather than carrying millions of products, a driver can now only carry a few dozen. Employing thousands of drivers comes at incredible cost to shipping companies.
Health: ‘Travel Bubbles’- Can They Revive Air Travel?
Travel bubbles are under development in some places in an effort to revive air travel, which has plummeted during the pandemic. WSJ explains how reopening the skies without quarantine requirements at both ends of a trip could help reboot the global economy.
Illustration: Crystal Tai
Commerce: ‘Will Digital Payments Replace Cash?’
Is cash still king? The coronavirus pandemic may cause a drastic decline in cash usage due to the risk of contamination. The unprecedented surge in the demand for contactless payment has also shown outstanding performances for major companies offering cashless payment methods, like Apple, Square and Paypal. Could covid-19 signal the end of cash in the United States and can the U.S. really function without physical currency?
Smartphone Apps: ‘The Rise Of Google Maps’ (Video)
Google Maps has taken on competitors like MapQuest, Yahoo and Apple. But after a decade of investing, collecting data and billions of images through Street View, Google has over a billion monthly users. It updated tens of thousands of times a day and has mapped more than 220 countries and territories. Here’s a look at how Google came to dominate maps.
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