Elon Musk Teases Iron Man Suit On Twitter
SpaceX founder meets with the Pentagon, but probably not about exoskeletons
It’s no secret that Marvel’s Iron Man was initially modeled after billionaire Renaissance man Elon Musk. The founder of PayPal and current CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors has many things in common with Tony Stark, including tons of money and immense influence. But if you follow him on Twitter, Musk would lead you to believe he has one more thing in common with Stark: his rocket-powered, missile-firing exoskeleton.
Musk made this joke after CNN speculated as to why Musk met with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Wednesday. It seems a lot more plausible that the head of SpaceX may have been going over his plans to launch an important military satellite into orbit. The $82.7 million deal would aim to bolster the global positioning system (GPS) used by both the government and consumers for more accurate location data.
CNN notes that the Pentagon is also on an innovation kick right now, meeting with tech leaders to get ideas and feedback. So who knows, maybe an Iron Man suit really did make it into the discussion.
Just this April, Space X successfully launched and landed its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time, and has accomplished the feat twice more since then. Being able to land a rocket coming from space on a platform in the middle of the choppy ocean serves as no easy feat. Maybe Musk is looking toward the future and considering turning the Falcon 9 into something wearable.