InSight lander Mars dig delayed; Musk in Twitter trouble again; Faraday Future employees remain furloughed.
Faraday Future Furloughs Continue
Despite telling its employees they could return to work March 1 after putting them on unpaid leave in December, Gardena-based electric vehicle maker Faraday and Future Inc. announced Feb. 26 it must extend the furlough indefinitely. According to The Verge, in early November, the number of employees at Faraday decreased from 1,000 to roughly 600, and only about 250 employees escaped the layoffs as of December. The company has been seeking new funding since October 2018, when it began a public dispute with its investor Evergrande Health Industry Group, which committed $2 billion to the startup.
InSight Lander Begins Delayed Mars Dig
NASA’s Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed its InSight Mars lander to analyze various features of the red planet, and soon will begin burrowing under the surface of the planet with a device nicknamed “the mole,” which enables the lander to take a temperature reading of the planet’s core. CNet reported Feb. 26 the mole’s digging will be delayed by two days until the commands reach the lander but noted the first digging session will take up to four hours.
Hawthorne-headquartered Boring Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Chief Executive Elon Musk is in Twitter trouble — again. The New York Times reports the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal court to hold Musk in contempt of court for violating a settlement they reached in 2018 over a Twitter post by Musk saying he had “funding secured” to take Tesla Inc. private with no intentions to do so. The SEC’s contempt of court request comes after Musk tweeted last week mis-quoting Tesla production rates.
Tech reporter Samson Amore can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8335. Follow him on Twitter @samsonamore.
