SpaceX aims to send ‘Red Dragon’ capsule to Mars in 2018

SpaceX is shooting for Mars.
The company’s billionaire founder and chief executive Elon Musk says he plans to send a Dragon capsule to the red planet as early as 2018. He announced the news via Twitter.
Musk is dubbing his Mars spacecraft Red Dragon.
No astronauts will accompany Red Dragon on this first test flight. Musk says he wouldn’t recommend transporting crews in Dragons beyond the moon. He says the internal volume is only about the size of an SUV.
The California-based SpaceX already is using Dragons for space station supply runs. NASA astronauts are next; the company could start transporting Americans to the space station by the end of next year.
Musk notes that the upgraded Dragon for humans is designed to land anywhere in the solar system. AP
 

United Technologies first quarter results beat analysts’ expectations

United Technologies’ first-quarter results topped Wall Street’s view, and the company maintained its full-year guidance.
For the period ended March 31, the maker of elevators, jet engines and other products earned $1.19 billion, or $1.42 per share. A year ago the Farmington, Connecticut-based company earned $1.43 billion, or $1.51 per share.
Stripping out restructuring charges, earnings were $1.47 per share. This easily topped the $1.38 per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.
Revenue rose slightly to $13.36 billion from $13.32 billion. Zacks’ analysts were looking for $13.03 billion in revenue.
Otis new equipment orders edged up 1 percent, but climbed 6 percent when excluding China. Equipment orders at UTC Climate, Controls & Security fell 8 percent, mostly driven by a difficult comparison in the refrigeration business.
United Technologies said April 27 that it still foresees full-year earnings in a range of $6.30 to $6.60 per share, with revenue between $56 billion and $58 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of $6.50 per share on revenue of $57.01 billion. AP