CAJ - Elon Musk

When I first read about Elon Musk, I decided that he deserves his very own blog post. I am not sure whether you have heard about him but Elon is the founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors, Solar City and, the company I am currently most interested in, SpaceX. In my previous blog posts I have already started introducing SpaceX’s philosophy and its aims. If you would like to read the post again click here.

This post is dedicated to the mastermind behind these companies which all have something in common. They were controversially discussed when public was first informed about the projects. Tesla Motors, for example, was founded to produce electric cars. German companies such as Daimler and Robert Bosch criticised Musk because his supercharging network does not work with models from other manufacturers. SolarCity provides customers with solar energy and is, despite criticism, now America’s largest solar power provider. SpaceX, finally, was founded in order to extend human life to other planets and to take the first humans to Mars. Musk stated in a recent interview that he will reach this goal by 2026. This would mean that in less than 15 years people would be able to do something which was long considered impossible.

So, who is this man whose major goal is to make life multi-planetary in order to protect people from extinction? Musk did neither study aeronautic nor has ever been in space. He is an autodidact which means that he taught himself what he needed to know. Musk was born in South Africa and has been interested in the Universe ever since. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and was 28 years old when he founded the e-mail payment company PayPal. Only three years later PayPal was so successful that Ebay bought it and Musk received $ 160,000,000. Instead of buying a helicopter and a house in the Caribbean, he invested the money in new companies such as SolarCity or SpaceX.

There are some great interviews with him but this is the one I like most: http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity. The way Musk talks about his projects and how he behaves on stage reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg. They both do not look like billionaires, although they are. Elon Musk is a very inspiring person and could be the role model for many young people who dream of inventing something. I was surprised that someone like Elon Musk is not very present in Austrian newspapers or TV programmes. However, there was an article about him in the “Standard”. I hope that people read it and got to know this fascinating personality. 

CAJ - SpaceX

The focus in my previous blog posts was either on asteroid mining itself or on the company Planetary Resources. I think that it is important to mention that Planetary Resources is not the only company that is interested in this matter. The company SpaceX was founded in 2002 in order to “revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets”, according to their website. Its founder Elon Musk, also the founder of PayPal, is convinced that space exploration is important for preserving human life. He is worried that something like a natural disaster, a super virus or other threats could be responsible for our extinction. Therefore, he thinks that it is necessary to have a backup plan in case something bad happens to our Earth. SpaceX’s rocket “Falcon 9” and the spacecraft “Dragon” were sent 12 times to the International Space Station in order replace its space shuttle.

This sounds all very promising but Elon is not only interested in space exploration. He also thinks about how to revolutionize the transportation system. For this reason he suggested the construction of something he called “Hyperloop”. This would be a tube over or under the ground which could connect Los Angeles with San Francisco. The Hyperloop should be, among others, safe, fast, cheap, self-powering and would look something like that: 

Looks very futuristic, doesn't it?

Of course, this project has not that much to do with asteroid mining but I think that it has more in common than you probably would think. Both projects are yet not realizable and both need visionary people who believe in their ideas in order to make them happen in the future.

SpaceX's website: http://www.spacex.com/

More information about the Hyperloop:  

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf