биография илона маска на английском
The person I admire / Человек, которым я восхищаюсь
The person I admire is Elon Musk. He is a very successful man. He is an engineer, entrepreneur and investor. He believes that we need to colonize other planets to secure the future of humanity from numerous risks. And he is not just a dreamer but a man of action. He founded SpaceX company, which already succeeded in reducing the cost of space flights.
Musk is a rich man now. But he did not inherit the fortune or win the lottery. He earned the money by developing innovative businesses. In youth he founded a software company called Zip2 with his brother. Later he sold it and became a cofounder of X.com company. Now we know it as PayPal. It is a popular service of online payments and money transfers. Also Elon Musk became a CEO of Tesla Inc. which produces electro cars.
Who can be more inspiring, than a person literally shaping our future? Elon Musk makes the science fiction come true. A few years ago he founded Neuralink company to develop implantable brain-machine interfaces. Such implants will give people capabilities they never had before.
One of Musk’s projects is called Hyperloop. He is going to build new high-speed transportation system, where pods will move in reduced-pressure tubes.
Most people have pretty down to earth life goals. Elon Musk stands out because he is a strategic thinker and he is concerned about the future of the whole mankind. I am very excited about all his projects. I hope eventually his plans will be implemented.
Кто может быть более вдохновляющим, чем человек, буквально формирующий наше будущее? Илон Маск делает научную фантастику реальностью. Несколько лет назад он основал компанию Neuralink для разработки имплантируемых компьютерно-мозговых интерфейсов. Такие импланты дадут людям возможности, которых у них никогда не было.
Один из проектов Маска называется Hyperloop. Он собирается построить новую высокоскоростную транспортную систему, где капсулы будут перемещаться в трубах с пониженным давлением.
Большинство людей имеют довольно приземленные жизненные цели. Илон Маск выделяется тем, что он обладает стратегическим мышлением и озабочен будущим всего человечества. Я очень интересуюсь его проектами. Надеюсь, со временем его планы будут реализованы.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk: biography
The Canadian- American fantasy writer William Gibson who is considered to be the founder of the cyberpunk genre claims that the future has already come and it has just been distributed not equally. This statement is remembered when you learn about some technological novelty or about a scientific break during another research.
Businessman Elon Musk
John McAfee, Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and other people who are behind these projects are of equal interest to the public. Basing on the biography of each of them it is possible to shoot the film which will give a head start to any feature movie. The picture about Elon Musk could be especially interesting.
Childhood and youth
The future inventor, businessman and billionaire Elon Musk was born on the 28th of June of 1971. He was born in Pretoria – the administrative capital of the Republic of South Africa. Elon was the first child in the family of the South African businessman Errol Musk and his wife, the Canadian model Maye Musk (née Haldeman). Later Elon’s sister and brother were born – his sister Tosca became a TV director and his brother Kimbal became a businessman and a venture capitalist.
Elon Musk
At early age Elon was a very closed boy – he preferred reading books to playing games with other children. Errol noted that his eldest son grew a very curious child whose mentality strikingly differed from the mentality of his peers. Elon was 4 years old when he asked his parents where the world began and finished.
In 1979 Errol and Maye divorced. By mutual consent, their children stayed to live with their father. At school Elon often had conflicts with his peers that once had led to some serious injuries and the boy had to be hospitalized in an emergency.
Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal
For his 10th birthday, Elon received eight-bit personal computer «Commodore VIC-20» as a gift from his father. The boy really liked the present and at once got a fancy for programming. Two years later a future businessman sold the game «Blastar» that he had developed for 500 dollars. Later this money had gone for the first serious investment of Elon into the pharmaceutical company which Musk had been monitoring by means of Mass media. By the time of his high school graduation, Elon had quite a solid sum on his bank account.
After Elon and Kimbal had graduated from the school they moved to Canada, to live with their mother. There Elon was accepted into Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. The University of Pennsylvania became the next higher education institution in which the guy had been studying.
Elon Musk in his youth
During the studies in Pennsylvania Elon together with his companion Adeo Ressi had been renting a 10-bedroom house in which guys organized great parties because of what the guys were several times hereby expelled from the university. Nevertheless, Elon had managed to finish his studies at the university, having received the Bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics and Economy. After that, he decided to continue his education at private Stanford University, but he gave up this idea having decided to be engaged in the realization of the start-up which he developed together with his brother.
The beginning of the career
«Zip2» became the first project of Elon the idea of which had come to Elon and Kimbal during their conversations in 1996. The guys borrowed a certain sum of money from their father and began to work. «Zip2» was engaged in the software development for the news companies. «The New York Times» and «Pulitzer Publishing» were among the company’s clients.
Elon Musk in his youth
In three years the company was sold to the «Compaq Computer Corporation» PC producer. However, they began to get offers even earlier. With great difficulty, Elon had managed to convince his colleagues that the startup hadn’t reached its full potential and that later it would be possible to sell the company more profitable. And that’s what had happened: in 1999 «Zip2» was sold for 308 million dollars. Elon himself earned 22 million dollars of this sum. The major part of the earned money had gone for the financing of the new project, and for the rest of the money, Musk bought the «McLaren F1» sports car. The further biography of Elon is closely connected with his projects.
«PayPal»
After «Zip2» had been sold Elon started to work on «X.com» project. In 2000 Musk got acquainted with Peter Thiel (during the ride with whom Elon crashed his «McLaren F1» car), whose company «Confinity» had already been working on the similar project development under the title «PayPal». It was decided to merge two companies to solve the issue of creation of full-fledged electronic monetary system together.
During the working process quite often there were disputes between Elon and the board of directors. The main dispute concerned the title of the project: Musk wanted the project to be known under the name «X.com» while the others preferred the version of «PayPal».
The situation was resolved unexpectedly: during the flight of Elon to Australia the urgent board meeting was convened, as a result of which Musk was dismissed and his duties were shifted to Peter Thiel. This decision was not fair as it were Elon’s ideas which led to the rapid development of the enterprise.
In October of 2002 «PayPal» was sold to the world’s largest Internet auction eBay for one and a half billion dollars. From selling the debit online payment system Musk earned 175 million dollars from which he at once invested 100 million dollars in the «SpaceX» project, and 70 million – in «Tesla Motors».
In 2010 Elon invested money in the «Stripe» company – a competitor of «PayPal», this way he let the direction of the last company understand that he hadn’t forgotten the offenses yet. By 2017 the «Stripe» company has already gained stable positions and has managed to get «Twitter» as its partner.
«SpaceX»
Elon Musk, the founder of the «SpaceX» company
In 2006 there was presented the first rocket developed and constructed at the «SpaceX » factories. The «Falcon 1» rocket which received the name in honor of «Millenium Falcon» of Han Solo – the spaceship from the movie «StarWars». By means of the «Falcon 1,» it became possible to put the space satellite of Malaysia into orbit.
In December of 2008, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed with the company the contract for the launch of the satellites and the «SpaceX » spaceships to the International Space Station. The contract value was estimated to 1,6 billion dollars – it saved Musk from bankruptcy on the verge of which he had been because of the global financial crisis of 2008.
Elon Musk in the space suit of «SpaceX» company
In January of 2016, the direction of «SpaceX» declared their plans to realize a flight on Mars by the years 2020-2025.
The space suit developed by the company which photo Elon posted on his Instagram on the 23rd of August of 2017 is among the recent «SpaceX» projects. The design of the protective suit refers to such cult science-fiction movies as «2001: A Space Odyssey», «Alien» and «Star Trek». Musk admitted that it was hard to keep the balance between functionality and the exterior of the space suit.
«Tesla»
Elon Musk and «Tesla Roadster» electric car
The «Tesla» company was engaged in development and production of environmentally friendly electric vehicles for what it became the winner of «The Crunchies» in the nomination for Best Ecological Enterprise of 2007.
The first product of the company is the Tesla Roadster electric vehicle which had come on sale in 2008.
On the 28th of July of 2017 the first 30 customers who had made the pre-order of «Tesla Model 3» received the keys from their electric vehicles at Tesla factory in Fremont (California)
Personal life
For the first time, Musk got married in 2000 to the girl Justin (Justine) with whom they had been studying together at Queen’s University. Later Justin became the popular Canadian writer and gave birth to their six sons with Elon: Nevada Alexander, Xavier, Saxon, Griffin, Damian, and Kai. In 2008 the couple broke up.
Elon Musk and Talulah Riley
Practically at once Elon was seen in the company of the English actress Talulah Riley. In 2010 Elon and Talulah celebrated their wedding, and in 2012 they separated to get married again in 2013. Their second marriage had lasted till 2016.
On the 23rd of April of 2017 the information came out about the new girlfriend of Elon Musk, the ex-wife of Johnny Depp, the Hollywood actress Amber Heard («Alpha Dog», «Never Back Down», «Zombieland», «Justice League»).
Further, Elon Musk had a love affair with the 31-year Canadian singer Grimes. For the first time they appeared in public together at Met Gala 2018. It happened in a short time after Elon had separated with Amber Heard. They began their relationship in April of 2018 after the communication in the social network. In the interview to Wall Street Journal the singer said that she had feelings to Elon.
Elon Musk at present
Life of Elon is saturated with events. In December of 2016, he became the member of the Presidential forum on strategy and policy where there were present 16 American businessmen. The task of this organization is to advise the U.S. President Donald Trump concerning the creation of new jobs, to improve the labor productivity and also to provide advice on the questions concerning the economic growth of the State.
Elon Musk in 2017
The same year was founded the new company of Elon – «Neuralink». In the short term, the company will be engaged in the production of the devices for treatment of complex brain diseases. Also, they plan to refine human by the implementation of the implanted neurocomputer interfaces.
Besides that, Musk is working in other projects among which there are new developments of «SolarCity» – the company of his cousins Peter and Lyndon Rives and also an experimental run of the Bullet train «Hyperloop».
Elon Musk at present
On the 7th of October of 2017, the governor of Puerto Rico announced on Twitter that Elon Musk had volunteered to help to restore the electric power supply of the island which was broken because of the hurricane «Maria».
The book by Ashley Vance about Elon Musk
By the way, Elon has also managed to become the character of the book written by the writer and the journalist Ashley Vance.
Wealth estimation
In 2015 some informal data appeared on the web according to which Elon Musk’s wealth was estimated at 13,1 billion US dollars.
Next year there was also official information provided by the «Forbes» edition. According to the information of the American financial and economic magazine, Musk owns the sum equal to 10,7 billion dollars.
Quotes
About the World War III: «China. Russia. All countries will be strong in computer sciences soon. The competition for the superiority in the sphere of artificial intelligence at the national level will probably become the reason for the beginning of the World War III».
About the matrix: «We have to hope that all of us live in the simulator».
About the virtual Universe: «We will create simulators, indistinguishable from the reality, otherwise the civilization will cease to exist».
Elon Musk
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Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971.
Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm PayPal and founded the spacecraft company SpaceX. He became chief executive officer of the electric-car maker Tesla.
Elon Musk went to Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Elon Musk founded SpaceX, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the chief executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars.
Elon Musk, (born June 28, 1971, Pretoria, South Africa), South African-born American entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment firm PayPal and formed SpaceX, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was also one of the first significant investors in, as well as chief executive officer of, the electric car manufacturer Tesla.
Early life
Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mother. He displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a video game and sold it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support apartheid through compulsory military service and because he sought the greater economic opportunities available in the United States.
PayPal and SpaceX
Musk was long convinced that for life to survive, humanity has to become a multiplanet species. However, he was dissatisfied with the great expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to make more affordable rockets. Its first two rockets were the Falcon 1 (first launched in 2006) and the larger Falcon 9 (first launched in 2010), which were designed to cost much less than competing rockets. A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first launched in 2018), was designed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly twice as much as its largest competitor, the Boeing Company’s Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. SpaceX has announced the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy–Starship system. The Super Heavy first stage would be capable of lifting 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft designed for providing fast transportation between cities on Earth and building bases on the Moon and Mars. SpaceX also developed the Dragon spacecraft, which carries supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Dragon can carry as many as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to reduce the expense of spaceflight by developing a fully reusable rocket that could lift off and return to the pad it launched from. Beginning in 2012, SpaceX’s Grasshopper rocket made several short flights to test such technology. In addition to being CEO of SpaceX, Musk was also chief designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper.
Tesla
Musk expressed reservations about Tesla being publicly traded, and in August 2018 he made a series of tweets about taking the company private, noting that he had “secured funding.” The following month the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk for securities fraud, alleging that the tweets were “false and misleading.” Shortly thereafter Tesla’s board rejected the SEC’s proposed settlement, reportedly because Musk had threatened to resign. However, the news sent Tesla stock plummeting, and a harsher deal was ultimately accepted. Its terms included Musk stepping down as chairman for three years, though he was allowed to continue as CEO.
Elon Musk Biography: Success Story of The 21st Century Innovator
In this success story, we are going to share Elon Musk biography, the CEO and CTO of SpaceX CEO, chief product architect of Tesla Motors, chairman of SolarCity, and co-founder of PayPal. Musk is also involved in developing a high-speed transportation system known as Hyperloop. Elon Musk invests in the projects that can change our world. He is not only an entrepreneur but also an inventor, innovator, and engineer: Musk personally participates in designing electric cars and spaceships.
| Net Worth: | $22.0 billion (2019) |
| Birth Date: | June 28, 1971 |
| Place of Birth: | Pretoria, South Africa |
| Education: | University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Queen’s University, Ontario |
He plays by some different rules and does that quite successfully. The distinctive personality traits of Elon Musk are perseverance, critical thinking, accurate self-analysis, and hard work (he works 80-100 hours per week).
Early Life
Elon Musk Childhood
Biographies of famous people usually contain key episodes, which then lead them to an overwhelming success. In Elon Musk biography, there were, at least, two of such episodes. The first one was the decision that Musk made when he was only 17. After graduating from a secondary school in Pretoria, he decided to leave his home, and, without the support of his parents, to immigrate to the United States. However, he did not get into the United States right away.
In 1989, Elon Musk moved to Canada to the relatives of his mother. Having obtained Canadian citizenship, Elon went to Montreal. At first, he worked in low paid jobs, and almost a year was teetering on the brink of poverty. At the age of 19, he entered Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. In 2000, he met his future wife Justine Musk, who later gave birth to his five sons: Damian, Griffin, Xavier, Saxon, and Kai. However, he broke up with Justine after eight years and in 2010, got married a second time on a British actress by the name of Talulah Riley, with whom he has lived for 4 years and got divorced in 2014.
Elon Musk had been studying in Ontario for two years, and then, finally, his dream came true – in 1992, he relocated to the United States. He was able to move to the US after receiving a scholarship from The University of Pennsylvania: Penn. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics Bachelor the next year, but decided to continue his studying at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for one more year and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics as well.
Elon Musk graduates from The University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in physics and from The Wharton School with a B.S. in economics.
When Elon Musk started to struggle with adolescent depression, he began to absorb philosophical and religious literature actively. Yet the most valuable lessons, he eventually learned from Douglas Adams’ book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Elon Musk learned that the most difficult thing was to be able to come up with the right questions, and when he began to do that, the rest was obtained very simply. An episode that guided him to this conclusion was in which a giant supercomputer after several million years of thinking on the main purpose of life responded with a meaningless number 42.
Musk figured out that humanity had to expand the limits of its consciousness to learn to ask the right questions; and he had found his question: what things would have a significant impact on the future of humanity’s destiny? Elon Musk decided that those would be the internet, the transition to renewable energy sources, and space colonization. He wanted to try to contribute to all three of them. To do that, he needed funds.
Zip2 and PayPal
Kimbal Musk, the brother of Elon Musk, with whom he created Zip2.
In the summer of 1995, Elon Musk made the second and the most crucial decision in his life. Having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, he enrolled in the graduate school at Stanford University to pursue studies in the field of applied physics and materials science. However, after 2 days, he left graduate school and together with his brother, Kimbal Musk, he created his first IT company Zip2. He worked from early morning until late evening. He lived in the same warehouse where he rent the office, and when he needed to take a shower, he had to go to locker rooms of a local stadium. In return, he accumulated savings and kept the company afloat during the most difficult first two years.
At that moment, the Internet was experiencing a period of rapid growth and development; however, nobody had ever earned a considerable fortune on it. Musk’s company was one of the first ones to do this: he created a platform where newspapers – including credible ones as the New York Times – could offer their customers some additional commercial services.
Max Levchin, Co-founder and former CTO of PayPal
In 1999, Musk started to work on electronic payment systems that were gaining popularity. The X.com startup became his new business. In March 2000, X.com merged with a rival company Confinity that was running by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin. Confinity developed software to allow owners of PalmPilots and other PDAs to store encrypted information on their devices, creating the first digital wallet. In 2001, after the merger, X.com was renamed to PayPal, and Elon Musk became the chairman and chief executive of PayPal.
Peter Thiel (left) and Elon Musk (right).
Tesla Motors
In 2003, engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors. From the very beginning, the company positioned itself as the first serial manufacturer of electric vehicles and its founders dreamed of freeing the customers from oil burden. Musk significantly supported such aspirations.
Marc Tarpenning (left) and Martin Eberhard (right).
Tesla Roadster, 2008.
During this crisis, Elon showed his incredible critical management skill: he fired everyone who stalled the project’s development, including Eberhard and a few other key players. After the cleanup, he headed the company by himself. Eberhard appealed to the court after being replaced by an interim CEO, Michael Marks, but the problem has been solved peacefully and so effectively that no details of the conflict were leaked to the public. In December 2007, Ze’ev Drori was assigned as the CEO and President of Tesla Motors. Elon Musk was much better CEO and succeeded Ze’ev Drori. Drori became Vice Chairman and left the company in December 2008.
The expression “electric vehicle” often evokes associations with something slow and clumsy, but in the case of Tesla Motors, it is not really so. Tesla’s electric vehicles are fast and similar in appearance to luxury sports cars. However, there are also plans to create more simple and affordable models. Tesla Motors’ engineers cooperate with Daimler and Toyota.
So-called “hybrid” cars of these companies, equipped as with an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, use Tesla Motors’ technology. In 2007, the Vice Chairman of General Motors, Bob Lutz called Tesla the main reason for the decision to begin development of the electric car Chevy Volt. “If some Silicon Valley startup can solve this equation, no one is going to tell me anymore that it’s unfeasible,” Lutz said.
CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk poses during a television interview after his company’s initial public offering at the NASDAQ market in New York. (© Reuters)
Model S
At the presentation of Model S, Musk categorically stated that in twenty years, more than half of produced vehicles would be electric ones. He was even ready to bet on that as well as many others. Yet even the most optimistic analysts’ estimates state that Musk’s forecast cannot be realized. However, that does not scare Tesla’s CEO: by embellishing reality, he changes it.
Elon Musk believes that the world has become dependent on oil. This dependence leads to climate change and permanent geopolitical tensions. A refusal of internal combustion engines in favor of electric motors can make a difference. Therefore, Tesla Motors is not a small business for Musk.
Musk continued to keep publicity interested in the company by starting a media argument with The New York Times columnist John M. Broder about one of the test drives of the Model S. It is worth mentioning that these publicity stunts gave their results and during the first half of 2013, there were 10,500 Model S sold.
There is an upcoming cross-over Tesla Model X, which is planned to be delivered for new reservations in the latter half of 2016. On September 29, 2015, the first six deliveries of the Tesla X model started at a market launch event in the Fremont factory. The Tesla Motors team has designed the Model X P90D and 90D. Model X P90D has 259 hp front, 503 hp rear motor power and a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) run of 3.2 seconds with Ludicrous Speed Upgrade. Additionally, Tesla X has a panoramic windshield, ample seating for seven adults and all of their gear. The car equipped with the first true HEPA filter with “Bioweapon Defense Mode” button in a vehicle. Musk stated that when the HEPA filter operates at maximum performance, no pollen, bacteria or viruses could be detected in the cabin. Model X equipped with Falcon Wing doors that are automatically adjusted to the optimal opening arc.
Model 3
Elon Musk is planning to cover the US, Europe, and Asia with the network of Supercharger stations. As of April 04, 2016, there are 613 Supercharger stations with 3,628 Superchargers in the world.
Semi Truck
In November 2017, Musk unveiled the new Tesla Semi Truck and Roadster. Tesla Motors started producing Semi Truck in 2019. The truck can drive 500 miles (804km), and its battery capacity designed to last 1 million miles (1,60 million km).
Roadster and Model Y
In March 2019, Musk revealed to the world the long-awaited Tesla Model Y. The compact crossover will be available in four powertrains, such as Standard Range, Long Range or Long Range with Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive, and Performance. It is expected to be released in 2020. The Tesla Model Y’s range is at approximately 300 miles (482 km) can do a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) run for 3.5 seconds. The Roadster is planned to be available in 2020 with a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) time of 1.9 seconds.
Powerwall
For more demanding consumers of energy, Tesla Motors provides a solution, called Powerpack. It can be used in offices, industrial facilities, and utilities. In this case, it is possible to store much more energy. Moreover, 100 kWh batteries can be combined into arrays from 500 kWh to 10 MWh. According to Elon Musk, 160 million Powerpack units would be enough to provide energy to all consumers in the United States; and 2 billion of Powerpack units would be sufficient for the whole world.
Powerwall. Multiple batteries can be installed together.
SolarCity
SolarCity provides solar power systems for homes, businesses, and governments. The company offers several programs for homeowners: “MyPower” loan program, solar lease, and solar power purchase agreement (PPA).
In May 2008, the company built solar-powered electric systems for British Motors and eBay to power their headquarters and servers.
SolarCity Panels at eBay’s Headquarter
SolarCity’s concepts are cost-efficient, environmentally friendly, and entirely coincides with Elon Musk’s principles. The company, in particular, provides solar energy systems for Supercharger stations of Tesla Motors.
Analysts consider his assurance in the company’s prospects to be the primary reason for the phenomenal success. If the creator of SpaceX and Tesla Motors bets on that technology, then it means that there is genuinely something to it. The Wall Street society even came up with a term for this phenomenon and called it The Musk Effect.
SpaceX
Elon Musk started thinking of creating a space exploration technologies corporation (SpaceX) at the turn of the century. He was inspired by an ambitious idea of reducing space transportation costs to enable people to colonize Mars. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Hawthorne, California, USA.
Elon Musk was fascinated by the opportunity of colonizing Mars and created Mars Oasis. The goal of the project was to create automated greenhouses, which, in the future, could have become a basis for a self-sustaining ecosystem. The main problem was the enormous delivery cost of greenhouses to Mars. Musk even tried to order launch vehicles from the Russian Federation and discussed that with Russian officials, but he decided not to make a deal with them. Later Musk came up with an idea to design his own reusable launch vehicles and spaceships.
SpaceX Logo (© SpaceX)
SpaceX started working on the Falcon 1 launch system yet in 2002. It has taken 4 years and hundreds of millions of private investments to design it. In the period of 2006 through 2015 such companies as DARPA, NASA, ORS, Celestis, ATSB, SpaceDev, Orbcomm, NSPO, Astrium got interested in SpaceX and ran several test launches of Falcon 1 rocket.
The Falcon 1 rocket during its fourth successful launch.
As of October 2012, SpaceX developed several types of rocket engines: Kestrel, Merlin 1, Draco and Super Draco without any support from the government. The last one was developed for the use in the Falcon family of launch vehicles, which are Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy, and for the use in the Dragon spacecraft.
However, Elon Musk does not want to rush with IPO this time. According to Elon Musk, all the achievements of SpaceX is a background for his biggest dream – an expedition to Mars. SpaceX is in designing process of Mars Colonial Transporter. Also, Musk’s engineers work on innovative rocket engines (Grasshopper and the Falcon 9 rockets) and Red Dragon spacecraft that using Falcon Heavy rockets (modified version of Dragon capsule) to transport people from Earth to Mars. He once said, “I would like to die on Mars, just not on impact.”
Falcon Heavy rocket flight animation:
Grasshopper and Falcon 9 are experimental launch vehicles that are able to make vertical landings and vertical takeoffs. On January 10, 2015, the first attempt to land the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Earth after the launch failed – it landed too roughly. Nevertheless, the SpaceX team managed to make a difficult maneuver and landed a rocket on a floating platform off the coast of Florida.
Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.
On February 12, 2015, Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite to deep space orbit from SpaceX’s Launch Complex 40 located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. DSCOVR satellite was developed by a mutual partnership of NOAA, NASA, and the United States Air Force. The satellite was developed to detect and inform on extreme emissions from the sun, which can affect communications infrastructures, satellites close to the Earth and power grids.
Falcon 9 during its successful launch on February 11, 2015.
CEO Elon Musk reported through Twitter about the soft vertical landing of the rocket in the ocean within 10 meters. That gives hope for a successful landing next time at sea in non-stormy weather. According to the entrepreneur, in 10-20 years from now, science fiction can become a reality.
Rocket soft landed in the ocean within 10m of target & nicely vertical! High probability of good droneship landing in non-stormy weather. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2015
On April 08, 2016, after four unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX made history by landing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship at sea.
Elon Musk demonstrated that SpaceX can potentially reuse rockets in the future, which means cost savings for the company.
The incredible life of Elon Musk is a great example of a man who has accomplished his childhood dream: he conquers space. Colonization of Mars will soon become a reality thanks to SpaceX’s innovations in the space industry.
Interplanetary Transport System
On September 27, 2016, at the International Astronautical Conference in Mexico, Elon Musk gave a keynote speech called Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species and announced that SpaceX was working on Interplanetary Transport System (ITS). ITS will be equipped with at least 42 Raptor rocket engines capable of 128 meganewtons of thrust. Raptor is the first type of cryogenic methane-fueled rocket engines developed by SpaceX that was successfully test-fired at a McGregor, Texas testing facility in September 2016.
The spaceship is capable of carrying around 100 passengers in the pressured cabin, cargo, plus luggage and materials to construct foundries and factories.
Elon Musk plans to achieve 1 million population for a Mars colony; that means 100 people per trip is 10,000 trips. Musk thinks to implement this plan can take from 40 to 100 years.
The initial trip time from Earth to Mars can take 80 days. However, Musk is intended to reduce the journey time to as little as 30 days in the distant future.
Elon Musk anticipates that if things go well, the first crew flight may happen within the next ten years.
Hyperloop
Elon Musk is a demanding perfectionist and innovator in the high-tech industry. His education in the field of physics and economics helps him to see the objective truth and separate it from the emotional and speculative forecasts. He just thinks big. A bright example would be his concept of the fifth mode of transport called Hyperloop.
On August 12, 2013, Musk published a blog post about Hyperloop and a 58-page Alpha Hyperloop presentation, which shed some light on its structure and function. Hyperloop is a solar-power high-speed transportation system driven by linear induction motors and air compressors should deliver people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes covering the distance of 381.8 miles (614.44 km). Hyperloop is based on the similar technology of magnetic levitation trains. An electromagnetic impulse is used to move the “pods” or “capsules”, and a low air pressure makes it possible to achieve higher speeds than any other ground transportation.
A rough sketches of Hyperloop.
The transportation system would be composed of steel tubes. These tubes would be mounted on columns 50 to 100 yards apart (45.72 to 91.44 meters), and the capsules inside would speed up to 800 mph (1287 kmh).
How Musk’s Hyperloop Could Work. (© Hejorama)
The Hyperloop transportation system would be powered by solar panels mounted all the way along the track. In addition, the heritage of other Musk’s companies comes handy here: the motors and electronics of the capsules can be inherited from Tesla Motors, the engineers from SolarCity can help with the solar panels, and SpaceX can share the materials that have been tested in space.
The first Hyperloop transportation system is planned to be built along the California highway Interstate 5. Musk promises passengers an unprecedented level of security. Project engineers took into account the possibility of emergency braking at depressurization of the capsule and even offered solutions bridge building anti-seismic design of columns for leveling the risk of destruction by an earthquake.
Hyperloop is going to be a great way of transportation for large cities located at a distance of not more than 900 miles (1500 km) from each other. For longer distances, aircraft is more suitable, the inventor believes.
Even though Musk is not ready to devote sufficient time to the Hyperloop concept, he is still willing to finance the development of the prototype. He also made Hyperloop design as an open source, allowing everyone to improve the current version of it, guaranteeing all possible support. As Elon Musk said he was not afraid of losing something on Hyperloop financially, but it would be great to make a new mode of transport.
On January 15, 2015, Elon Musk, during his speech at the 10th Annual Texas Transportation Forum, announced the creation of Hyperloop beta test track somewhere in Texas with a total length of 5 miles (8 km). In the future, this track is planned to be used by different companies and a group of talented students of engineers to test capsules of their own design. Musk also plans to organize an annual student Hyperloop capsule racer competition, like Formula SAE.
Hyperloop, Conceptual Vision of HTT
The Boring Company
In January 2017, Musk unveiled The Boring Company, an enterprise dedicated to boring and building tunnels for vehicles to reduce street traffic in cities. Musk started with a test tunnel on the SpaceX facilities in Los Angeles. In October 2017, he uploaded the first photo of the tunnel on his Instagram account. The length of the test tunnel was supposed to be 2 miles (3.31km) and Musk planned to reach such length in approximately four months.
The first photo of the tunnel
Elon Musk Book List
In one of his interviews, Elon Musk said that he liked to read fiction books and biographies of famous people, namely “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” by Walter Isaacson, “Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age” by B. Carlson, “Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down” by J.E. Gordon, etc.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams is the most favorite book of Elon Musk.
In addition, he loves Dale Carnegie’s books and, of course, a lot of literature on engineering, design, business, and physics. Favobooks collected Elon Musk book list, and his most favorite one is “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams.
Elon Musk is the 21st-century industrialist, who brings the most fantastic ideas into life. Elon Musk life story shows that all his success he achieved thanks to his perseverance, hard work and, of course, thanks to his absolute faith in his projects. We hope you have enjoyed exploring Elon Musk biography and success story of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, SolarCity and they have inspired you to new discoveries.