Elon Musk and the dream of turning Mars into a 'colony' of Earth

Not a rocket scientist, why is Elon Musk determined to invest in the most risky industry?

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Like many other children, since childhood, Elon Musk dreamed of spaceships and space travel. But perhaps the American billionaire did not expect his dream to come true so soon. Even Elon Musk's achievements are becoming a clearer basis than ever for humanity's ability to set foot on distant lands beyond Earth.

Musk's dreams of space exploration are cultivated when he attends the annual Mars Society events. Here, Musk met and talked with groups of experts and investors passionate about space working with the goal of exploring and sending people to Mars.

Since childhood, Elon Musk has dreamed of space ships and space travel.

The more he thinks about space, the more Musk realizes how important it is to explore the mysteries of the galaxy. In 2002, Musk assembled a group of leading experts in aerospace engineering to found SpaceX.

Then 18 years later, the rocket he built has brought people into space, ready to conquer new challenges.

Learn how to make space rockets from books

One of the things that makes Elon Musk so special is that he's not a rocket scientist, or at least not highly trained in the field. But do you wonder why, Musk founded and headed one of the largest, most accomplished space exploration companies in the world?

"I read books", here is Elon Musk's succinct reply that surprised everyone. Although this may sound unbelievable, that is the secret of billionaire Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX.

Elon Musk reads books to build rockets.

That was in 2001, when Elon Musk was over 30 years old and had a large amount of money when he sold Paypal to eBay. He thought he had to find a way to put all his energy into something new.

An adventurer and dreamer, he became interested in conquering Mars, although this was seen as a crazy idea. Musk tried to order rockets from Russia, but the price offered was too expensive. At this point, he thought why not try. make his own fire. Thinking about doing, Musk reached out to aerospace consultant Jim Cantrell to discuss ideas. He also borrowed all the books in the field of aerospace to read.

If for the average person, this is just a fleeting hobby, for Musk, the passion has helped him turn himself into an expert in the field.

Then Jim Cantrell himself had to say when SpaceX was born: "I was so surprised, that's why he borrowed all my books. Elon actually planned to build a rocket."

Success rate is less than 1%

Most private space companies are service-only, with rockets acquired by NASA or other manufacturers. The reason is because spaceship development is a business with many potential risks and sometimes comes with the risk of death from explosions, as well as millions of dollars in investment capital for each project.

But just like prejudices that need a "crazy guy" to refute, Elon Musk appeared with SpaceX, and became one of the very few private companies that researched technology and built space rockets on their own. own.

The prototype Starship SN4 exploded during a test at the launch site near Boca Chica, Texas (USA) on May 29, 2020 (Photo: Spadre.com).

When founding SpaceX in 2002, billionaire Elon Musk himself thought that what the company did was a "utopian" mission. He knew he was entering a high-risk industry, and estimated the probability of success of projects at less than 1%.

"Initially, I didn't let my friends invest because I knew everyone would lose money," he frankly admitted. "I thought I'd rather lose my own money." As a result, SpaceX was founded with the main capital contribution from Elon Musk, after he became a millionaire by selling PayPal.

What happened to SpaceX's early-stage rockets showed that Musk's intentions weren't wrong. The consecutive failures made Elon Musk and SpaceX personally go through a bad time when on the verge of bankruptcy. Actress Talulah Riley - Elon Musk's girlfriend at that time revealed that the American billionaire often woke up in the middle of the night, screaming because of nightmares and physical pain.

 Elon Musk has "shocked" thanks to his ambition to send humans to Mars.

Elon Musk's pain and horrors have been chronicled over the years, including a 2015 biography by Ashlee Vance as well as books about the race to privatize the aerospace industry by Christian Davenport and Tim. Fernholz.

Still, Musk has his own reasons to believe in the success of the project. That is Tom Mueller, one of the most experienced people in the field of rocket engine building, an expensive name in the team of engineers recruited by Musk.

Before that, Musk also had in the hands of Michael Griffin, a leading expert in aerospace engineering who 4 years later became general manager of the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Dream of settling on Mars

From his early days with SpaceX, Elon Musk has "shocked" thanks to his ambition to send humans to Mars. Musk believes that humans have been able to change the harsh environment of the Red planet and turn it into a "colony" of Earth.

He even promised to use half of his fortune to build a city on Mars. This, he said, is to "ensure the continuation of life for all species in the event that the Earth collides with a giant meteorite or World War 3 breaks out and destroys them all".

Elon Musk plans to send a million people to Mars by 2050.

The SpaceX founder said he plans to send a million people to Mars by 2050 and build a fleet of 1,000 Starships to ferry them. Musk aims to launch three Starship rockets a day, for space travel purposes.

With a stubborn and somewhat different nature, Elon Musk pointed out that the only way to success is to be "crazy" and "fail a lot". His achievements with SpaceX have really changed the space industry, or in other words, made his seemingly crazy plans possible. We invite you to read part 2 of the article to learn more about this.

 Elon Musk pointed out that the only way to success is to "fail a lot".