Elon Musk - Who wants to change the future

There are great people, working non-stop and unobtrusive about themselves, one of which is Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, co-founder of Tesla Motors and PayPal.

What Elon Musk created, true to the things he had wanted to do at a young age, because he knew they affected the future of humanity: "The first is the internet, the second is clean energy, and the third is. is the universe. "

The eldest of three children, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. My mother is Canadian, and my father is South African. From an early age, Elon Musk showed a difference compared to children of the same age. Elon self-taught programming and at the age of 12 sold a first application - a space game called Blastar - which earned about $ 500.

In 1988, Musk decided to leave South Africa and go to Canada. One of the reasons Musk left was due to the civil war in this country, and another reason was that he had a desire to go to the US to study and work. Arriving in Canada, Elon Musk attended Queen's University for two years and then moved to study at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Here he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and Physics. He went on to study for a PhD in Materials Science and Applied Physics at Stanford University but then left to develop Zip2, an application that allows publishing online content for news agencies, with his younger brother Kimbal Musk. By 1999, Compaq's Alta Vista division bought Zip2 with $ 307 million in cash and $ 34 million in stock.

The biggest event of Elon Musk's life was probably the decision to leave South Africa, to Canada and then to the United States. Elon Musk said: "America is a place where great things can be done . " Over the following years, Elon Musk established three companies to represent his three "dreams", namely PayPal - in the internet, Tesla Motor - clean energy sector, and SpaceX - the field. space.

PayPal

In March 1999, Elon Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial service and email payment support. A year later, in the 50/50 merger, X.com acquired Confinity, which operates a similar auction system as X.com. Musk sees the future of P2P online trading, and he believes it. Musk believes that the Confinity brand will become an essential means to link and develop a P2P payment system based on X.com site. Initially, the newly merged company still used the name X.com, but in February 2001, X.com was changed to PayPal Inc and focused on developing a global payment system.

PayPal grew rapidly thanks to Elon Musk's right strategies. And in October 2002, eBay decided to spend $ 1.5 billion (paid by stock) to buy PayPal again. Before being sold, Musk was PayPal's largest shareholder, owning 11.7% of the shares.

Elon Musk - founder of PayPal: "I want to get my hands on things that can change the world."(Photo: Amazonaws.com)

SpaceX

In June 2002, Elon Musk continued to establish the third company in his life, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). At SpaceX, he held two important positions: chief executive officer (CEO) and technical director (CTO). SpaceX specializes in developing and manufacturing space launchers, focusing on rocket technology improvements. SpaceX's first two rocket products, Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 and the first spacecraft, are Dragon.

On December 23, 2008, SpaceX signed a $ 1.6 billion contract with NASA, making 12 flights into space using Falcon 9 missiles and Dragon spacecraft to the ISS international space station, replacing The space shuttle's mission after NASA ended this program in 2011. Initially, Falcon9 / Dragon will be responsible for transporting goods to the ISS station and bringing astronauts to the station will be due to Soyuz train performed. However, in the future, SpaceX can also carry out commercial flights to bring astronauts into space.

Elon Musk sees space exploration as an important thing in expanding human understanding. Musk once said that life on multiple planets will help combat the risks that could affect human destruction."A meteorite or a super volcano can kill us all, and we will face the dangers that dinosaurs have never seen before: A virus created in the laboratory, a hole Black created by unintentional, global warming disaster or technologies that we never knew could lead us to a doom. Humans have evolved for millions of years, but in In the past 60 years, the issue of nuclear weapons has brought a potential risk of us destroying ourselves. Sooner or later we must extend life out of this green planet - or is accepted to disappear ".

Elon Musk and Falcon rocket model.(Photo: NewScientist.com)

Within 7 years, SpaceX developed the Falcon space missile series and the multi-purpose Dragon spacecraft. In September 2009, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately-produced liquid fuel-powered device to bring a satellite into Earth's orbit. On May 25, 2012, SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully connected to the ISS space station, creating a historic milestone when the private investment company launched and connected a spacecraft with ISS.

Tesla Motors

In 2003, Elon Musk continued to fulfill his other dream: to create Tesla Motors, which designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and electric vehicle systems. Elon Musk is the co-founder of Tesla Motors and currently holds the position of head of product design.

The first product of Tesla Motors was the electric sports car, Tesla Roadster, which then sold 2,500 units to 31 countries. On June 22, 2002, Tesla started selling a Model S. sedan. Previously, on February 9, 2012, Tesla also launched their third product, Model X, targeting the SUV / minivan segment. and is expected to start production in 2014. In addition to manufacturing private cars, Tesla Motors also sells electric motor systems to other firms such as Daimler for Smart EV and Mercedes A Class, and Toyota for running RAV4 series. electricity coming soon. Musk also succeeded in enticing both companies to invest in Tesla's long-term projects.

Elon Musk is responsible for managing all business strategies to bring affordable electric vehicles to a large number of users. Elon Musk's further goal in creating Tesla Roadster is that it will serve as a means to target wealthy people, and car buyers will be able to fund research and development projects on electric vehicles. cheap. From that beginning, Tesla created the Model S family of four-seater sedans for a price only half that of the Roadster. Musk also agreed to produce small cars costing less than $ 30,000, while developing and selling electric motors for other manufacturers so they can create affordable electric cars without spending money. research work.

Elon Musk in the introduction of Tesla Model X

SolarCity

Although not the founder of SolarCity, Elon Musk was the one who came up with the idea of ​​a solar energy company. Musk is currently the largest shareholder and chairman of this company. SolarCity is the largest supplier of solar systems in the US. The goal of Elon Musk when creating SolarCity and Tesla Motors is to help fight global warming. Currently SolarCity has 1,600 employees.

Other things that Elon Musk has been doing

Elon Musk is the president of Musk Foundation, which specializes in supporting science education, pediatric health, and clean energy. Musk is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, promoting the development of renewable energy technologies. He is a member of the board of the Space Foundation, National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Planetary Society, and Stanford Engineering Advisory Board. Elon Musk is also a member of the California Institute of Technology (Calitech) board.

He started a multimillion-dollar program through his organization in 2010 to donate solar-powered systems to disaster-stricken areas. One of the first systems to be installed in the storm response center in Alabama was neglected by the state government and federal charity funds.

Elon Musk also has a plan called "Mars Oasis" that started in 2001, with the goal of placing a small experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing crops and growing on the ground. red crystal. Currently, he has postponed this plan because he concluded that the problem of preventing humanity from conquering the universe is the limitations of rocket technology. That was also part of the reason he founded SpaceX to create the interplanetary rocket revolution.

Elon Musk has also done many other things that may not necessarily be needed here. He is a person of work, accepting risks and doing far more things that most people think of. He describes himself as a workaholic, willing to work 100 hours per week. Certainly Musk will not stop and he will do even more great things.

Some other interesting information about Elon Musk:

- Elon Musk is likened to a real-life Tony Stark.

- Elon Musk appeared in Iron Man 2 with a cameo role (guest role for celebrity). In addition, SpaceX development studio was also used to shoot some scenes in this movie.

- Elon Musk once owned a McLaren F1 and a pilot aircraft of Czech Czech L-39.

- Elon Musk recently proposed the idea of ​​a solar-powered propulsion tunnel that could shorten the travel time between San Francisco and Los Angeles to less than 30 minutes, knowing that the distance between these two cities is 613 , 9km.