Elon Musk: A Futurist Extraordinaire

clendar April 23, 2021

clendar 6 minutes

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Every century has its own great innovators. Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs… people whose contributions have altered the direction of technology. Another name that can be put on that list is no stranger to anyone, the famous billionaire of our time, Elon Reeve Musk. He is a man who takes big risks, makes grand promises, and delivers accordingly. He is mostly renowned for his vision to transform the face of technology, innovation and creativity.

The South African-born Canadian American business tycoon is not only an engineer but also an investor and inventor, credited with numerous achievements and great innovations, the importance of which is unimaginable.

Early Life

Elon Reeve Musk, the genius who has created innovative inventions from online financial services to brain chips that can cure diseases, was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa.

The famous entrepreneur’s childhood was not as impressive as you may think of. His parents got divorced when he was only 10 and even got bullied in school until the age of 15.

Family background

Elon Musk’s father, Errol Musk, is a wealthy South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer. Elon’s mother, Maye Musk, is a Canadian model and dietitian. Musk spent his early childhood with his brother Kimbal Musk and sister Tosca Musk in South Africa.

Childhood

Despite having a successful career, Elon Musk’s personal life has been full of drama. His parents divorced when he was 10. And things began to get rocky between him and his father.

After his parents divorced, Musk decided to move in with his father, but he regretted it soon after. According to Elon, his father was capable of “evil”.

Elon claims his father was verbally abusive to him when he was younger and had no faith in his ability to make something of his life and be successful.

Education

Elon Musk attended the English-speaking Waterkloof House Preparatory School and later graduated from Pretoria Boys High School. The years were lonely and brutal for him there as he was continuously getting bullied.

Influences

Amidst an often difficult childhood, Elon Musk developed a relentless work ethic and a tenacious imagination.

He has been working as many as 80 to 120 hours per week.
The discouragements from his father and continuously getting bullied as a child didn’t derail Elon Musk from his life’s path. Musk was mostly in

terested in computers and science fictions. After being inspired by Hitchhi ker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Elon decided that his new life mission would be to save humanity

Journey Before 30

It was already evident that Elon Musk had a mind of his own from an early age. He was fascinated by science fiction and computers in his adolescence years. Due to his avid self-learning habit, Musk was able to get himself into one venture after another, but harder and more complex one.

In college, Musk thought about what he wanted to do with his life. But one question hit his mind first, “What will most affect the future of humanity?”. He realised that the answer was a list of five things: “the internet, sustainable energy, space exploration, artificial intelligence and reprogramming of the human genetic code”.

Career and Efforts

Elon Musk’s early interest in philosophy, science fiction, and fantasy novels reflects his idealism and concern for human advancement. He intends to work on the transition to clean energy sources, technology and space exploration, the areas he sees as critical to our future.

Elon Musk is aiming to revolutionise transportation both on Earth and in Space via Electric carmaker Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX.

SpaceX

SpaceX was Elon Musk’s third company, founded in 2002 in the hopes of revolutionising the aerospace industry to make feasible spaceflight a reality. The company started its space exploration journey with the Falcon 1 rocket, a two-stage liquid-fuelled vessel designed to carry small satellites into orbit.

The Falcon 1 was considerably easier to build and could operate more efficiently than its competitors. Some important information about SpaceX include:

Table: A brief history of the journey of SpaceX

Date	Event
28 September 2008	First successful launching of the Falcon 1, a liquid-fuelled rocket that reached Earth’s orbit
23 December 2008	NASA awarded SpaceX with a $1.6 billion contract to transport cargo and supplies to the International Space Station
4 June 2010	First successful test flight of the Falcon 9 rocket
9 December 2010	SpaceX became the first privately funded company to launch (Falcon 9), orbit and recover a spacecraft (Dragon)
22 May 2012	Falcon 9 was launched with an unmanned capsule to the International Space Station
3 December 2013	Falcon 9 rocket successfully carried a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit
11 February 2015	Another Falcon 9 rocket was launched fitted with Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite.
8 April 2016	The first water landing of Falcon 9
30 March 2017	SpaceX launched a previously flown rocket for the first time
6 February 2018	The first flight of Falcon Heavy, the most powerful operational rocket
30 May 2020	SpaceX became the first private company to send humans into orbit in a Crew Dragon Demo-2 test flight, using the Falcon 9 rocket.

Futuristic Endeavours

It would be an understatement to say that the billionaire tech enthusiast Elon Musk is a busy man. Musk is at the helm of a number of companies, each of which has objectives firmly set for the future.

He envisioned Tesla to bring autonomous electric vehicles (EAVs) and renewable energy solutions forward. Musk hopes to change the world, advancing private spaceflight with the aim of landing humans on other planets like Mars and developing a new tube-transport system called the Hyperloop.

Conclusion

There’s plenty to say about the unfaltering drive of Elon Musk. His firm determination, prospective curiosity and passion have helped him become one of the most influential and successful pioneers of all time. With a long trail of success behind him, the leading magnate shows no signs of slowing down.

As a matter of fact, his aspirations might, quite practically, end up taking humans to another world. So, if you’re an ambitious person, take a leaf out of Musk’s life. Although the path to success is never a straightforward one, a lot can be achieved if you have enough patience, diligence and dedication.