“Who is Elon Musk?” Is a question many have pondered, especially since he is so famous. A brilliant entrepreneur, technological innovator, and brilliant businessman, Musk is also one of the most influential scientists of our time. Why is he so important? What does it mean to be an influence? Well, read on for insight.
“Books, magazines, science books, space books, I read them all,” said Musk during a speech at a recent seminar. He may be known for being eccentric, with an interest that sometimes borders on obsessive. But, he is a serious businessperson nonetheless. He founded both PayPal and Tesla, which today may be worth over $70 billion, with shares in both.
Recently, however, he has invested in a series of start-ups, some of which may be worth more than he thinks. Many people are interested in what it means to be a billionaire, but few know who Musk is. The answer is simple really. He is an innovative innovator, with an uncanny ability to see things before others do.
Before stepping onto the stage to launch one of his brilliant ideas, he was working on the ground floor of some of today’s most well-known and successful companies. In fact, Musk worked as a graduate student in aerospace engineering at UCLA back in 1990.
One of his primary goals there was to design and build the first of two capsules that would land on the moon. The project was called the Viking. Although it was not a huge success, it did lay the groundwork for future space exploration and development. AZ Big Media notes a couple of effective suggestions for striving pioneers and inventors.
When he graduated, Musk went to work on another space exploration project, this time it was the Falcon 1, which was meant to send up an unmanned mission to test land on the far side of the moon. The daring plan was to launch from Cape Canaveral, but due to a series of technical difficulties, it was abandoned.
A year later, however, Musk returned to finish the mission. Today, he is not only the head designer of both the private and commercial spaceships, but he is also responsible for helping to launch the Dragon capsule on its maiden flight to the International Space Station. If that doesn’t make you want to read about how he got his start in space travel, I don’t know what will.
He isn’t finished yet though, as he has announced he will be attempting to launch another experimental vehicle called the Falcon Heavy Rocket in late February or early March of next year. It is unclear whether that will be an orbital or landing vehicle or both, but if successful it will be interesting to see what he can accomplish with that technology.
You can expect to see more of these experimental missions as the technology develops and he perfects it. With all of these innovative plans, it is only natural to ask who is Elon Musk best known as to why he is attempting to make such large and expensive changes to the way we use space vehicles and satellites.
He says it’s all about getting people to start thinking about space travel and using it as a business opportunity. His new company, which he co-founded, will attempt to do just that and also pave the way for the other exciting ventures he has.
He has already shown some of his ability to master complex engineering and technology concepts, so it is very likely that he will succeed with the Falcon Heavy Rocket. Hopefully, with all of these innovative ideas and a few more coming along in the next few years we will be able to take our traveling around the outer solar system by a rocket in less than ten years or less.
That will be a truly amazing sight and we will discover many things about the solar system and the universe that we have never seen before. Hopefully, by then, we will have enough knowledge to send people into space and back, to research life on Mars and find out if they are really living there. This mission by Musk will make that possible.
