Elon Musk – a Disruptive Thinker, Inventor and Entrepreneur
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ARTICLE ELON MUSK – A DISRUPTIVE THINKER, INVENTOR AND ENTREPRENEUR SUROJIT MOOKHERJEE* South African entrepreneur Elon Musk is now known worldwide for founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2012.Born in South Africa in 1971, Elon Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers. He achieved more success by founding X.com in 1999, SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk made headlines in May 2012, when SpaceX launched a rocket that would send the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station. He bolstered his portfolio with the purchase of SolarCity in 2016, and cemented his standing as a leader of industry by taking on an advisory role in the early days of President Donald Trump’s administration. This write up gives a short sketch of his life and remarkable achievements. Introduction to become a part of it, launching his first company, Zip2 on of a Canadian mother and a South African Corporation. An online city guide, Zip2 was soon providing father, Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, content for the new websites of both The New York Times S 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He spent his early and the Chicago Tribune, and in 1999, a division of childhood with his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca in South Compaq Computer Corporation bought Zip2 for $307 Africa, and at 10, the introverted Elon developed an interest million in cash and $34 million in stock options. in computers. During this time, his parents divorced. He Also in 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online taught himself how to program, and when he was 12 he financial services/payments company. An X.com acquisition made his first software sale—of a game he created called the following year led to the creation of PayPal as it is Blastar. At age 17, in 1989, he moved to Canada to attend known today, and in October 2002, PayPal was acquired Queen’s University and avoid mandatory service in the by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Before the sale, Musk South African military, but he left in 1992 to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated owned 11 percent of PayPal stock. with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for Never one to rest on his laurels, Musk founded his a second bachelor’s degree in physics. third company, Space Exploration Technologies After leaving Penn, Elon Musk headed to Stanford Corporation, or SpaceX, in 2002 with the intention of University in California to pursue a Ph.D in energy physics. building spacecraft for commercial space travel. By 2008, However, his move was timed perfectly with the Internet SpaceX was well established, and NASA awarded the boom, and he dropped out of Stanford after just two days company the contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Station—with plans for astronaut * Associate Director (retd.), IBM India. transport in the future—in a move to replace NASA’s own M-1, Vidyasagar Niketan , Sector -1, Salt Lake, Kolkata - space shuttle missions. 700064, Email - [email protected] 282 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2017 The boundless potential of space exploration and the orbit, a distance at which the satellite would lock into an preservation of the future of the human race have become orbital path that matched the Earth’s rotation. In February the cornerstones of Musk’s abiding interests, and toward 2015, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 fitted with the these he has founded the Musk Foundation, which is Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, dedicated to space exploration and the discovery of aiming to observe the extreme emissions from the sun that renewable and clean energy sources. affect power grids and communications systems on Earth. Like the rest of us, Elon Musk has a handful of life In March 2017, SpaceX enjoyed another breakthrough goals. Unlike the rest of us, one of those life goals is to with the successful test flight and landing of a Falcon 9 put 1,000,000 people on Mars. rocket made from reusable parts, a development that opened the door for more affordable space travel. SpaceX has Naturally-occurring extinction events can be caused already made 8 successful landings of the stage 1 rocket by a lot of things. The universe is a violent, hostile place engine both on land and as well as on sea. According to and we’re a group of fragile organisms living in a delicate SpaceX, landing on sea is cheaper as it consumes less fuel. balance of precise conditions. We’re around, for now, In April 2017 , they successfully used a recycled stage 1 because the universe is currently allowing us to be. This engine to lift a rocket to the ISS for supplying cargo. led to Musk’s dream of having the need to have a ‘back- This will help to economize space travel and is an essential up’ of the human civilization which can be self sustaining feature for interplanetary space travel by humans. and capable of growing even if the human specie living on the ‘parent’ earth happens to get destroyed. Not only to sustain , he thinks , that expanding to other planetary systems is also necessary for the long term survival of this specie. Some of his exciting ventures are discussed briefly. SpaceX On May 22, 2012, Musk and SpaceX made history when the company launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. The vehicle was sent to the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there, marking the first time a private company had sent a spacecraft to the International Figure 2 : The platform being towed to the harbour. Space Station. Plan for Colonizing Mars – Making Humans a In December 2013, SpaceX notched another milestone Multi Planetary Species : Musk strongly believes that time when Falcon 9 carried a satellite to geosynchronous transfer has come for the ‘human civilization’ to have it’s own ‘back-up’ as it faces distinct threat of extinction on account of several potential threat areas like – asteroid collision , epidemic viral disease , nuclear war or even uncontrolled rogue super AI beings. And what better than to establish a human colony in one of the nearby planets/moon and then to further expand to multi planetary systems. He has a ‘blueprint’ for a 1 million population colony in Mars and he thinks this is the critical mass required for sustainable existence in that planet. Despite its inhospitable environment, Musk insists Mars is the best candidate for supporting life, as opposed to Venus’ high-pressure atmosphere and Mercury’s close proximity to the sun. He further suggests Mars is the place to be, because a day on Mars is very similar to one on Figure 1 : Landing of Stage 1 engine of Falcon 9 rocket on a floating Earth, stretching 24.5 hours. Its atmosphere, he believes, drone platform. would support plant life. VOL. 83, NOS. 9–10 283 Musk’s estimates the cost of a trip to Mars by Meet Model X revisiting the first Moon landing in present-day dollars, Model X is the safest, quickest, and most capable which breaks down to around $10 billion per person. He sport utility vehicle in history. Designed as a family car suggests targeting a “ticket to Mars” price around $200,000 without compromise, Model X comes standard with all- per person, a price point he says will be a “bit tricky” to wheel drive, ample seating for up to seven adults, standard reach, given the need to reduce the cost of interplanetary active safety features, and up to 295 miles of range on a human travel by 50,000 times. Even so, he says he expects single charge. And it’s the quickest SUV in production, the ticket price to eventually drop below $100,000 after capable of accelerating from zero to 60 miles per hour in an initial base is setup and spacecraft reusability further 2.9 seconds. brings down the cost of transportation. The figs 1 and 2 show Falcon 9’s stage 1 rocket engine being safely landed on a floating drone platform. Nine such successful landings and recovery of the costly Stage 1 engine has been done both on land and sea and recently one of the recovered engine was used to fly a second time to send cargo to the International Space Station. The biggest question, still pressing in just about everyone’s mind, actually has less to do with how humans will reach Mars and more to do with when. SpaceX Figure 3 : Model X-SUV announced plans earlier this year to send an unmanned ≈ vessel dubbed Red Dragon to Mars as early as 2018, Accelerating Sustainable Transport – Model 3 and Musk has previously said he thought it would be Model 3 combines real world range, performance, possible to land on Mars by 2025. When it came time to safety and spaciousness into a premium sedan that only discuss the timeline for a SpaceX trip to Mars Musk waxed Tesla can build. Their most affordable car yet, Model 3 poetic over the 14-year history of the company, which he achieves 215 miles of range per charge , accelerating from founded, before finally saying that he plans for SpaceX to zero to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds ,while starting at make its first true grab at the Red Planet as early as 2023. only $35,000 before incentives. Model 3 is designed to Tesla Motors - Zero Emission Car : Another Musk attain the highest safety ratings in every category.