Elon Reeve Musk ( born June 28, 1971) is a South African-born Canadian American business magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor. He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; a co-founder, Series A investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Inc.; co-chairman of OpenAI; and founder and CEO of Neuralink. Musk is also a co-founder and former chairman of SolarCity, co-founder of Zip2, and founder of X.com, which merged with Confinity and took the name PayPal. As of October 2017, Musk has an estimated net worth of $20.8 billion, ranking in the 2017 Forbes 400 as the 21st wealthiest person in America. In March 2016, he was listed by Forbes as the 80th-wealthiest person in the world. In December 2016, Musk was ranked 21st on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People. In addition to his primary business pursuits, he has envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet. Musk also proposed the concept of The Boring Company in 2017.
1971
Elon Reeve Musk was born on October 28, 1971 in South Africa.
1981
At the age of 10, his parents bought him a computer with a book on how to operate and create your own games, which supposedly takes an average person 6 months to complete. However, Musk was able to finish it in just 3 days. 2 years later he created a game called 'Blastar' and was able to sell it for $500.
1995
He founded Zip2, a company that provided and licensed online city guide software to newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was acquired by Compaq for US$307 million.
1999
Elon Musk founded X.com, an online bank that later merged with 'Confinity' which had a money transfer service called PayPal. The merged company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received US$165 million.
2002
With US$100 million of his early fortune, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in May 2002. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets (a nod to Star Wars' Millennium Falcon), and its first spacecraft is the Dragon (a nod to Puff the Magic Dragon).
2003
Tesla. The company was named after the Serbian-American electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla by company co-founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon joined later as CEO after he invested US$7.5 million with personal fund.
2013
On August 12, 2013, Musk unveiled a concept for a high-speed transportation system ( Hyperloop) incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors. The mechanism for releasing the concept was an alpha-design document that, in addition to scoping out the technology, outlined a notional route where such a transport system might be built: between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.
2015
In December 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company. OpenAI aims to develop artificial general intelligence in a way that is safe and beneficial to humanity. By making AI available to everyone, OpenAI wants to "counteract large corporations who may gain too much power by owning super-intelligence systems devoted to profits, as well as governments which may use AI to gain power and even oppress their citizenry".
2016
In June 2016, Musk's car company, Tesla, formally submitted an offer to acquire SolarCity, a company that was founded by Elon's cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive.
2016
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup company, to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence. The company, which is still in the earliest stages of existence, is centered on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve memory or allow for more direct interfacing with computing devices.
2016
On December 17, 2016, while stuck in traffic, Musk tweeted "Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging..." The company was named 'The Boring Company'. The first tunnel will start on the SpaceX campus, and will probably go to a nearby parking garage.
Musk has stated that the goals of SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX revolve around his vision to change the world and humanity. His goals include reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, and reducing the "risk of human extinction" by "making life multiplanetary" by establishing a human colony on Mars.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers who wanted to prove that people didn’t need to compromise to drive electric – that electric vehicles can be better, quicker and more fun to drive than gasoline cars. Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.
Tesla’s vehicles are produced at its Fremont factory in California, where the vast majority of the vehicle’s components are also made. As Tesla continues to expand its product line, Tesla’s production plan is also set to increase to a rate of 500,000 vehicles a year by 2018.
The Roadster was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge.Tesla sold about 2,450 Roadsters in over 30 countries, and most of the last Roadsters were sold in Europe and Asia during the fourth quarter of 2012. Tesla produced right-hand-drive Roadsters from early 2010.
The Tesla Model S is a full-sized all-electric five-door, luxury liftback and introduced on 22 June 2012. It scored a perfect 5.0 NHTSA automobile safety rating. The EPA official range for the 2017 Model S 100D, which is equipped with a 100 kWh (360 MJ) battery pack, is 341 miles (550 km), higher than any other electric car. As of October 2017, the following versions are available: 75D, 100D and P100D.
The Tesla Model X is a full-sized, all-electric, luxury, crossover SUV made by Tesla. that uses falcon wing doors for access to the second and third row seats. The prototype was unveiled at Tesla’s design studios in Hawthorne on February 9, 2012. The Model X has an official EPA rated 237–295 mi (381–475 km) range and the combined fuel economy equivalent and energy consumption for the AWD P90D was rated at 89 mpg-e (23 kWh/100 km or 39 kWh/100 mi).
The Tesla Model 3 is a mid-size all-electric four-door luxury sedan. According to Tesla officials the standard Model 3 delivers an EPA rated all-electric range of 220 miles (350 km) and the long-range model delivers 334 miles (540 km). The Model 3 has a minimalist dashboard with only a center-mounted LCD touchscreen. Within a week of unveiling the Model 3 in 2016, Tesla said, they had taken 325,000 reservations for the car, more than triple the number of Model S sedans sold by the end of 2015.
5+
Tesla presented the new Roadster along with the Semi-Truck on November 2017. The production of the new Tesla Roadster is expected to begin in 2020, but there's already a prototype that's able to go 0-60mph (0-100kmh) in 1.9s and has an autonomy of 630 miles (1000km) of highway driving range per charge. The price will start $200,000.
4+
The Tesla Semi is expected to start production by 2019, it has a range on 500 miles (800 km), and is expected to cost between $150,000 - $200,000. Several companies have already placed orders for the Semi.
To create an entire sustainable energy ecosystem, Tesla also designed a unique set of energy solutions, Powerwall, Powerpack and Solar Roof, enabling homeowners, businesses, and utilities to manage renewable energy generation, storage, and consumption. Supporting Tesla’s automotive and energy products is the Gigafactory – a facility designed to significantly reduce battery cell costs and, by 2018, produce more lithium-ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013. By bringing cell production in-house, Tesla manufactures batteries at the volumes required to meet production goals, while creating thousands of jobs.
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And this is just the beginning. With Tesla building its most affordable car yet, Tesla continues to make products accessible and affordable to more and more people, ultimately accelerating the advent of clean transport and clean energy production. Electric cars, batteries, and renewable energy generation and storage already exist independently, but when combined, they become even more powerful – that’s the future we want.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., doing business as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has since developed the Falcon launch vehicle family and the Dragon spacecraft family, which both currently deliver payloads into Earth orbit.
SpaceX announced in 2011 that they were beginning a privately funded reusable launch system technology development program. In December 2015, a first stage was flown back to a landing pad near the launch site, where it successfully accomplished a propulsive vertical landing. This was the first such achievement by a rocket for orbital spaceflight. In April 2016, with the launch of CRS-8, SpaceX successfully vertically landed a first stage on an ocean drone-ship landing platform. In May 2016, in another first, SpaceX again landed a first stage, but during a significantly more energetic geostationary transfer orbit mission. In March 2017, SpaceX became the first to successfully re-launch and land the first stage of an orbital rocket.
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. Falcon 9 is the first orbital class rocket capable of reflight. SpaceX believes rocket reusability is the key breakthrough needed to reduce the cost of access to space and enable people to live on other planets. Falcon 9 was designed from the ground up for maximum reliability. Falcon 9’s simple two-stage configuration minimizes the number of separation events -- and with nine first-stage engines, it can safely complete its mission even in the event of an engine shutdown.
Falcon 9 made history in 2012 when it delivered Dragon into the correct orbit for rendezvous with the International Space Station, making SpaceX the first commercial company ever to visit the station. Since then Falcon 9 has made numerous trips to space, delivering satellites to orbit as well as delivering and returning cargo from the space station for NASA. Falcon 9, along with the Dragon spacecraft, was designed from the outset to deliver humans into space and under an agreement with NASA, SpaceX is actively working toward this goal.
Falcon Heavy
When Falcon Heavy lifts off in 2017, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit over 54 metric tons (119,000 lb)--a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.
BFR
In September 2016, CEO Elon Musk unveiled the mission architecture of the Interplanetary Transport System program, an ambitious privately funded initiative to develop spaceflight technology for use in manned interplanetary spaceflight, and which, if demand emerges, could lead to sustainable human settlements on Mars over the long term. This is the main purpose this System was designed for. In 2017, Elon Musk announced that the company had been contracted by two private individuals to send them in a Dragon spacecraft on a free return trajectory around the Moon. Provisionally launching in 2018, this could become the first instance of lunar tourism.
On September 29th, 2017, SpaceX CEO and Lead Designer Elon Musk presented an updated vehicle design for what’s currently being referred to as BFR. A key challenge with the original vehicle design was figuring out how to pay for it. The updated design solves this problem by leveraging a slightly smaller vehicle that can service all greater Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars. This single system—one booster and one ship—will eventually replace Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon. By creating a single system that can service a variety of markets, SpaceX can redirect resources from Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon to the BFR system—which is fundamental in making BFR affordable.
SolarCity markets, manufactures, and installs residential and commercial solar panels in the US. It has also provided other energy services. In 2016, the company merged with Tesla, Inc. and now offers energy storage services through Tesla, including a turnkey residential battery backup service that incorporates Tesla's Powerwall. The company, in partnership with Panasonic, operates the Tesla Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, where it manufactures solar module components.
SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Peter and Lyndon Rive, based on a suggestion for a solar company concept by their cousin, Elon Musk, who is the chairman and helped start the company. By 2009 solar panels it had installed were generating 440 megawatts (MW) of power.
In August 2016, Musk announced that Solar City would be introducing a new product called the Tesla Solar Roof where the photovoltaic electrical energy generating devices and system would make up an entire roof surface, rather than merely be the mounting of solar panels on an existing roof, stating "It’s not a thing on a roof. It is the roof," as solar energy systems have generally been designed and installed during the early decades of terrestrial solar power. Assorted styles of solar roof tiles, made of glass, were unveiled at Universal Studios' Colonial Street backlot street set in late October 2016.
Solar Roof complements your home’s architecture while turning sunlight into electricity. With an integrated Powerwall battery, energy collected during the day is stored and made available any time, effectively turning your home into a personal utility. Glass solar tiles are so durable they are warrantied for the lifetime of your house, or infinity, whichever comes first
In June 2016, Musk's car and battery company, Tesla, submitted an offer to acquire SolarCity for $2.5–3 billion. According to Musk, the reason for this is "Creating a seamlessly integrated Tesla battery and solar power product that looks beautiful". On August 1, 2016, SolarCity accepted Tesla Motors' offer of 2.6 billion. The merger was completed later in 2016.
A hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and/or freight transportation, first named as such in an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX. Drawing heavily from Robert Goddard's vactrain, a hyperloop comprises a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at optimal speed and acceleration.
Elon Musk's version of the concept, first publicly mentioned in 2012, incorporates reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on air bearings driven by linear induction motors and air compressors.
The Hyperloop Alpha concept was first published in August 2013, proposing and examining a route running from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area roughly following the Interstate 5 corridor. The paper conceived of a hyperloop system that would propel passengers along the 350-mile (560 km) route at an average speed of around 600 mph (970 km/h), with a top speed of 760 mph (1,200 km/h), allowing for a travel time of 35 minutes, which is considerably faster than current rail or air travel times. Calculate your route's time. Preliminary cost estimates for this LA–SF suggested route were included in the white paper—US$6 billion for a passenger-only version, and US$7.5 billion for a somewhat larger-diameter version transporting passengers and vehicles — although transportation analysts had doubts that the system could be constructed on that budget; some analysts claimed that the Hyperloop would be several billion dollars overbudget, taking into consideration construction, development and operation costs.
The Hyperloop concept has been explicitly "open-sourced" by Musk and SpaceX, and others have been encouraged to take the ideas and further develop them.
To that end, a few companies have been formed, and several interdisciplinary student-led teams are working to advance the technology. SpaceX is building an approximately 1-mile-long (1.6 km) subscale track for its pod design competition at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
Some experts are skeptical, saying that the proposals ignore the expenses and risks of developing the technology and that the idea is "completely impractical". Claims have also been made that the Hyperloop is too susceptible to disruption from a power outage or terror attacks to be considered safe.
