By Mehreen Akhtar
Elon Musk is recently reported as the richest person in the world with a net wealth of $185 billion or maybe more at the date, according to the CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel) yearly report’s calculation of 2021.
Elon Musk is a South African businessman famous for his outstanding car models and designs. He is the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, top companies in the US. His first Company was X.com in 1999, now this company is known as PayPal, well-renowned money transferring app in the world. SpaceX was established in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. He has a dream to colonize Mars and to establish a city on Mars. Therefore he wants to facilitate nearly one million people an affordable travel to mars and open shop there. His dreams are greater so his work is also greater.
Elon Musk, as a kid, was near science fiction and very intelligent in this regard. His father was a rich person and he was never prohibited, providing him nearly all the facilities that rich baby needs. After the divorce between his mother and father in his early childhood, he used to live with his mother. Later on, he went to his father but his relationship with them was fractured.
From his childhood, he seems like a special child due to his lonely nature and seems like he has no friends. Even after getting into his mature age, he is a hard-natured person with aims and a bossy-like attitude. Elon is a much more interesting person than his apparent personality.
It seems funny about the government that the achievement made by Elon as a CEO of a private firm should be made by the government. But he as a guy who had not much knowledge of making rockets is shaking the board and surprising the world by designing cars and satellites.
Elon musk has broken the record of Jeff Bezos, who was the richest person in the world from 2017 to 2020. Till 2020, Musk was hardly in the top 50 richest people of the world. His net worth at the beginning of 2020 was a mere $27 billion. Tesla’s rocketing share price has been increased 9 times in a year which added nearly $150 in his wealth; moreover, his substantial reimbursement suite has also played as icing on the cake to increase its supremacy on the profit. Musk became 7th the richest person due to the increase in demand for technology worldwide. His star was regulating in success and he crossed Bill gates in November 2020. Within a year his shares of Tesla took a high jump and he became on the list of top 5 richest persons in the world from a figure of 50. Elon musk shakes the stock market within months and earned more profit than net worth $132 billion of Bill gates.
2021 is the year of the wealth competition between Musk and Bezos. They both are shaking the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on and off.
This company was launched in 1995 with the cooperation of Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon Musk. This was the 1st company of Elon Musk. Greg Kouri was its co-founder. This company serves as online city guide software. Later this company was sold by these brothers for US$305 million by Compaq Computer. This company purchased “ZIP2” to enhance its “Alta vista web search engine”.
PayPal was initially started by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek. It was initiated in 1998 but later on, it was merged with Elon Musk’s online banking company X.com. Bill Harris was CEO of the Company. He left X.com in May 2000 due to disbelieving of the latent future success of the currency transmission business. Thus the CEO of X.com “Elon Musk” was replaced by “Peter Thiel” and the name of the company was also changed to PayPal in 2002. Further, this company went through many transitions.
SpaceX is the largest commercial satellite constellation operator according to 2020’s report. This company was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 and its headquarter is in Hawthorne, California. Its Starlink project has made the company the largest space vehicle manufacturing company with more manifestation and functionality of space equipment. Starlink project provides satellite internet access.
The company came into being as a result of thoughts provoked inside Musk’s mind to Colonize Mars. To change the diaries and living into stars made him star a person of the world. His concept of “Mars Oasis” and “plantation on Mars” compelled him to purchase spacecraft from Russia but the cost disappointed him.
His dream to explore space drew him towards the day where he is the richest person in the world. His fantasy dreaming and turning it into reality made him successful at space grounds. He aimed to reduce the space-traveling cost in the future in a way that the public can be ever lived there. Elon Musk said
“I believe US$500 per pound (US$1100/kg) or less is very achievable”
His dream of availing space travel for “almost anyone”, persuade him to initiate his own company which later on called SpaceX. His ambitious goals not always proved to fruition for him but made him capable of showing the world a unique face of passion. It is said that
“It’s better to have an impossible dream than no dream at all.”
To achieve his goals of colonizing the mars and living on Mars, with greenery plantations, he started his company with some objectives.
Later on, these objectives increased and achieved a few of them and many others. SpaceX has recorded achievement as a private spacecraft industry.
Steve Jurvetson is a renowned investor of America, according to him; Musk did perfect calculations and estimated that raw materials needed to build a rocket cost only 3% of the total sale price of a rocket at that time. He came to know the profit but this industry is not only profitable also needs quality, mechanism, system, expert staff, experienced analysers, technically trained men force, and many other resources. He consulted Tom Mueller, a rocket engineer of that time, and after that became CTO of propulsion. Musk decided to prepare a minimum of 85 percent of launch hardware on their own so that he could cut the crafts cost minimum to 10 percent. This way he was able to facilitate space organization with space vehicles with a profit of 70% percent that was being earned 80 percent before Musk’s industry SpaceX.
Till 2018, SpaceX dealt with both private and government customers and had 100 recorded launches in its manifest that with a worth of US$12 billion. This company grew so promptly that from a men force of 160 it’s reached to thousands of employees. No one can even imagine its successful launch of Starlink online that was the wonder of SpaceX and Musk’s impossible dream.
Musk and his company wrote history with the vertical launch of Falcon 9 in 2012 with an unmanned capsule, making it ever first private company providing supplies at international space stations. When falcon 9 had a successful launch to the international space station with almost 1000 supplies, Musk joyed happily and said
“I feel very lucky. ... For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl.”
This was the time when SpaceX launched multiple rockets after one another and maintained a record of staying on top of the list among private and government industries manufacturing space crafts.
2017 was the year when Musk achieved another milestone of the successful launch and landing of Falcon 9 that was prepared from reusable parts of crafts. It was the time when he made the success and a gateway towards more cheap costed and reliable space crafts with affordable price.
The same year he faced an impediment when the new Block 5 Merlin engine was being tested in his company but with good fortune, no life was lost. Exactly the next year new block 5 Falcon rocket had a successful landing within 9 minutes at a drone ship.
2018 was the year when SpaceX has decided to build and house BFR at the port of Los Angeles, a facility should be constructed. SpaceX was offered a perfect location at the port when mammoth rocket can only be move after its completion with barge or ship.
2019 was the time when an important step was taken in the progress of the Starlink network. A huge batch of 60 satellites was launched in Space and exactly after that payload of 60 satellites was also sent successfully into space. No doubt it was a great achievement for the company of human beings at that time but many scientists get worried about future research of stars, planets, and space bodies. They think that with the spread of artificial satellite constellation it may get difficult to get information about the natural bodies and to extract information about them.
In May 2020 SpaceX became the ever first private company to send humans in orbit and to the international space station. The recent year 2021 has been a brilliant spark time for SpaceX when it sent 143 satellites on a single mission.
Robyn Denholm is the full-time chairwoman of Tesla Motors Company. While Elon Musk is its former chairman, CEO, and co-founder. Not only this, he is the product architect of Tesla Motors. The company was found in 2003. All the products of the company are finally designed by him. Musk aims to provide “more facilities with low cost”. But here it was contrary because he has the mind with business strategy. He knows that people are not pricing sensitive in case of car purchase. The thing they focus on is the designs, facilities, volume, speed, and other comforts. While choosing a car, especially a sports electric sports car, price is one of the last prior factors. At the time Tesla’s formation electric vehicles were too expensive.
He designed his 1st car “Roadster”, with low volume and its price was $100,000. At first 2500 cars were designed. Tesla never waited for a new year to introduce a new model of the car, instead, it kept on updating its cars hardware from time to time. Its next models were, Model S and Model X. Both of these models are less expensive than older ones but still when one filters luxury cars, one has to include them both into that list. Till 2016, this company showed vertical integration and reached 80%. It also manufactures batteries, motors, and software.
The new models of Tesla Company are Model Y and Roadster, Semi Truck, Model 3. Its men force is nearly 10,000 currently.
Musk is next-level ambitious and has some fantasy-like dreams that he wants no make true. No doubt his persistent nature and ambitious thoughts can make them possible. Musk plans to colonize Mars by 2028. He wants to take people on planet Mars. On Twitter, CEO Musk has declared some amount to open a shop on the grounds of Mars. As Musk has already prepared his plan and narrated that
“It would take about 1,000 SpaceX Starship rockets to transport all of the necessary cargo and crew to Mars”
Furthermore, he has estimated that it would take nearly 20 years to take all the necessary luggage to mars and setting an infrastructure there to run the city.
His plan to colonize mars has fascinated so many people, and its impacts can be seen in Hollywood movies. But Musk is not always a perfect narrator about things as his dates to the established city on Mars vary day to day that seems it would not happen. It is acceptable fact that space traveling is not easy and there may be a change in planned dates and no compromise can be made but according to Musk’s plans and narration as mention below it seems not to happen in near future.
Once he targets to land cargos for Mars in 2018 and 2020. In another narration, he quoted to make it a reality by 2022. Once he said to facilitate transportation for nearly one million people will take nearly 40 to 100 years.
So it could be concluded that Elon Musk is an ambitious person but has no fixed arguments about the future. He is not good at promising about the future world. I am not a dying fan of Elon Musk but his wonders and strategic thinking have impressed me.
Share Your Comment