Elon Musk is a name that you may have heard numerous times if you have an interest in the high tech world, because he has his name in a variety of different areas of interest. He is the cofounder of companies that include PayPal, the safest way to pay via your computer and the founder of SpaceX, which is an aerospace manufacturer and more. By trade he is an entrepreneur, inventor, engineer, and an investor. He is a man who is definitely making big changes in the world of technology and science. Anyone who does not know his name today, will certainly have a chance to know it well in the future.
Elon Musk’s Impact on Technology
As a product architect of Tesla Motors and the chairman of SolarCity, he is taking technology to a new level quite rapidly. Tesla Motors, Inc. is a company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars. They also build electric vehicle powertrain components and battery products. The first vehicle to gain Tesla attention was the Tesla Roadster, which is a fully electric sports car. Since then they have created several others and delivered approximately 70,000 electric cars.
SolarCity is a company that provides energy services and Musk is chairman of it. It not only designs solar energy systems, but finances and installs them as well. They are also building charging stations for electric vehicles. This company has a partnership with the Rabobank and if you own a Tesla Motors’ vehicle and use Route 101 in California, you can get free charging of your vehicle. This company also has what is referred to as SolarStrong, which is a five year plan that began in 2011. The goal is to build more than $1 billion solar photovoltaic projects for military housing communities in the United States.
Along with all of this, Elon Musk, along with two others put forth $40 million dollars toward creating a computer that has the ability to think like a human being. It would be able to see, understand words, do math, and move like a normal person.
Making Leaps and Bounds in Space Exploration
As the founder of SpaceX, he has the goal of reducing the costs of space transportation, which may enable the colonization of Mars. There are plans already in the works that will be announced later this year. It is a company that has already developed the Falcon 1 and the Falcon 9 launch vehicles as well as the Dragon spacecraft. The Dragon was sent into orbit by the Falcon 9, the destination was the International Space Station to deliver cargo.
Until the Dragon docked with the International Space Station it was something that the United States was unable to achieve without foreign help. Now, SpaceX sent a total of 5 rockets into orbit and has a total of $1.6 billion in contracts from NASA. There are several more launches planned and more rocket engines are being built by them than any other company. Elon Musk has stated in some ways that he is glad the colonization of Mars project has been something that he worked up to because he has already learned a lot through the launches that have already taken place.
Where the future of science and technology will take us, no one knows. However, there is a good chance that Elon Musk will play an important role in it.