as the S models have just covered 1 billion miles around the world along with an everexpanding chain of Superchargers across the world that will give the car a half charge of 170 miles in only 20 minutes – and it’s totally free. Elon noted that “at least one major car company” is already taking advantage of Tesla’s open patents. Any guesses? Mercedes would be my call, but I’m not putting any money on it. Not content with conquering the entire world with his electric car, he is also the CEO of Space X. Ironically for a man who is trying to make the world a better place, he is also determined to leave it at every opportunity, with the goal of creating the technologies that will
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enable humanity to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars with the use of fully and rapidly reusable rockets. It has developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, both of which were designed from conception to eventually become reusable, and the Dragon spacecraft which is flown into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle to supply the International Space Station with cargo. A manned version of Dragon is in development. Like so many young billionaires, our own Richard Branson included, the ultimate goal is the exploration and eventual colonisation of other planets. The ultimate achievement for the men who have everything. Like Branson’s
Virgin Galactic crash in October 2014 that killed the pilot, Space X has had its problems. Only recently, the launch of the Falcon 9 on June 28th from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral was perfect until 2 minutes and 19 seconds later, when it blew itself to smithereens. Fortunately, it was only carrying cargo and no life was lost, but it just goes to show what a herculean task space exploration is and why it is so attractive to hugely successful overachievers with bottomless pockets. But let’s face it, if it was easy they wouldn’t be the slightest bit interested and we would all be doing it. NASA Astronaut Ron Garan offered the following: “The lessons learned from the failure will save lives down the road when Dragon launches live crew.” He’s right, of course. But it’s still difficult to get swept up in the excitement of space travel, only to be confronted with an explosive reminder of how far away the future remains. If you wanted to bet which billionaire will get there first, bet against Elon at your peril and only wager what you can afford to lose. Even Richard Branson seems to be hedging his bets: “Whatever sceptics have said can’t be done, Elon has gone out and made real. Remember in the 1990s, when we would call strangers and give them our credit card numbers? Elon dreamed up a little thing called PayPal. His Tesla Motors and SolarCity companies are making a clean, renewable-energy future a reality. His Space X programme is reopening space for exploration…it’s a paradox that Elon is working to improve our planet at the same time he’s building spacecraft to help us leave it.” In his spare time he is the CEO of SolarCity,