(NewsNation) — Long earlier helium became the look of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk ever carried lofty aspirations successful some concern and beyond.
Musk elevated himself to the world’s richest antheral with a net worthy of conscionable much than $400 billion, according to Forbes, aft palmy concern forays with Tesla, SpaceX and different endeavors built astir his emotion of technology.
But for the 53-year-old South African-born businessman and father of 12 children who moved to Canada astatine the property of 17 successful 2008, dreaming large was ever portion of his beingness plan.
“I was decidedly inspired by subject fabrication with books and movies,” Musk said during a panel treatment connected advancing exertion successful 2012. “It creates this consciousness of anticipation that you privation to marque real. Making it existent is simply a precise hard process but implicit time, we’ve been capable to bash that.”

Musk’s determination to North America arsenic a teen was made against his wishes, but it allowed him to be assemblage successful Canada and debar mandatory work successful the South African military, according to “Biography.” Musk besides saw coming to Canada arsenic an easier way to American citizenship, which became authoritative successful 2002. The determination besides opened up doors.
“I came to North America due to the fact that I felt this was wherever determination was an accidental to bash large things successful technology,” Musk said successful an interview with Queens University, wherever helium attended assemblage and met his archetypal wife.
Elon Musk co-founds Tesla
Musk co-founded Tesla successful 2003 with the ngo of accelerating the world’s modulation to sustainable energy, according to his institution bio. The company’s archetypal vehicle, the Roadster, debuted successful 2008, followed by the Model S sedan (2012) and Model X SUV (2015).

By helping to motorboat the electrical conveyance brand, Musk said his extremity for the institution was to accelerate the modulation to sustainable proscription and usage Tesla arsenic the catalyst for that transition. Tesla besides contributed exertion to different automotive manufacturers, specified arsenic Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, agelong earlier the conception of electrical vehicles took clasp crossed the state arsenic a viable means for sustainable automobiles.
Musk and PayPal
Before helium entered the automotive world, Musk co-founded and sold PayPal, the world's starring net outgo system, and Zip2, 1 of the archetypal net maps and directions services.
But careless of what absorption his concern took him, Musk remained focused connected creating a amended satellite and keeping an oculus connected the past alternatively than dwelling excessively overmuch connected the past,
“In general, there’s a batch of treatment astir his occupation oregon that problem, and a batch of radical are bittersweet astir the future, and they’re pessimistic,” Musk told TED successful 2022. “This is not great. We privation to aftermath up successful the greeting and look guardant to the future. We privation to beryllium excited astir what’s going to happen.”
Musk and SpaceX
Musk founded SpaceX successful 2002 with a imaginativeness of decreasing the outgo of abstraction launches and question but yet with the program of the colonization of Mars.
Musk serves arsenic the pb technologist astatine SpaceX and oversees the improvement of rockets and spaceships for missions to Earth and, ultimately, to different planets, including Mars.

The company’s archetypal rocket, Falcon 1, was the archetypal privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to scope orbit. Musk said the United States’ advancement successful abstraction question has not matched different technologies, including communications and computing.
He said successful 2012 helium saw processing interplanetary abstraction question and landing idiosyncratic connected Mars arsenic the eventual escapade that the quality contention could achieve.
“We request a spaceship that tin bash interplanetary travel,” Musk said. “It’s astir time.”
Musk's Mars Colonization Goals
SpaceX developed the Starship spacecraft, which the institution describes arsenic a afloat reusable proscription strategy that is designed to transportation unit and cargo to orbit the Earth, Mars and beyond. The rocket’s vigor shield is designed to withstand respective entries to Mars.
In summation to surviving retired the escapade of establishing a sustainable interplanetary beingness strategy connected Mars, Musk wrote connected the SpaceX website that spacefaring civilization is “about believing successful the aboriginal and reasoning that the aboriginal volition beryllium amended than the past.”
“I deliberation radical should mostly person much of a affirmative cognition due to the fact that that’s the underlying reality,” Musk said successful 2012. “I deliberation successful the 21st century, we’ll spot tons of breathtaking things happen. I deliberation we’ll spot the translation and proscription and vigor production. We’ll hopefully spot a basal connected Mars and if SpaceX tin assistance america marque that translation happen, I deliberation it volition alteration tremendous possibilities for who is capable to spell implicit determination and make things connected different planet."
DOGE
Musk was designated to oversee DOGE by President Donald Trump aft Musk campaigned for Trump passim his run for a 2nd word successful the White House.
The bureau was established to chopped authorities spending, with Musk saying astatine the outset of DOGE’s enactment that his extremity was to chopped arsenic overmuch arsenic $2 trillion successful yearly national spending.

After Trump took bureau successful January, Musk made regular appearances successful the Oval Office and promoted DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, which included plans to perchance destruct full national agencies, including the Department of Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development and others.
Musk’s engagement successful the Trump medication has led to criticism from some who support that helium has excessively overmuch power and excessively overmuch access to delicate fiscal information.
"Elon is doing a large job, he's uncovering tremendous fraud and corruption and waste,” Trump told reporters this month.