(NewsNation) — Long before he became the face of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk always carried lofty aspirations in both business and beyond.
Musk elevated himself to the world’s richest man with a net worth of just more than $400 billion, according to Forbes, after successful business forays with Tesla, SpaceX and other endeavors built around his love of technology.
But for the 53-year-old South African-born businessman and father of 12 children who moved to Canada at the age of 17 in 2008, dreaming big was always part of his life plan.
“I was definitely inspired by science fiction with books and movies,” Musk said during a panel discussion on advancing technology in 2012. “It creates this sense of possibility that you want to make real. Making it real is a very difficult process but over time, we’ve been able to do that.”
Musk’s move to North America as a teenager was made against his wishes, but it allowed him to attend college in Canada and avoid mandatory service in the South African military, according to “Biography.” Musk also saw coming to Canada as an easier path to American citizenship, which became official in 2002. The move also opened up doors.
“I came to North America because I felt this was where there was an opportunity to do great things in technology,” Musk said in an interview with Queens University, where he attended college and met his first wife.
Elon Musk co-founds Tesla
Musk co-founded Tesla in 2003 with the mission of accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy, according to his company bio. The company’s first vehicle, the Roadster, debuted in 2008, followed by the Model S sedan (2012) and Model X SUV (2015).
By helping to launch the electric vehicle brand, Musk said his goal for the company was to accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation and use Tesla as the catalyst for that transition. Tesla also contributed technology to other automotive manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, long before the concept of electric vehicles took hold across the country as a viable means for sustainable automobiles.
Musk and PayPal
Before he entered the automotive world, Musk co-founded and sold PayPal, the world's leading internet payment system, and Zip2, one of the first internet maps and directions services.
But regardless of what direction his business took him, Musk remained focused on creating a better world and keeping an eye on the past rather than dwelling too much on the past,
“In general, there’s a lot of discussion about his problem or that problem, and a lot of people are sad about the future, and they’re pessimistic,” Musk told TED in 2022. “This is not great. We want to wake up in the morning and look forward to the future. We want to be excited about what’s going to happen.”
Musk and SpaceX
Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with a vision of decreasing the cost of space launches and travel but ultimately with the plan of the colonization of Mars.
Musk serves as the lead engineer at SpaceX and oversees the development of rockets and spaceships for missions to Earth and, ultimately, to other planets, including Mars.
The company’s first rocket, Falcon 1, was the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit. Musk said the United States’ advancement in space travel has not matched other technologies, including communications and computing.
He said in 2012 he saw developing interplanetary space travel and landing someone on Mars as the ultimate adventure that the human race could achieve.
“We need a spaceship that can do interplanetary travel,” Musk said. “It’s about time.”
Musk's Mars Colonization Goals
SpaceX developed the Starship spacecraft, which the company describes as a fully reusable transportation system that is designed to carry crew and cargo to orbit the Earth, Mars and beyond. The rocket’s heat shield is designed to withstand several entries to Mars.
In addition to living out the adventure of establishing a sustainable interplanetary life system on Mars, Musk wrote on the SpaceX website that spacefaring civilization is “about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past.”
“I think people should generally have more of a positive attitude because that’s the underlying reality,” Musk said in 2012. “I think in the 21st century, we’ll see lots of exciting things happen. I think we’ll see the transformation and transportation and energy production. We’ll hopefully see a base on Mars and if SpaceX can help us make that transformation happen, I think it will enable enormous possibilities for who is able to go over there and create things on another planet."
DOGE
Musk was designated to oversee DOGE by President Donald Trump after Musk campaigned for Trump throughout his campaign for a second term in the White House.
The office was established to cut government spending, with Musk saying at the outset of DOGE’s formation that his goal was to cut as much as $2 trillion in annual federal spending.
After Trump took office in January, Musk made regular appearances in the Oval Office and promoted DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, which included plans to possibly eliminate entire federal agencies, including the Department of Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development and others.
Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration has led to criticism from some who maintain that he has too much influence and too much access to sensitive financial information.
"Elon is doing a great job, he's finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste,” Trump told reporters this month.