His plans of building a city in Mars may seem outlandish, but billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial space-travel start-up SpaceX just received a $1 billion infusion from Google and Fidelity Capital to build a network of satellites that will provide high-speed internet access anywhere on earth. And the proceeds from the venture are likely to be pumped into this Mars mission.
Musk’s assertion - “One day, I will visit Mars” , cannot be written off as science fiction. He’s the founder of wildly successful companies – payment service provider PayPal and electric sports car maker Tesla. SpaceX, the company he founded in 2002 with the goal of enabling people to live on other planets, has flown nearly 50 missions and holds contracts with NASA for delivery services to the International Space Station.
Cutting edgeMusk also has grandiose plans for a 1,300-km per hour rapid transit system, called a ‘Hyperloop’. This is getting closer to reality with the announcement that Musk will build a test track in Texas for companies and student teams to test their own design pods for the project. Earlier, the idea hit a stumbling block over the estimated $6 billion cost for a line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Musk was also in the news for his $10 million contribution to a project on artificial intelligence safety, quipping, “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an I (sic)” on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Tesla has also unveiled plans for new generation electric car charging stations, which involve a cable like a snake that would automatically attach itself to a parked vehicle.