The secret behind Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company and Neuralink.
Like him or hate him, Elon Musk has changed society and the world as we know it. He currently owns and/or primarily runs SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, and Neuralink which all push the bounds of technology and are reshaping their respective industries. On the surface, these companies appear to be simply the random eccentric interests of a brilliant billionaire and are not connected in any way beyond the common link to their founder. But if you look a little deeper… piece together what Elon has said and what his stated goals are… It becomes clear that the secret is they are all really one company.
While legally all of the companies are separate, the truth is that Elon Musk has created an enterprise that can support designing and building all of the key pieces needed to travel to and colonize Mars. The technology his companies are designing serve two symbiotic purposes:
1. Create next generation technology that will facilitate a Mars mission/base.
2. To generate revenue to fund more development and innovation which funds further technological development and refinement.
Before we get into how all of these seemingly different companies are all actually serving one purpose, let’s look at the genesis of Elon’s passion and the influences that shaped his plans for Mars.
The legendary Sci-Fi writer Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series describes mankind saving itself from destruction through colonizing multiple worlds. The series spans thousands of years and shows how over a vast period of time the rise and fall of civilization is cyclical and that the only way to prevent a catastrophic loss of the human race is to spread humans across the galaxy. This series notably made a profound impact on Elon as a young man. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, he recounted that “the lesson I drew from [the “Foundation” saga] is you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one.”
Foundation forged Elon’s desire to “backup humanity” as he calls it by creating the means to colonize other worlds and make humanity multi-planetary. The specific plan to accomplish this didn’t come from Science fiction, but from a Mars enthusiast who was trying to convince NASA since the 1990s that a Mars mission was science fact. In 2001, Elon Musk met Dr. Robert Zubrin, engineer, President of the Mars Society and author of the revolutionary “Mars Direct” plan. This mission proposal focused heavily “in situ” or on site resource utilization/production and utilized resources on Mars to essentially live off the land. This philosophy is grounded in the historical precedent set by multiple successful explorers who survived extreme environments and conquered the impossible by traveling light and living off the land. A Mars mission designed this way drops the cost and required resources by several orders of magnitude. In 2001 Dr. Zubrin convinced Elon of the merits of this plan and a year later Elon sold his stake in PayPal and started SpaceX in 2002 and then Tesla in 2003. The rest as they say is history.
So how do all of these companies connect to each other? If you have read the blog we wrote on “the critical six” we identified six critical factors that the original NASA “Case for Mars”1986 point paper, and Dr. Zubrin’s Mars Direct plan both agree are needed. These include Human Factors (the Plan, People and Politics), transportation, on site resources, power, shelter and communications. Elon’s range of companies have nearly all of these covered.
Let’s break it down.
SpaceX:
Space Transportation: SpaceX is currently creating the necessary technology to transport humans to space and Mars through the Starship program. Key factors are the ability to launch and land ensuring re-usability and designing the Raptor engines to use Methane which can be made from CO2 and Hydrogen (both which are available on Mars) through the Sabatier reaction.
Communications: The Starlink system developed by SpaceX covers communication on Mars and even the comms relay back to earth. The equivalent of one Falcon 9’s cargo capacity of these compact satellites could provide real time broadband streaming comms for an expanded Mars base mission area. Additionally the innovative laser interlink system SpaceX is developing will allow it to directly transmit high speed data back to earth minimizing relay lag time. NASA started testing this type of system in 2021 and projected that it would increase long range data transmission rates by up to 100x.
Tesla:
Ground Transportation: A Tesla is literally the worlds most advanced moon buggy and the reason the Cybertruck looks like it is from out of this world… is that it was designed for exactly that purpose. When the prototype was initially displayed many questioned why Tesla would build a vehicle rated to be nearly bullet proof. The answer is Mars. The only reason to use the same nearly indestructible steel as on Starship in the Cybertruck body and to develop bullet proof windows is if you intended to put it in one of the harshest environments known to man – the surface of Mars.
Power: The 2016 Tesla acquisition of SolarCity has allowed Tesla to develop all of the solar power generating capabilities any Mars base will need and the Tesla Powerwall power storage system has proven that it can support an entire power grid in Australia– so a relatively small base on Mars is no problem. These systems cover all of the necessary power requirement for the base.
Building the base: As we mentioned in the article “For the love of Robots; a Mars Base needs Tesla’s Optimus” the out of left field “Teslabot” makes complete sense if you view it from the perspective of a Mars colony. Tesla has developed some incredible software allowing their vehicles to drive nearly autonomously. Tesla claims this same tech will allow its robots to function autonomously. IF they are able to create a robot to the specs they are claiming, it will enable them to land dozens if not hundreds of robots years before human missions to Mars and have the robots setting up the necessary solar panels, sabatier reactors (for methane production), shelters etc. A remote workforce comprised of Optimus robots could literally be the factor that tips the scales making a Mars base possible.
The Boring Company:
Mars has one big vulnerability that will dramatically impact any human explorer – no protective electromagnetic field like our van Allen radiation belt to stop solar radiation from frying us. The simplest way to build a shield is simply to dig…. Mars surface rock/dirt is more than adequate to keep astronauts protected from solar radiation and the elements – especially if you are living in a cozy tunnel dug by a Boring Company PRUFROCK tunnel digging machine custom designed for the red planet. While I’m sure the tunnel for the Las Vegas Convention Center here on earth was an excellent test of the technology, its true purpose is for Mars. The Boring Company imagery and specs indicate that the machine is ~50 ft. long by 12 ft. wide which is about 60% of the available space in Starship’s payload bay ensuring it can be transported to Mars. Tunnels provide safety from radiation/the elements and come with the added benefit that with a little spray sealant or plastic liner they are also easy to pressurize providing a shirt sleeve environment for Mars settlers to live. Recent studies of the Moon show that temperatures hold steady at a very comfortable 63 degrees Fahrenheit in lunar tunnels despite the even more harsh surface conditions there. This is excellent news for a Mars tunnel.
High Speed Transportation: In April 2022 Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter that the Boring Company would begin working on their version of the “Hyperloop.” This high speed transportation concept should work exceptionally well in Mars low atmospheric pressure and would allow the Boring Company to essentially create hundreds of miles of underground tunnels to far away bases all connected by high speed hyperloop transports. This technology would change Mars from a series of isolated bases into an interconnected society across the red planet.
Neuralink and Twitter (if the sale goes through) are honestly the outliers.
For Neuralink, there is no direct tie in with the original Mars Direct plan, but a case can be made that this tech will further allow Mars settlers to use Tesla and SpaceX tech with greater speed while simultaneously accessing all of the intellectual resources they need to build a colony from scratch.
Likewise, Twitter doesn’t naturally fit either but MAY serve as the rudimentary foundation of a digital public discourse forum. IF Elon is considering not only the technology needed to build a Mars base but also the human aspects involving politics and socio-economics of a society on Mars, then a form of public discourse will be needed. It is far too early to say if a future version of Twitter could do this so we will have to wait and see how this evolves (if it evolves).
The truly phenomenal part about all of these interlinking plans is that while many of these things are truly destined for Mars, they will first enrich our lives and thrill us here on Earth… And of course make a few billion dollars in the process which in turn funds more development until ultimately the Mars missions and a permanent human presence on Mars are a reality.