Moonraker and Musk: A Modern-Day Engineer and Visionary Channels the Intensity of a Bond Villain

I mean no disrespect to Elon Musk when I write this, but there are aspects of his persona that remind me of the archetypal Bond villain: exceptionally smart, restless and driven, with an unwavering confidence in the scale of what he wants to do and (in the case of Musk) ultimately does. Consider some of the most iconic bad guys of Ian Fleming’s well-known fictional series: Dr. No, outwardly serene, but with the knack to bend metal with a tweak of his hands, nearly succeeds in redirecting U.S. guided nuclear missiles; Sir Hugo Drax of Moonraker fame plans to use the giant Moonraker shuttle to snuff out civilization and create a new race. (Fortunately, 007 alters the missile’s coordinates just in the nick of time.) The intense, single-minded brilliance of genius minds is combined with the malevolent intentions of characters only fiction can create. Bond villains don’t intend to take over just a community, but the world. The Dr. Nos of this planet will reshape things as they like, and the scope and scale of their ambitions is of a kind rarely seen.

Of course, there is one critical difference between these evil characters and Elon Musk: Elon’s ambition is to alter humanity’s trajectory in a decidedly positive direction. He means to replace the use of fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources, create an electric car that everyone wants and can afford, and make interplanetary voyages accessible to ordinary people. Many believe he has the genius and track record to pull it off. At a Tesla-SolarCity rally showcasing a suburban solar house outfitted with Tesla Powerwall, solar shingles and electric car, the crowd is ecstatic. One devotee in the crowd shouts to a cheering mob, “Save us, Elon!” (See the August 2017 issue of Fast Company for an interesting article on Musk, The Real Story Behind Elon Musk’s $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity, by Austin Carr.)

The Stuff of Dreams

Several years ago, on a day when local traffic was especially maddening, my son suggested we build our own private underground tunnel system. I laughed at the notion then, but now that Musk is experimenting with subterranean tunnel systems and mass travel at hypersonic speeds via Hyperloop pods (his “fifth mode of transport”), all designed to circumvent the world’s most congested highways, I stand corrected. The ideas that strike us as the stuff of science fiction (or a 007 movie), Musk considers necessary and achievable. Hyperloop is the latest sensation to energize the masses and the media. In 2012, the first conceptual designs for Hyperloop pods were revealed by SpaceX and Tesla engineers. Unlike most inventors, Musk didn’t stake a claim on the idea but welcomed further innovation and experimentation. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the Hyperloop refers to a pressurized passenger capsule able to levitate above the track on air bearings in airtight steel tubes (either above or below ground), ultimately traveling with minimal friction at speeds of 760 mph or greater.

Multiple academic teams and several companies are working on making the Hyperloop concept workable. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) released in fall 2018 a slick and “smart” (due to multiple sensors monitoring capsule safety) Hyperloop pod. Virgin Hyperloop One’s pods reached speeds of 240 mph with magnetic levitation, the fastest pod yet; the company has reportedly entered into multiple agreements for feasibility studies and Hyperloop routes between major cities.

Musk’s Boring Company continues to dig test tunnels and get a mix of media attention. The tunnel system would propel autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) and Tesla cars presumably from city to city at speeds of 155 mph without the delays and hassles associated with typical traffic routines. Even if you have reservations about Musk, his occasional head-scratching tweet, and his vision, you can’t deny that Musk is a go-getter and a true revolutionary. He is equipped with the intelligence and business know-how to trigger major changes in how we function as a civilization.

Ambition Paired with the Skill to Pull it Off

But when did the marvel that is Musk become a real thing? Musk’s success with PayPal and his $180 million payout in 2002 established Musk’s reputation as a Silicon Valley success story. But Musk’s story takes an unexpected detour at this point. Musk sets his sights on remaking a seemingly impenetrable industry: aerospace. The likelihood of success seemed miniscule. In the early years of Space Exploration Technologies (aka Space X) rockets failed regularly and a massive amount of capital was lost in the process. But by the time Falcon I successfully launches in 2008, only 6 years after the company is founded, the big kinks have been ironed out. Space X now spits out new versions of rockets and engines as frequently as Microsoft releases software updates. When Falcon 9 first flew in 2011, its lift capacity was 10.5 tons. Now in 2019, Falcon Heavy can lift 70 tons into space, a 7-fold improvement.

Space X now regularly travels into space for a host of international clients, principally to service satellites and return cargo to earth. The ultimate goal, however, appears to be grander than that. The Dragon spacecraft, equipped to carry passengers, was delivered into orbit in 2012 by the reusable two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon Heavy successfully launched into orbit on Feb. 6, 2018, with a bit of Musk’s mischief in tow. Musk’s red Tesla roadster, complete with Starman passenger, is deep in space some 200 million miles from Earth. Forget the hum-drum government contracts of years past or the Soviet-age hardware that went along with it. Musk is on his way to mastering space travel for ordinary folk and Hugo Drax of Moonraker fame is left squarely in the dust.

The Makings of Musk

Musk was born in South Africa to a family of risk-takers. His great-grandfather on his mother’s side was born in the plains of Saskatchewan, Canada, and when he was not riding broncos or boxing, he was flying his family around the world in a small plane. A side note: many of these trips to Asia or Europe brought the family to the brink of complete disaster.

Early on, Musk had an acute interest in electric cars, rockets and alternative energy. His end goal was to reach the United States and he left South Africa for Canada at the age of 17. After attending school in Canada, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 19 where he majored in economics and physics. His papers reveal an on-going interest in solar power and alternative means of energy storage, particularly through ultracapacitors. While Musk is an engineer, he is also a great practical thinker with a keen sense for how to motivate the average consumer. Case in point: How do you get people to choose electric cars over gas engines? You make the cars hip, cheap, and practical with charging stations on every corner.

The World Is Not Enough

The ability to trigger massive change in consumer habits is key if you want to save the planet. The individual that succeeds in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and introduces sustainability to other aspects of daily life would be remarkable indeed. And Musk’s ambition to address a person’s fundamental needs — a home, a means of transportation, a source of cheap power-in the context of scrubbing out humanity’s carbon footprint is rare. His vision is other-worldly and his drive continues to remind me of the singular intensity of Dr. No or Auric Goldfinger. But the comparison ends there; Musk is in a league of his own.

References

Vance, Ashlee (2015). Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, N.Y.