(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).

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk stands in front of the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, Calif., Nov. 21, 2019.

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.

Elon 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.”

Elon 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.

FILE- SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship prepares for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

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.”

Elon 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 and Donald Trump

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.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, joined by his son X, delivers remarks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11 in Washington, D.C. Trump signed an executive order implementing the Department of Government Efficiency’s “workforce optimization initiative,” which, according to Trump, will encourage agencies to limit hiring and reduce the size of the federal government. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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.

Elon Musk muses we’re living in a computer simulation: Author

Does the billionaire really believe we’re living in a computer simulation?

He’s at least considering the possibility, says the author of a new biography on Musk, the right-hand man of President Trump who increasingly is in the world spotlight.

“I think it started out as a thought experiment and debate,” Dennis Kneale, author of the newly released “The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk,” told “NewsNation Prime” on Saturday.

“Then he began to believe it more,” Kneale added. “I think it’s kind of being playful, but it also frees him to take huge risks that no other business executive would take. Because he thinks at some point, ‘What the heck, this could all be a game, anyway.’”

Kneale, former managing editor of Forbes, offered additional insights about Musk, including:

Musk’s desire to be universally loved, a goal that seems unrealistic given the pushback he’s receiving as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

“You’re guaranteed that half of the audience out there might bitterly resent you and dislike you, and that’s happening. But I think he believes he can win them over and show them that he means well,” the author said.

Musk’s desire to bedevil his enemies.

“Tease your critics and torture your enemies,” Kneale said of Musk’s philosophy. “And man, he’s having a ball right now.”

Musk’s strained relationship with his father, Errol. The two have not met since 2016, Kneale says.

“Their relationship still is not good. I can understand why the father is proud of him now, but I also understand how an absent father, a tough father, sometimes is far more motivating for someone than a father who is there for you all the time.”

Elon Musk shared Mars plan over drinks, Star Trek convo: Entrepreneur

Technology entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa, who has known Musk for 15 years, thought the tech billionaire perhaps had one too many drinks in 2012 when he shared his plans to retire on Mars.

“We were talking about Star Trek. He says ‘I’m gonna go to Mars,'” Wadhwa said during an appearance on “NewsNation Prime.” “He went on about how he plans to retire on Mars. I thought he was kidding with me. Later on, I realized he was dead serious. Elon doesn’t just dream, he makes things happen.”

Wadhwa believes the tech billionaire is the “greatest innovator in modern times,” comparing him to Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Nikola Tesla and Steve Jobs.

“We’ve read about them but couldn’t imagine meeting them. That’s Elon Musk,” Wadhwa said. “If they had Twitter, we’d have seen their faults — their good, bad, dark sides, and weirdness. That’s how geniuses are. That’s how Elon Musk is.” 

“He’s good and bad at the same time. Brilliant and dumb at the same time. He’s Elon Musk and he’s doing amazing things for humanity…”

Musk has made billions of dollars founding or investing in forward-thinking companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink. Musk credits his love of science fiction for pushing him to think creatively and be a bit of a disruptor when it comes to the status quo.

He 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.

“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.”