As far as I know, following what you said, and nobody taking interest; Elon decided he would do 'something' which he never disclosed. I am leaning towards actual involvement here:
> Brogan BamBrogan (Interim CEO, CTO, Co-Founder): Prior to Hyperloop, Brogan was an early team member at SpaceX where he saw firsthand the power of a truly bold vision.
Yes. He figured out that it was absolutely necessary for the future that he wanted to see, he started a company with his own finances and then had to be Chief Engineer at that company.
So, yes, he actually did figure out that it needed to be done and he lead the effort to do it.
I don't know why in every thread about Tesla/SpaceX people have to point out that other people work there. Nobody has ever denied it. Its just sensitive little flowers like yourself who deliberately it in a way so that you can make that comment.
From what I read his contribution to SpaceX is creation of an informal department of people to deal with his idea and deflecting them from being implemented while feeding elon's ego.
Its Elon. He has obviously also hired some very, very smart dedicated people, but undoubtedly he is making all the key decisions and also driving the project forward.
If you don't believe me, believe Tom Mueller - Ex SpaceX Propulsion CTO - He was with SpaceX from the very start and the Merlin (Falcon 9 engine) and early work on the Raptor (Starship engine) was him. Tom has commented in various articles and on his twitter (I'm too lazy to find a link) that Elon was 100% involved in the technical issues and design of everything, and knew his stuff. He has said this after leaving SpaceX too, so it not just don't-badmouth-the-boss going on there.
Yep, it seems Elon has also become a hard-right asshole in recent years. Maybe he always was?
Well the team seems to be comprised of some former engineers from SpaceX and the board has some deep pockets. Its possible they have connections to Musk and some insight on how to launch grandiose projects.
Seems like from the blogpost that the writer and the founder were part of the same cohort at SpaceX. I would hazard a guess that they became friends, and had planned to do this together, and he joined ("hired") as soon as feasible for him (or the founder gained enough traction to pull him away from SpaceX).
Interestingly, when talking about SpaceX, the CEO is almost always 'Elon' rather than 'Musk', and I'm sure there's some sort of point that could be made about that...
From what I understood SpaceX was founded by some brilliant engineers and Elon just became the poster boy with no actual engineering credentials. Undoubtedly he is business-savvy but it seems not that surprising managers who take credit for the engineers' work might thrive there.
I'd suggest anyone interested watch the series of EverydayAstronaut interviews with Elon at starbase. Or read interviews with past/current SpaceX engineers. He is definitely involved in the design and pushing the schedule hard. I don't understand the huge accreditation to him on either side though, obviously it's not just him working on it.
I work for the guy, and I don't think anyone who has worked closely with him would believe that SpaceX or Tesla would be anywhere near what they are without him. He is an extraordinary leader who is deeply involved with all of the engineering decisions that happen at both companies. You'd be very surprised at how much impact he has on fairly low level decisions.
> Brogan BamBrogan (Interim CEO, CTO, Co-Founder): Prior to Hyperloop, Brogan was an early team member at SpaceX where he saw firsthand the power of a truly bold vision.
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