What drives you every day?
“Quest to understand the Universe…”
— Elon Musk, 3 November 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Subjects / Astronomy
Astronomy
20 answers
Are the hardest problems physics problems or engineering problems?
“The future light cone of discoveries rounds up to 100% engineering, as the set of physics rules that govern our reality is very tiny compared to what can be done with those rules. The reason I didn’t choose a career in physics, my favorite subject, is that I would be stuck waiting for a new collider or telescope. Better to advance technologies that ultimately enable discovery of new physics.”
— Elon Musk, 2 October 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
When will Starship be fully and rapidly reusable?
“Looks like we will probably catch the ship with the tower in a few months. If there had been a tower out to sea where we practiced landing the ship, it would have been caught. First reflight of the ship will be either end of this year or early next. That will be a fork in the road of history for consciousness reaching the stars.”
— Elon Musk, 20 August 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Could a space-based AI constellation help regulate Earth's climate?
“Yes. It would only take tiny adjustments to prevent global warming or global cooling for that matter. Earth has been a snowball may times in the past.”
— Elon Musk, 3 November 2025 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why build Grokipedia?
“We are building Grokipedia @xAI. Will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia. Frankly, it is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.”
— Elon Musk, 30 September 2025 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What do you most want to know?
“We cannot understand the true nature of the Universe, unless we question deeply. I want to know what is real, even if the answer is total obliteration of my consciousness.”
— Elon Musk, 8 September 2025 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why is Mars “life insurance”?
“That’s one of the benefits of Mars, is life insurance for life collectively… So, eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun. The sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multiplanet civilization, because Earth will be incinerated.”
— Elon Musk, May 2025 · Space.com ↗ · In the archive
What’s the meaning of life?
“We should expand the scope and scale of consciousness, whether silicon or carbon, to understand the universe…”
— Elon Musk, 17 September 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Is Hubble still enough, or do we need a bigger telescope?
“Hubble is cool, but there needs to be a new visible spectrum space telescope with far larger aperture”
— Elon Musk, 16 September 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What drives you / what is the meaning of life?
“For me, it’s like, what’s the meaning of life, or understanding the nature of the universe, is of great interest to me, and hopefully to the AI.”
— Elon Musk, 3 August 2024 · Watch: Elon Musk: Neuralink and the Future of Humanity | Lex Fridman Podcast #438 · 14:50 ↗ · In the archive
What is the West fighting for?
“Good question. I think civilization in general should seek to increase consciousness and explore the stars, in order to understand the Universe.”
— Elon Musk, 27 July 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Is phosphorus rare in the universe?
“Good point. Fortunately, we have a lot of phosphorus on Earth! It is one of the main elements in LFP lithium batteries.”
— Elon Musk, 24 November 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What are you most hopeful for, for the future of humanity?
“That we extend consciousness to the stars and understand the Universe”
— Elon Musk, 27 March 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Do you believe in God?
“I would say I generally agree with the teaching of Christianity, but I’m not religious… I’ve never been particularly religious. Something created the universe, or the universe is here.”
— Elon Musk, August 2022 · Watch: Full Send Podcast video (2:26:34) ↗ · In the archive
Why is more consciousness good? Clams seem happy.
“Consciousness can understand the nature of the Universe. Clams, not so much.”
— Elon Musk, 8 July 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Could a deep-space Starship double as a space probe?
“Yeah, that would be cool. Also, using ship itself as structure for new giant telescope that’s >10X Hubble resolution. Was talking to Saul Perlmutter (who’s awesome) & he suggested wanting to do that.”
— Elon Musk, 7 July 2021 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why so many memes?
“Who controls the memes, controls the Universe”
— Elon Musk, 26 June 2020 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
How will you handle the communication dead spot on the far side of the Moon?
“Yeah, Starlink should be active by then”
— Elon Musk, 18 September 2018 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why solar?
“People talk about fusion and all that, but the sun is a giant fusion reactor in the sky. It’s really reliable. It comes up every day. If it doesn’t, we’ve got bigger problems.”
— Elon Musk, 15 July 2017 · Watch: Interview video ↗ · In the archive
On using the sun as a fusion plant
“…if you just took a small section of Spain you could power all of Europe…”
— Elon Musk, 2 December 2015 · Watch: Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne · 31:39 ↗ · In the archive