Introduction
He read A LOT and learned almost everything all his engineers knew.
Elon Musk is a favorite entrepreneur for many people and for me one of the billionaires I like to study. One of his “hacks” that caught my attention was his response to how he learned rocket science to build SpaceX when he wasn’t academically trained for this.
His response?
I read books. Yeah, lots and lots of books.”
If we browse through Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial journey, he has started completely different types of companies like PayPal, and SpaceX.
He says he worked with engineers in SpaceX day and night to design rockets. I am amazing, is that he has a great amount of computing power in his brain?
Learning Space and designing a rocket requires great skills and takes years of study.
How can he learn so many different skills to manage these companies?
Since Elon Musk was young, he could soak up information at a pace almost no one else could, he learned the entire programming language BASIC (or at least the course he had gotten when he was a child) in one night, while it was supposed to take 3 weeks.
This is just a small example of how Elon Musk’s genius memory works.
When he wanted to go into the rocket business, he first tried to buy rockets from people (mostly Russian because they were cheaper) to go to execute his ideas for the Mars mission.
Though this all seemed too expensive he flew back to the United States with his companions. When they landed, he announced the idea of building the rocket himself, as he researched what parts were needed, calculated the costs in a spreadsheet, and came to the conclusion he could do it a lot cheaper than it was to buy a rocket.
He showed this to his more experienced companion, and it seemed to be almost perfectly right.
He then started trying to figure out how it worked so he read a lot of books about Rockets, and how the engineering worked, by this time he was becoming almost as knowledgeable as your average engineer in about every significant area.
When SpaceX was launched, he hired some of the most talented college grads and also some more experienced engineers, and he started to build the rocket.
While on the working floor he would regularly ask an engineer to completely explain what he was doing, why he was doing it and every single piece of theory behind it, he would sometimes ask questions for hours.
This, combined with the extreme pace and quality at which Elon Musk can absorb information and use it right away, makes him very qualified in almost every engineering discipline.
How much time did Elon Musk take to teach himself rocket science
Well – he already had a degree in physics (and another in economics)…and had spent years becoming a good computer programmer.
He claims that he learned from just three textbooks – all of which I just happen to have on my bookshelf right now…because I was skeptical that it was possible to learn all that from just those books.
The 9th edition was published in 2022 and costs $130 – so I went to eBay and managed to get the older edition for $20.)
What I can tell you about these books is that IF you are a good deal more comfortable with multiple-page-long differential equations than I am – then I could quite believe that anyone with a degree in Physics could work on a rocket design after digesting them all.
“Ignition” is a relatively easy read – and describes every known liquid rocket fuel along with alarming details of who lost which body parts in the ensuing explosions!
The other two are probably the two most indigestible books I’ve ever encountered – and my math is nowhere CLOSE to being strong enough to get through either one of them at more than a very superficial level of understanding.
Strictly, only “Rocket Propulsion Elements” is needed for designing the engine and such – but “Fundamentals of Astrodynamics” is required reading if you ever want to get it into the right orbit – or to go to the Moon or Mars.
Rocket Propulsion Elements is something of a “bible” for rocket designers – which is why it’s gone through 9 editions – and is updated every 4 or 5 years.
But, Elon Musk is a genius – he doubtless got enough math during Physics and Economics degrees to cope with the two harder books – and I assume that he could afford the latest editions!
How much time did Elon Musk take to teach himself rocket science?
From what I have found about one year before SpaceX’s start in 2002 on top of whatever he the first account of spaces was in August 2021 when he phoned a friend Jim Cantrell to tell about this planetary species idea he had he borrowed all of Cantrell college text on Rocket propulsion they started working together in 2001 musk has said to have self-thought.
what are the books that Elon Musk used to self-study rocket science?
the books that he borrowed from me but never returned are
. Rocket propulsion Elements by George p. sutton ‘oscar Biblarz
. Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Roger R Bate Donald D. Mueller Jerry. E white Hopkins h
Elements of propulsion Gas turbines and Rocket by Mattingly H. von ohain
Conclusion
Elon Musk’s remarkable journey from novice to space industry disruptor with SpaceX underscores the power of vision, determination, and continuous learning. His impact on space exploration and technology is profound, setting a new standard for what’s achievable in aerospace innovation.