In this 2nd episode of our mini-series, we explore how Elon Musk puts his family’s motto into practice: “You can do anything, just decide it” with Béatrice Mathieu, senior reporter at L’Express, and author of the book-portrait “Elon Musk”, which comes out this week (published by Robert Laffont).
Listen to this episode and subscribe to La Loupe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict And Amazon Music.
The team: Xavier Yvon (writing and presentation), Ambre Rosala (editing), Jules Krot (directing).
Credits: Ecoplus YouTube channel, TED, CNET Highlights
Music and design: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Image credits: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain/Benjamin Chazal
How to listen to a podcast? Follow the leader.
Xavier Yvon: No, we haven’t teleported to Mars… but we’re getting close… With Béatrice Mathieu, senior reporter for L’Express, we’re on our way to the last stage on Earth before the red planet…
If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, the best thing is that you go and listen to the first episode of this double podcast dedicated to Elon Musk… you will learn how family heritage and South African childhood have shaped his personality …and allowed him to become one of the richest and best-known men on the planet…
And for the rest of our story, we teleported ourselves in this car which drives in the middle of a very flat and very empty landscape… where exactly are we Béatrice?
Beatrice Mathieu: All the way to the south of Texas… we almost skirt the Mexican border, which is on our right behind this moor there, you see, with cacti and yuccas, where coyotes and rattlesnakes live… on our left, the lagoon and if we continue straight ahead, we arrive at a beach on the Gulf of Mexico… but we will stop before… come on, let’s go down…
Xavier Yvon: Wow, it’s hot!
Beatrice Mathieu: And yet we are at the end of the day… it’s the best time to come here… The sun is going down, it gives a beautiful show, look how the raking light cuts out the shape of the Starship rockets…
Xavier Yvon: Ah yes it is impressive, they are gigantic!…. but we’re super close… we really have the right to be there Beatrice?
Beatrice Mathieu: Yes yes don’t worry, just don’t get too close to the fence, there we’ll be called to order… but look we’re not alone, you see these onlookers taking pictures of themselves… and then the girl there who is filming herself, she is a youtuber, she tells live every day what is happening here… it helps to maintain the legend of Musk.
Xavier Yvon: And what is “here” exactly?
Beatrice Mathieu: This is Starbase, the home base for Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets… the launch pad is a bit further… come on back in the car… Musk started buying up land here about ten years ago … that poses problems because we are in the middle of a protected area for its flora and fauna… and we are also on a sacred site of an Indian tribe… but that is not what will stop Elon Musk… and then the development of the Starbase, it also attracted a lot of investors, space start-ups who came to settle in the area, to be in the bosom of SpaceX, hoping to recover a piece of the cake…
And there you see these little houses we go along?
Xavier Yvon: Yes, they are all white and gray, on one level….
Beatrice Mathieu: It’s Boca Chica village… all the houses, except one, have been bought by SpaceX to house its employees… and Elon Musk does not want to stop there… he suggests that he is creating instead of Boca Chica, the “Starbase City”, Starbase-ville if you will… even if local officials think it’s fantasy, many imagine a futuristic city, the starting point for space expeditions… and the last stage is here… come on let’s go down…
Xavier Yvon: OK I see the sea, the beach… and in front of us: the famous launch pad… it looks damaged, say so…
Beatrice Mathieu: Yes it was because of the Starship launch last month… you know the mega rocket that exploded after a few minutes… it was a half-failed test flight for this craft which is supposed to take men to Mars …
Xavier Yvon: Oh yeah, we’ve all seen the pictures…
Beatrice Mathieu: That won’t stop Musk from doing it again… even though he’s under investigation by the Federal Aviation Agency…
I wanted us to come here, Xavier, because here we have before our eyes a summary of everything that drives Elon Musk forward: the obsession with Mars, a work organization like nowhere else and an unshakeable faith in science …
Xavier Yvon: Thank you for the ride Béatrice, I suggest we go back to the studio for the rest… and don’t worry, no risks with the teleporter, it works perfectly… hold on, you’re the one who’s going to press… just let me give the title of today’s podcast…
Episode 2: Muskism
For further
PODCAST. Inside Elon Musk’s head: the DNA of a family of adventurers (1/2)
PODCAST. Elon the Coherent
From Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos: when tech bosses saw “gurus”
Elon Musk, his latest projects for humanity
Starship: why the rocket explosion is not a failure
Welcome to Boca Chica, Elon Musk’s Martian delirium along the Mexican border