Elon Musk reportedly running an exclusive private school out of SpaceX's headquarters

Rank 2 | Elon R Musk | Company: SpaceX and Tesla | Net worth: $136 billion | YTD change: Gain by $108 billion (Image: Reuters)

A secret group called Ad Astra at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California is tackling flamethrowers, robots and defeating evil AIs for Elon Musk.

This group has an average age of 10 years and comprises of Elon Musk’s sons, children of select SpaceX employees, and a few high achievers from Los Angeles, studying in the most exclusive school in the city.

As per a report by ARS Technica, Ad Astra, the experimental non-profit school has been educating these children since 2014 when Musk pulled out his children from one of LA’s most prestigious private schools for gifted children.

The report quoted a previously unreported document filed with the IRS as saying, “Musk founded Ad Astra to exceed traditional school metrics on all relevant subject matter through unique project-based learning experiences.”

The atmosphere at Ad Astra is not like a traditional school. Here, the students take on challenging technical projects, trade using their own currency, and have the choice to opt out of subjects that don’t interest them. The children range from 7 to 14 years of age and have no formal assessments or grades handed out.

The principal of the prestigious school hopes that Ad Astra will revolutionise the way education is imparted to children. However, in a few years, Musk’s sons will reach the age of graduation. Post his children moving on, will he maintain his interest in Ad Astra? Or, will it remain a school for the already privileged children?

While Ad Astra has kept a really low profile and Musk has never mentioned about the school, it will be interesting to see how the future of this experimental school shapes up.