Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, on Tuesday revealed his plan to send humans to Mars, the red planet. At the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk disclosed his plans for an “interplanetary transport system,” according to a report in CNBC.
Musk Wants To Make Humanity “Multiplanetary”
In the past, Musk has said that started SpaceX to make humanity “multiplanetary.” In his address in Mexico, he added that the goal of SpaceX’s planned missions to Mars is to turn humans into a “multiplanetary species.”
SpaceX plans to build a ship for to take humans to Mars. The ship would be able to transport about 100 people and enough cargo to build self-sustaining colonies on the planet.
According to the report, Mars, also known as the red planet, is suitable for human colonization due to the familiar length of the Martian day (24.5 hours), gravity, and the availability of resources, such as nitrogen for growing plants.
But, Mars mission very dangerous and risky
Musk warned that the risk of fatality would be very high for the first mission to Mars. You can become part of the first mission if you are prepared to die.
He said that wants to go to the International Space Station and to Mars himself. But, “I have to make sure if something goes wrong on the flight and I die there’s a good succession plan and the mission of the company continues.”
One of the biggest challenges is funding. Traveling to Mars would be extremely expensive. Funding will come from private sector and government investors, profits from servicing the international space station and launching satellites. Also, Musk plans to use his own money for this project. “The reason I am personally accumulating assets is to fund this,” Musk said.
Musk believes that the cost “ultimately could drop below $100,000” per person for traveling to Mars.
When humans going to Mars
According to Musk, a crewed mission could land on Mars in 10 years, “if things go super well.”
Under the plan, the ship will leave every 26 months, when the distance between Earth and Mars is closest. As per Musk’s estimate, it would take 40-100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining civilization on Mars.
SpaceX plans to launch its first unscrewed mission to Mars in 2018.