According to Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, colonizing Mars will not be easy. Life on Mars will be no piece of cake.
“It’s very important to emphasize that Mars, especially in the beginning, will not be luxurious,” Musk said in a video interview with Chris Anderson. He is the head of TED conferences.
“It will be dangerous, cramped, difficult, hard work.”
The billionaire compared Mars recruitment efforts to an ad for a mission to Antarctica with explorer Ernest Shackleton from the 1900s. The post has since proven to be a myth. It sought men eager to embark on a “hazardous journey” with the assurance that a safe return was “doubtful.”
“The sales pitch for going to Mars is, ‘It’s dangerous, it’s cramped. You might not make it back. It’s difficult, it’s hard work,'” Musk said.
It would be significantly more difficult to have a life on Mars, which has an average temperature of -80 degrees Fahrenheit than it would be to live in Antarctica, which has an average temperature of -70 degrees Fahrenheit.
The surface of Mars is rocky, with several volcanoes and canyons. The planet also has a gravity around one-third that of Earth. It has a thinner atmosphere that is unbreathable for humans. A human without specific equipment would die in minutes on Mars due to the planet’s low air pressure,
Musk intends to construct a full-scale city on Mars. Musk projected in 2019 that building a self-sustaining city on the planet would require one million tons of cargo. It is a process that would cost between $100 billion and $10 trillion.
The billionaire told Anderson that he hopes that those who colonize Mars will use the opportunity to “rethink society.”
“I think this is important for maximizing the probable life span for humanity or consciousness,” Musk told Anderson. “Human civilization could come to an end for external reasons like a giant meteor or super volcanoes or extreme climate change or World War III, or you know, any one of a number of reasons.”
The world’s richest man told Anderson that SpaceX would figure out a price threshold for future rockets to Mars. It would be pretty reasonable for most people. Also, he mentioned a hypothetical ticket price of $100,000 as an example.
SpaceX, Musk’s company, intends to construct a self-sustaining city in the next decades. The billionaire, though, informed Anderson that he expects to be “long-dead” before his wish comes true.
Musk then stated in 2020 that he aimed to build 1,000 Starships in ten years and bring one million people to Mars by 2050. He’s also predicted that the first human to set foot on Mars will arrive in 2029.
The SpaceX CEO told Anderson that he expects the Starship to make its first orbital launch “within a few months,” pending regulatory approval.
“Success is not guaranteed, but excitement certainly is,” Musk said.
