Elon Musk’s Plan To Colonize Mars
Elon Musk’s Mars trip may sound like something out of a science fiction novel, but the billionaire’s vision is rapidly becoming a reality. In that case, it will be the most ambitious and expensive project in history, costing up to 10 trillion dollars.
In today’s article, we’re looking at Elon Musk’s timeline to colonizing Mars. The initial idea of Musks to get men to Mars started way back in 2002 when he was selling PayPal.
What’s next?
After noticing that no one was interested in the Mars exploration space program, Musk started working silently to make the journey possible instead of being discouraged. The initial idea was to send a small greenhouse to Mars packed with dehydrated nutrient gel that rehydrated to grow small house plants on arrival.
Cheapest Rocket
The cheapest U.S made Rockets were 65 million dollars. Russian-made ones would have been much cheaper at 20 million dollars, but with 1960s technology and questionable reliability.
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Mars Mission
So the mission to Mars became more about improving rocket technology, making it more efficient and cost-effective. The end goal is to get people to the destination and hopefully get back to it. Everything that SpaceX has done to date has very much been paving the road to Mars.
The countless satellite launches and rocket technology developments have instilled confidence in delivering his vision. The Starship will be the first-ever fully reusable rocket and bring things into space, beating other satellites.
The Starship will also lay the Foundation for Musk’s plans to replace traditional airplane travel with rockets. He said that using reusable launchers and passenger rockets, you can fly anywhere in the world in around 30 minutes at the regular economy plan ticket price.
When will SpaceX send the first rocket?
2022 will be the absolute earliest year that SpaceX reaches Mars. Musk would like to send at least two crewless ships to the Red Planet, carrying up to 100 tons of power, mining, and life support infrastructure for future flights. It will be SpaceX’s first commercial passenger flight. And its success would be farewell with cautious onlookers who question the place of rocket technology in passenger travel.
If the 2022 plans for Mars do not go ahead, which is probable, 2024 will be the ideal moment for a second attempt at sending the first mass bound shuttles of cargo.
Suppose SpaceX successfully sends the two ships to Mars. In that case, the next step is to make rocket fuel by combining Martian ice, water, and carbon dioxide, creating methane and liquid oxygen, aka rocket propellant.
Plan of establishing cities on Mars
2025 is the earliest year that Musk believes his Mars colony will start to take shape. The lead Mars development engineer for SpaceX explained that the idea would be rapid expansion, start with a village, a town growing into a city, and then hopefully multiple cities.
The 2026 year will likely see more ships sent to Mars than ever and expected virtual infrastructure and permanent habitable places popping up on Mars. Hopefully, have a fully-fledged city by 2050.
Musk strongly believes that he will have some settlement on the Red Planet by the end of this decade. And that in his lifetime, there’s a 70% chance he’ll make a personal visit himself.
Cost
Musk stated that establishing a city on Mars within the next three decades could cost anywhere between 100 billion to 1 trillion U.S dollars. The finance calculations are around the thinking that a city on Mars would require the transport of 1 million tons of cargo. A low estimate of 100,000 dollars per ton is how we get to the 100 billion dollars.
Development of materials, endless amounts of testing, licensing, insurances, all of these things cost money. And money that will indefinitely play a significant part on the suggested bottom line.
Ten trillion dollars is an almost unimaginable amount of money and would make the venture the most expensive construction project in human history.
This is the most expensive project in history but doesn’t seem to bother Musk in the slightest. Maybe he has some hidden tricks up the sleeve that will lend him a pretty return.
The proposed cost of a ticket to Mars is around 250,000 dollars. You can sell your home and buy yourself a new life on Mars in 2050. 🙂
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