Pioneering Mars (1 Viewer)

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A million people in 40 to 100 years: SpaceX unveils plan to colonize Mars | The Planetary Society

Musk's plans are so ambitious, they nearly defy analysis. Of all the modern private space firms claiming they will ferry tourists to orbit, mine asteroids and set up commercial space stations, SpaceX may stand alone in its ability to present such a staggeringly audacious plan and still be taken seriously. Even NASA might raise more objections if it were to drop an equally zealous version of its current Journey to Mars plans.

Put simply, Musk wants to colonize Mars. Humanity, he believes, must become an interplanetary species before some future calamity wipes our presence from the Earth.

Whereas NASA's humans-to-Mars plans envision an Antarctica-like research station with a rotating crew of astronauts, Musk wants to have a million people there in 40 to 100 years. He stopped short of saying he wanted to terraform the planet, but frequently alludes to the possibility; SpaceX's new video on its Mars transportation system ends by showing the Red Planet spinning into an Earth-like orb.

I hope to live long enough to see it start.
 
Hopefully he'll do the right thing and leave religion and politics behind on Earth. No sense in messing up another planet with all that drivel.
 
can we get a better word?
we're not so good with the colonizing
also is that an appropriate term since this is most likely a one way ticket?

all that being SJWed - pretty cool...Dave
 
It's a grand vision but NASA stands in the way. Right now most of SPACE X's revenues come from NASA launch contracts. SPACE X wants to develop hardware and a Mars mission plan that is way ahead of NASA's Mars timeline. NASA will not allow that, nor will the US Congress. At some point SPACE X will have to look elsewhere for the substantial billions it will need to fund this vision (i.e. foreign governments or very wealthy donors)
 
I don't mean that they will intentionally get in the way, but if Musk want's to leapfrog NASA then he's going to have to develop other revenue streams because continuing to use NASA for launch contracts is not going to cut it. NASA has it's own hardware development and mission plans for Mars. I don't see them or congress redirecting resources to SPACE X.

Yeah, wrong choice of words at the beginning there.
 

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