Elon Musk discusses Mars colonization, says SpaceX will need spacecraft back

Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of the Space Exploration Center, has always dreamed of making life multi-planetary by building a fleet of reusable starships to enable humans to build the first colony on Mars "Mars Base Alpha".

Musk recently sat down with MIT artificial intelligence researcher Lex Friedman to discuss a variety of topics. Musk mentioned during the conversation that builders of Mars colonies will have the opportunity to return to Earth. "What do you think is the most difficult aspect of building a civilization on Mars, from an engineering perspective, from a financial perspective, from a human perspective." ... Friedman asked, in order for many people there to never Will return to Earth, Musk replied: "No." ... They can return to Earth, some will return... We need return spacecraft, just like the spacecraft that went to Mars, we need them to come back.

Friedman also asked him if he had a specific plan on how to build the Red Planet... Musk responded: "If you can't get there, there's nothing else." "We can't get there at a particularly high cost." The current cost of a ton on the surface of Mars, for example, is $1 billion. . He explained that the cost is very high because the starship car requires a lot of advanced technology, such as long-range communication systems, heat shields, life support systems, etc. ...which is clearly too expensive to create a self-sufficient civilization.

So we need to increase it by at least a thousand factors," Musk said. "Ideally, it would be less than $1 million per ton. "Engineers are working on developing a stainless steel starship capable of carrying its own mass plus at least 100 tons of cargo into orbit. "The great filter will pass as long as cities on Mars can survive, even if spacecraft stop coming for any reason." "...if they don't come for any reason, are they going to die? If a key ingredient is missing, then it still doesn't matter, like, you're on a long sea voyage and you get everything but Vitamin C.. "It's just a matter of time, you know, you're going to die. "We've got to get Mars City to the point where it's self-sufficient, and I'm not sure if that's actually going to happen in my lifetime, but I'd like to see it at least in a big way. motivation. "Making Mars somewhat habitable for humans and plants will be a huge challenge, and the resources and materials to build habitats and factories will need to be transported by starship to ensure survival."

Musk has previously stated that if astronauts can launch the first Mars colonists sometime within 5 to 10 years, and continue to launch cargo and cargo to every red planet with a synchronized Earth-Mars orbit, Humans, this happens every 26 months, so by 2050, humans will be able to have a self-sufficient Mars colony. To achieve this, Musk said, the pace of innovation would need to increase significantly to achieve it in our lifetimes. He has stated multiple times that this is the main reason he is amassing assets on Earth, where he hopes to fund human expansion to the Red Planet. Space Exploration plans to build at least 1,000 reusable starships in the next 20 years. The company is preparing to test a prototype of the spacecraft in Boca Chica Beach, Texas; it will conduct orbital flight tests to provide engineers with insights to advance the development of the rocket ship. Musk's goal is to have a starship ready to complete manned missions to orbit and the moon in 2023/2024, and to complete the first mission to Mars in 2026.