SpaceX founder Elon Musk reveals revolutionary plan for establishing a human colony on Mars
Inventor shares details of his incredibly ambitious plan to fly one million people to self-sustainable colony on Mars
ELON Musk has outlined his plan to establish a human colony on Mars – for anyone who can afford the $200,000 (£153,000 GBP) ticket.
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday, the SpaceX founder shared his ambitious plan for colonisation.
His vision involves a fully reusable transportation system that would transport 100 people and take just 80 days to land on Mars.
According to Musk, travel time could eventually shrink to as little as 30 days.
The transportation system comprises a spaceship that is refuelled with methane and oxygen while in Earth orbit, as well as on Mars once it has landed.
Musk explained the $200,000 price could only be achieved with a reusable transportation system.
Elaborating on his vision, the engineer said a colony of one million people would be needed to make the plan self-sustainable – according to Musk’s calculations, this could take up to 100 years.
Speaking to the audience, Musk said: "I want to make Mars seem possible, something we can do in our lifetimes… and that anyone can go if they wanted too."
According to SpaceX’s timeline for Mars colonisation, the first flight to the planet could take place as soon as 2022.
The flight will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre pad 39 – the very same base the Apollo Moon missions launched from in 1961.
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The prototype spaceship looks set to make its first test flights in as little as four years – initially going into space, but not into orbit.
Musk announced that SpaceX conducted its first test of the Raptor rocket engine that will power the spaceship over the weekend, as well as the booster that puts it into orbit.
Combined, the booster and spaceship stand at a massive 122 metres – bigger than an Apollo-era moon programme Saturn V rocket.
Future versions of the spaceship could be large enough to accommodate up to 200 passengers.
Musk expects passengers to live in a communal space during the eighty-day trip, with movies, lectures and zero-gravity games on offer.
The spaceship’s development will be funded with the profits from SpaceX.
The entrepreneur sees the potential colonisation as a “huge public-private partnership,” and said, “that is how the United States was established.”
Spaceships to Mars would be sent every two years when Mars is closest to Earth.
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