Elon Musk wants to put a MILLION people on Mars by 2050 using ‘1,000-strong Starship fleet’
KOOKY Billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to send a million people to Mars by 2050.
The South African tech mogul, 48, says passengers will ride aboard giant spacecraft built by his rocket-making company, SpaceX.
In a series of tweets earlier this month, Musk outlined how the plans would open up space travel to anyone, regardless of their income.
"Needs to be such that anyone can go if they want, with loans available for those who don't have money," he wrote.
Musk's plan involves building a 1,000-strong fleet of a new type of SpaceX rocket dubbed Starship.
The machine is yet to embark on a single test flight, but promises to be the world's most powerful rocket if SpaceX can get it off the ground.
Looking a bit like a 164ft silver bullet, the shiny craft is designed to blast cargo and people to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
According to Musk, SpaceX aims to build 1,000 Starships at a facility in South Texas over a 10-year period.
That's 100 rockets per year – a pretty tall feat considering the firm hasn't built a single functioning Starship yet.
Eventually, the Tesla boss added, the goal would be to launch 1,000 Starship flights to Mars every year – an average of three per day.
Each trip would see 100 passengers make their way to the Red Planet to become citizens of a Mars megacity.
Musk was a little vague on what, exactly, colonists would do once they got there. "There will be a lot of jobs on Mars!" he tweeted.
SpaceX says Starship's first (unmanned) flight will take place sometime this year.
The company, based in Hawthorne, California, is currently racing through various safety and engine tests to get the rocket ready.
Based on Musk's projections, it would take a fleet of 1,000 Starships around nine years to carry a million people to Mars.
That's assuming the company really does manage to send up 300 people a day, of course.
When you add the ten years required to build the fleet, the scheme needs to begin within the next decade to have any chance of meeting Musk's 2050 target.
He didn't specify what each rocket would need to carry, but a trunk-full of food, water, fuel and life support systems is a given.
"Megatons per year to orbit are needed for life to become multiplanetary," Musk tweeted.
The first Starship prototype could launch as early as March.
"First flight is hopefully two to three months away," Musk tweeted on December 27.
He added that the first manned trips could liftoff later this year – though the company has a mountain of safety tests to clear between now and then.
TOP STORIES IN SCIENCE
In other news, Elon Musk today launched another 60 SpaceX "internet satellites" despite fears the firm is cluttering Earth's orbit.
Nasa has revealed the design of a moon lander that could be taking astronauts back to the lunar surface by 2024.
The space agency also recently released an unusual image of the 'death explosion' of a massive star that looks just like a bat.
Do you Elon Musk will pull off his bonkers plot? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]