Yesterday , Elon Muskrevealed his planto colonize Mars by sending 1 million people there by the ending of the century . That was a eldritch prison term to write .
It all sounds a bit crazy , and it is . There are a huge number of unknown , on the face of it insurmountable challenges , and so on . you’re able to consider all the slides from the presentationhere , a rematch of the live streamhere , and see an animation of the proposalhere .
So what do we know so far , and what are some of the striking questions about Musk ’s plan ? Let ’s take a feeling .
What did Musk reveal ?
A huge new skyrocket and starship that will take people to Mars , and perhaps other destinations like Europa and Enceladus , dubbed the Interplanetary Transport System ( ITS ) .
How big is the rocket ?
It ’s 122 meters ( 400 infantry ) marvelous , making it the biggest rocket in story . NASA ’s Saturn V , the current record holder , was 111 metre ( 364 feet ) . Musk ’s fomite will also be three and a half time more brawny .
How the Mars Vehicle compare to the Saturn V. SpaceX
How will it work ?
A spaceship laden with people will launch into Earth orbit . Here , it will dock with another ship sway fuel , and stemma up on say fuel . The former will then travel to Mars , journey through the air , and body politic vertically on the surface using pusher .
the great unwashed will then step out onto Mars and … do something . We do n’t know that part of things yet .
The rocket and spaceships are all designed to be reclaimable , saving on toll .
How long will it take to get there ?
As light as 80 days .
When will it launch ?
Musk optimistically says the first man launch will be as soon as 2024 , with the whole task taking 40 to 100 years to fill in . Unmanned practice launch willbegin in 2018with the Red Dragon space vehicle .
Who will go ?
Anyone . Each ship can take 100 people ( and later 200 ) to Mars . Musk envisions 10,000 launches to get 1 million the great unwashed there .
Why ?
To economise the human wash from extinction .
Uh , okay . Is this realistic ?
Depends who you require . SpaceX fanatics will say yes – Musk has acquire the society from nothing in 2002 to one of the reality ’s primary launch operator today .
Musk also revealed that 5 percent of SpaceX staff are already crop on this at the import , and they ’ve also developed therocket ’s engines(Raptor ) . He even showed off a prototype fuel tanker for the starship .
The prototype fuel tanker . SpaceX
Others , though , are a lot more cynical . capture to Mars is toilsome – really hard . There ’s a intellect humans have never blend .
apart from the money result , which is a freehanded one ( we ’ll do to that ) , the fact remains that we were n’t demo much more than pretty pictures and videos . This is a pipe dream at the second ; Musk was true about that .
But the theme of launching this in 10 year seems a bit preposterous . The Eruca sativa has n’t been build . Nothing has been test . There are no plans to corroborate the colony on Mars . This thing is bigger than any rocket in story .
Even if everything were to tick along swimmingly , the whole thing mete on abyssal at the moment . show us amiss , Elon .
How much will it cost ?
Current models suggest a cost of $ 10 billion per someone to Mars . Musk wants to let down this to $ 200,000 . It ’s not clear how , nor what the full cost of the project would be . A uncut estimation would intimate in the one C of billion .
How will people survive on Mars ?
That , Musk did not address . And there are a ridiculous amount of unknowns about surviving on Mars .
Journeying to the Red Planet is often compare to discovering the Americas . The difference , though , is that we could live off the resources in the Americas . You ca n’t hold out on Mars without massive infrastructure . You ca n’t even breathe the air without conk .
What will the people do on Mars ? We do n’t know . How will they live off the soil ? Do n’t know . What equipment would they have and use ? Do n’t know . habitat ? Ditto .
Can we utilise Mars ’ resources ?
Maybe . We know there ’s a lot of water - ice there , and possibly water under the surface . Musk says the upcoming unmanned Red Dragon mission , beginning in 2018 , will receive out the safe style to access Martian water .
There ’s also a muckle of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere , which could be utile .
Will Musk do it alone ?
No . He wants to bestow on board international partners , either administration like China and the US or secret companies .
Musk said his thought is not just limit to Mars . SpaceX
What ’s the ultimate goal ?
To have a self - sustaining dependency of a million people on Mars . Musk also fancifully suggest he wanted to terraform Mars , and make its standard atmosphere Earth - like . God knows how he ’s plan to do that , although there are some ideasfloating around .
What import does this have for life on Mars ?
Musk seemed somewhat unconcerned about world-wide protection rules . He said there were no signs of life sentence on the Martian control surface , so the contamination issue fundamentally did n’t count . NASA , however , might disagree .
So , is it go to happen ?
It ’s easy to be cynical about all this . Will it ever happen ? Who know . Is it fun to think about ? Sure . Will it prompt some masses to get affect with space travel ? perhaps .
But history is strew with failed quad projects of a likewise grand scale ( helloInspiration MarsandMars One ) .
People will say Musk had like detractors when he first commence SpaceX. That ’s true . But thing are different . Before , he was entering a market with known technologies to build up a newfangled skyrocket .
Now , he wants to make something never done before . He wants people to agree to go to Mars to die . He wants hundreds of million of dollars to produce a science fiction - esque rocket salad and spaceship .
Musk , himself , is no stranger to science fiction . He even wants to name the first starship Heart of Gold , after the famous ship inTheHitchhiker ’s Guide To The Galaxy .
At the bit , though , you ’d be forgive for thinking this sounds like a fanboy ’s wishlist for the time to come , albeit a very fertile fanboy .
