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Elon Musk outlines plans to build an 80,000 person colony on Mars
Enterprising entrepreneur Elon Musk, the man responsible for Tesla Motors, SpaceX and PayPal, is looking to expand his reach into space. He recently outlined plans to build a colony on Mars as part of a public-private joint venture that could house up to 80,000 individuals.
Those wishing to relocate to the Red Planet won’t have to fork over as much money as you might initially think. Musk says that half a million dollars per person is all that’s required for a ride on a reusable rocket powered by methane and liquid oxygen. The first group of Martian citizens would be limited to 10 people or less, he said.
It’ll take a lot more to make the project a reality, however. Estimates put the cost somewhere in the $36 billion price range. Early inhabitants would be sent with the necessary equipment to grow crop and use the nitrogen and carbon dioxide on Mars to their advantage. Utilizing subsurface Martian ice is also in the plans, according to the South African entrepreneur.
This isn’t the first time that Musk has talked about his ambitions to explore our solar system. In August he said he believed he could put a man on Mars within 12 to 15 years. He said he was confident that it could be done. He backed up those claims a month later during an interview with CBS This Morning, claiming he had worked out the calculations two years prior that would be necessary to make it happen.
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You can say what you want about Elon Musk, but he's a genius. They laughed about him with his Tesla company...he proved them wrong....laughed about his SpaceX....he proved them wrong...and once his Falcon Heavy launch system is active, he'll have the strongest rocket since the Saturn V and it can be used to send manned vehicles to the moon. So you all go ahead and laugh about the guy....
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Really? People asking are asking 'Why'?
We are kind of running out of habitable room on earth :')
Are you sure? I see no sign of it....
And since when is Mars habitable? You may be happy breathing ridiculously thin CO2, but I'm not (it makes me cough!), bit chilly on a night, too.
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You can say what you want about Elon Musk, but he's a genius. They laughed about him with his Tesla company...he proved them wrong....laughed about his SpaceX....he proved them wrong...and once his Falcon Heavy launch system is active, he'll have the strongest rocket since the Saturn V and it can be used to send manned vehicles to the moon. So you all go ahead and laugh about the guy....
Well, the name's slightly amusing, he should have a sensible one like Pan Wah or suchlike....
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You can say what you want about Elon Musk, but he's a genius. They laughed about him with his Tesla company...he proved them wrong....laughed about his SpaceX....he proved them wrong...and once his Falcon Heavy launch system is active, he'll have the strongest rocket since the Saturn V and it can be used to send manned vehicles to the moon. So you all go ahead and laugh about the guy....
Well, the name's slightly amusing, he should have a sensible one like Pan Wah or suchlike....
Unfortunately, Pan Wah was taken. Elon Musk was his second choice.
I haven't seen much laughter at Elon Musk, not since the Tesla proved his notion that electric cars could be as fast, drivable and beautiful as any wheeled contraption on the market. Ideas that might seem outlandish from someone else are getting a "well.... maybe..." now that the Tesla and SpaceX projects proved do-able.
As for not thinking about the costs - you can't. Even a large organization like a government needs to devote heavy resources to seed such a huge project as an investment, as the ESA decided to treat space transit (having been prodded by Musk, to be sure), and not as short-term bottom-line drains, as the corporate government of the U.S. has done with NASA lately. It's a question of vision, yes, but it still needs to be supported at least in the early stages.
Personally, I think a space elevator is a natural first step, much more so than a Moon base or colony. A space elevator would be close and would provide a more effective (and cheaper) way to climb into and out of the Earth gravity well. If someone builds one, I hope they name it after Arthur C. Clarke, speaking of visionaries.
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danhodge said:
Are you sure? I see no sign of it....And since when is Mars habitable? You may be happy breathing ridiculously thin CO2, but I'm not (it makes me cough!), bit chilly on a night, too.
I'm not necessarily saying we have to live on Mars to fix the problem - but if we (however impractical it may be) used Mars as a dumping ground for our trash, instead of using landfill sites, and (depending on the conditions, which as you may have guessed, I know nothing of) maybe find some way of generating electricity on there too?
The only way we will be able to sustain the increase in population soon will be by decreasing all the woodland areas, which (if scientists are right) will screw over the world because of all the Co2 (lets pretend the 2 is smaller and above the O).
A lot of our current problems on earth could be fixed by having some more space, so a new planet is pretty good. And unless I am mistaken, it is the most habitable in our solar system - which is our only option since I doubt we will be able to build something that can leave the solar system anytime soon.
I'm not saying it is a good earth substitute; but we could technically live on it with minimal terraforming (stick a heater on, and get some oxygen tanks
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The only way we will be able to sustain the increase in population soon will be by decreasing all the woodland areas, which (if scientists are right) will screw over the world because of all the Co2 (lets pretend the 2 is smaller and above the O).
Definitely not! MORE woodlands would reduce CO2 levels, plants use it up in photosynthesis.
Also, I hate to think how much energy would be required, and how much pollution caused, by boosting rubbish out of Earth's gravity (on the way to Mars landfill!) - bring on the Saturn V garbage trucks!
Personally, I think a space elevator is a natural first step, much more so than a Moon base or colony. A space elevator would be close and would provide a more effective (and cheaper) way to climb into and out of the Earth gravity well. If someone builds one, I hope they name it after Arthur C. Clarke, speaking of visionaries.Totally agree. Solar powered one would be nice?
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danhodge said:
Yes, the first bit is exactly what I meant. Not sure how you are disagreeing with me there, you just repeated the same point :')
Who knows - maybe part of his plan is a new fuel source? To make this realistic, we will need to get there pretty damn quick, which will be hard with current fuels/technology. Then of course we will need to please the hippies...
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Yes, the first bit is exactly what I meant. Not sure how you are disagreeing with me there, you just repeated the same point :')
No.
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