SpaceX Wants to Go to Mars

As Elon Musk aims for Mars, mankind looks to travel further than it has ever been before!

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What is Elon Musk’s plan?

Ever since Elon Musk founded the privatized space firm SpaceX in 2002, the end goal has been the same; to fly humans to Mars and colonize the red planet. In September 2016, Musk spoke at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico to unveil plans for the mission including details about the technology and vehicles that will be used.

SpaceX sees the first passengers making the journey in 2024 if development continues without major setbacks. And Musk estimates that the reusable rocket would cost around $10 billion to make. SpaceX aims to ferry 100 to 200 passengers on every vehicle leaving Earth to build a self-sustaining Martian city within a hundred years.

Why is Colonizing Mars an Important Mission?

As the former head of PayPal and current CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk says the main reason he has gathered his wealth is so that he can fund his Mars ambitions. The entrepreneur wants to turn human kind into an interplanetary species to ensure its survival should a cataclysmic event occur on Earth.

via GIPHY

It’s presumed that zombies can’t fly spacecrafts.

How will astronauts make the journey?


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After launching from Cape Canaveral a spaceship and booster will seperate above the earth, sending the ship into parking orbit. The booster then returns to the launch site, is loaded with a propellant tanker, relaunches, and returns to the ship for refueling. Finally the spaceship jets off to Mars. The journey’s expected to take between 3 and 4 months.

Speaking in Mexico, Musk provided very few details on the conditions inside the Mars-bound spaceship, or how the astronauts would go about their daily lives, including eating arrangements, exercise routines, and safety procedures. A SpaceX trip is expected to be relatively affordable, however. With a projected price for the first tickets at around $500,000 falling to $200,000 once the route is better established. Musk says that he hopes a trip to Mars will one day cause the equivalent of buying an average American home.

However, colonization plans haven’t been discussed yet.

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How ‘bout you? Would you be willing to leave Earth and move to Mars?

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