FIVE THINGS ABOUT FLIGHTS TO MARS

1 STARTING NEXT YEAR?

Flights to Mars will begin early next year, entrepreneur Elon Musk has predicted, saying man must colonize other planets before “World War III.” Musk, whose company SpaceX is designing a rocket for interplanetary travel, estimated Sunday that “up- and- down flights” to the red planet should start in the first half of 2019. He made the prediction during an appearance at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex.

2 ONLY THE BRAVE NEED APPLY

Musk joked that flying to Mars would have a similar appeal to the first attempts to explore Antarctica more than a century ago. “It kind of reads like (Ernest) Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers: Difficult, dangerous, good chance you’ll die. Excitement for those who survive.”

3 POWER STATIONS AND PIZZA JOINTS

Asked about the infrastructure needed on Mars, Musk said first it would be “fundamentals without which you cannot survive” such as power stations and domes to grow crops. “And then really there’s going to be an explosion of entrepreneurial opportunity because Mars will need everything from iron foundries to pizza joints to night clubs.”

4 HELP SAVE MANKIND

The U.S. billionaire said creating human bases on other planets could help “regenerate life” if the Earth is turned to “radioactive rubble” by another war .“I think a moon base and a Mars base that could perhaps help regenerate life back here on Earth would be really important and to get that done before a possible World War III.”

5 THEN THERE’S AI

Even if the Earth isn’t annihilated during a global conflict, we may still want to flee — from robots. “I’m very close to the cutting edge in AI, and it scares the hell out of me,” said Musk. “It’s capable of vastly more than almost anyone knows, and the rate of improvement is exponential.”