SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
says he wants Mars to be an inhabited planet with a self-sustaining civilization.
A trip to Mars, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says, will take 80 days.
So it’s a good thing the vehicle the 45-year-old billionaire entrepreneur envisions for passengers could include all the amenities, including restaurants, movies and, perhaps, zero-gravity games.
“It has to be fairly fun and exciting,” he told a conference on Tuesday. “It can’t feel cramped or boring. It’ll be really fun to go. You’ll have a great time.”
Musk’s much-anticipated talk at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, included several nods to Florida’s space community.
During his presentation, he showed off a video that simulates space travelers boarding a rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, before it launches into space and sends its booster back to the launch pad.
That booster is then retopped with a fuel pod, and heads back up for a rendezvous with the pod carrying the travelers.
During the rendezvous in space, fuel is delivered to the spacecraft before it embarks on its trip toward Mars, powered by solar panels.
“It’s something we can do in our lifetime,” Musk said.
The goal for Musk has been to create a self-sustaining civilization, which he said would take between 40 to 100 years and mean a relocation of 1 million people.
He wants Mars to “become an inhabited planet in its own right, not just an outpost,” meaning “iron foundries and pizza joints,” he said.
He estimated that tickets to ride would initially cost about $200,000 and that the first test flights could begin within two years. The goal is a self-sustaining civilization on Mars during the next 40 to 100 years, he said.
The company has landed spent rockets on ocean barges multiple times in Florida and is scheduled to reuse one of those rockets this year. That reusability will keep the cost of these flights low, Musk said.
As for the first explorers on Mars? They should be adventurous, he said.
“Mars will be very dangerous,” he said. “Are you prepared to die? Then, OK, you’re a candidate to go.”