Elon Musk gets candid on Mars aspirations; 'we don't wanna just put footprints'

In a chilling yet insightful conversation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientist, podcaster and martial artist Lex Fridman, business magnate Elon Musk revealed that he plans to colonise Mars in 10 years at the most. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO said that establishing bases on the Moon would be great for science, but settling humans on Mars would truly be a big leap. When asked by Fridman about the timeline when SpaceX would land a human on Mars, Musk replied after a 20-second pause, "best case is about five years, worst case 10 years."

Musk's real objectives regarding Mars; 'we don't wanna just put footprints'

Talking about the bottlenecks that might hamper human settlement on Mars, Musk discussed factors such as technology and the cost that would determine human presence on the red planet. In terms of technology, he said that the Martian vehicle Starship is 'really next level' as it is the most complex and advanced rocket that has ever been made.

However, he added that the fundamental optimisation of Starship is minimising the cost per ton it would take to reach the Earth's orbit and eventually Mars. He revealed that the current cost for reaching Mars is $1 trillion. "No amount of money can get you to Mars. We need to get that like something that is actually possible at all. We don't just wanna have with Mars, flags and footprints, and then not come back for a half-century like we did with the Moon", Musk said.

'Earth is likely to experience some calamity', warns Musk

Further opening up about the motivation for establishing an affordable and sustainable colony on Mars, Musk said that "given enough time, Earth is likely to experience some calamity", which might be caused by humans themselves or an external force such as an asteroid. He also added that if none of the said things happen, the Earth will eventually be swallowed by the sun. "The sun is gradually expanding and will engulf the Earth and probably Earth gets too hot for life in about 500 million years". He added that it seems like a long time but it is only 10% longer than the time Earth has been around.

Expressing his surprise that life is being extended beyond Earth for the first time in 4.5 billion years, Musk said that humans must capitalise on this "window of opportunity" as it might be opened for a long time or just for a short period.

Image: YouTube/@LexFridman