Can building a colony on the Red Planet save the human race? Elon Musk thinks so.
Perhaps billionaire Elon Musk binged a few David Bowie albums and vintage sci-fi movies before dreaming up Space X, a company with so-called “multiplanetary” ambitions. A moon landing is so last century. SpaceX is already onto the next big thing: traveling to Mars.
In 2001, disappointed with NASA’s lack of plans for serious space exploration, Musk decided to take matters into his own hands. For now, SpaceX is testing its rocket innovation technology by acting as an interstellar delivery service for governments and companies, transporting satellites, cargo, and people up to space stations. This experiment has not been without setbacks — Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded a few minutes after launch. Nonetheless, Musk’s mission remains unchanged: to put a colony of one million humans on Mars.
The End Is Nigh
To understand why Elon Musk thinks a Mars colony is necessary, we’ll have to zoom out and take the long view of history. Like, a trillion years-long view. When Musk examined patterns over this vast period of time, he came to the same conclusion as many other scientists and philosophers, including Stephen Hawking: inevitably, we’re due for a cataclysmic event some time in the next 50 million years, and we must colonize to survive.
With Space X, Musk is thinking beyond climate change reform and cleaning up the Earth’s environment — he’s developed an escape route for the long-term preservation of the species. By planting a self-sustaining human population on the Red Planet now, we’re buying “life insurance” for humanity at large.
But why is Mars our best bet? After all, the planet is dramatically less livable than even the most uninhabitable places on Earth. If humans were to live there, they’d have to dwell within glass-enclosed biospheres, and don a spacesuit to set foot on Mars’ inhospitable terrain. That said, at least the planet’s gravitational pull is akin to Earth’s, and a day on Mars is about the same length as on Earth. Most importantly, the planet has potential for life-sustaining water. At its poles are two ice ponds that, if melted, could produce water and allow for agriculture.
Rocket Ship Logistics
Beyond the big philosophical ideas fueling his project, Musk’s company is still working out the kinks of physically launching rockets to Mars. After SpaceX’s fourth successful rocket launch in 2008, NASA signed a $1.6 billion contract for the private company to make 12 deliveries to the International Space Station. The purpose of this is two-fold: SpaceX will revolutionize its rocket technology and generate funds to support its broader goal. There’s been a steep learning curve: the company’s plan for the largest payload (or space cargo) transport backfired when the rocket exploded during fueling.
Though SpaceX is still honing its cargo transport methods, moving people to Mars will require an altogether different process. Somewhere down the line, Musk hopes to unveil a Mars Colonial Transporter rocket with the capacity to hold 100 passengers. Musk promise to cut the ticket price to $500,000 per passenger by making this rocketship as reusable as an airplane. Easier said than done, however, since no one in the history of space travel has yet determined a way to make rockets reusable. If Space X can pull this off, however, it could reduce the cost of space travel by a factor of 100 or more.
Planting a Colony
After a three- to six-month trip to Mars, the first colonists will be tasked with forging the way for future inhabitants. They’ll have to establish sources of energy, probably thorough solar panels or methane plants. Food could be transported from Earth, and grown by farmers, botanists, and a pressurized greenhouse — a process that could take some time to establish. Supplying the Mars colony would likely mirror the complex and precise supply chain that NASA relied upon to supply the International Space Station.
The Mars Colonial Transporter’s trips would happen every two years when the planets were aligned, bringing new colonists to Mars and returning colonists to Earth to share their stories with a curious Earth-bound audience. For now, this is just an intergalactic pipe dream — but if Elon Musk realizes his vision, a Martian supply chain could be in our (not-so-distant) future.