Elon Musk ‘mapping out’ plan for sending a million people to Mars

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed that he is ‘mapping out’ a plan to land and sustain a population of a million people on Mars.

Musk made the announcement on Sunday, 12 February, revealing that the rocket manufacturing company is making plans.

Musk explained further that the idea is to ensure that the new civilization are able to thrive after their arrival.

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Self-sufficiency is key.

In other words: their survival on Mars should not be depend on supply ships coming from neighboring Earth.

“We are mapping out a game plan to get a million people to Mars,” Musk began on X.

“Civilization only passes the single-planet Great Filter when Mars can survive even if Earth supply ships stop coming.”

The new Martians will be tasked with building a functional city on the Red Planet.

Musk announced in 2023 that Starship could deliver 200 tons of payload to a useful orbit.

That means they could enable more than a megaton of payload to orbit per year if 50 rockets flew every 3 days on average.

Musk is confident that would suffice to build a self-sustaining city on Mars.

The post comes one day after pictures of a Starship launch vehicle on the launch pad at Starbase in Texas was shared by SpaceX.

We are mapping out a game plan to get a million people to Mars.

Civilization only passes the single-planet Great Filter when Mars can survive even if Earth supply ships stop coming.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2024

While the previous two failed to achieve their goals, hopes are high for the upcoming flight test.

Starship’s maiden voyage in April 2023 ended in disaster with the rocket exploding less than four minutes after take-off.

The second attempt, on 18 November saw stage separation go well.

But it’s not the first time missions went awry with SpaceX Falcon 9 making an astonishing water landing after missing initial target back in 2015.

However, the craft lost contact at an altitude of nearly 150 kilometers, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. 

Then the booster exploded not long after that – meaning the test launch’s goal of a round-trip flight to space was a failure.

Flight 3 Starship and Super Heavy move to the pad at Starbase pic.twitter.com/f1RuGo3d4Z

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 10, 2024

Starship is said to be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle with the ability to carry an impressive 250 metric tonnes.

It is powered by methane-oxygen staged combustion engines and is fully reusable.

In terms of passengers, it can carry 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights.

That means carrying humans back to the Moon soon and Mars later on.

Musk’s timeline involves Starship heading to the moon in five years and to Mars by 2033.

In fact, NASA and SpaceX are combining to build the first Moon base.

NASA are also making moves on Mars as they look at martian plane after losing its Mars helicopter.

Watch this space – and keep your eyes on the skies.