(ORDO NEWS) — Mars colonization will not be for the faint of heart, says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
“It’s very important to emphasize that Mars, especially at the very beginning, will not be luxurious,” Musk said in a video interview with Chris Anderson, head of the TED conference, released on Monday. “It’s going to be dangerous, cramped, hard, hard work.”
The billionaire compared the Mars recruiting effort to a 1900s announcement of an expedition to Antarctica by explorer Ernest Shackleton. The announcement has since been debunked as a myth, but it called for men ready to embark on a “dangerous journey” and said that a safe return was “doubtful”.
The advertisement for a flight to Mars says: “It’s dangerous, it’s crowded. You may not come back. It’s hard, it’s hard work,” Musk said.
Living on Mars, a planet with an average temperature of -62.22°C (-80°F), will be much more difficult than living in Antarctica, where the average temperature is -56.67°C (-70°F).
Mars has a rocky surface cut by volcanoes and canyons. In addition, the planet’s gravity is about a third less than Earth‘s, and the atmosphere is thinner and not suitable for human breathing. Insider previously reported that a man without special equipment would die on the planet within minutes due to the low atmospheric pressure of Mars.
Musk wants to build a full-sized city on Mars. In 2019, the billionaire estimated that it would take one million tons of cargo to build a self-sustaining city on the planet, a process Musk estimated would cost between $100 billion and $10 trillion.
The billionaire told Anderson that he hopes the people who will colonize Mars will take the opportunity to “rethink society.”
“I think it’s important to maximize the likely lifespan of humanity or consciousness,” Musk told Anderson.
“Human civilization may cease to exist for external reasons, such as a giant meteorite, supervolcanoes, extreme climate change, World War III, or any number of other reasons.”
The richest man in the world told Anderson that SpaceX would set a ticket price for future Mars rockets that would be relatively affordable for most people, quoting a hypothetical ticket price of $100,000.
Musk’s SpaceX company plans to build a self-sufficient city in the coming decades. However, the billionaire told Anderson that he thought he would be “long dead” before his dream became a reality.
In 2020, Musk said he hopes to build 1,000 starships within 10 years and plans to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050. He also stated that the first man on Mars could land in 2029.
SpaceX’s CEO told Anderson that he expects the space company to be able to carry out the first orbital launch of a starship “within months,” subject to regulatory approval.
“Success is not guaranteed, but the excitement is certainly there,” Musk said.
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