Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has expressed his opinion on when he expects humans to land on Mars.
The red planet has been the recipient of many rovers over the years as scientists sought to explore its terrain. A rover also recently discovered a significant amount of water on the planet, providing a potential landing spot for when human exploration begins.
Musk’s prediction is surprisingly early, as he took to the Lex Friedman Podcast to outline when humans will take to the Red Planet.
‘The best case is about five years, worst case 10 years’ he said in terms of when such missions will take place. There may be setbacks in terms of ‘fundamentally engineering the vehicle’ however he said.
Despite Starship being ‘the most complex and advanced rocket that’s ever been made’ according to Musk, he expressed how optimising the Starship is quite problematic.
Costs are also a major barrier, as ‘there is a certain cost per ton to the surface of Mars where we can afford to establish a self-sustaining city.’
‘Right now you couldn’t fly to Mars for a trillion dollars. No amount of money could get you a ticket to Mars. So we need to get that above, you know, to get that something that is actually possible at all.’
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Photo Source: Reuters