Elon Musk recently shared insights about life on Mars as he takes steps to realize his vision of conquering the “Red Planet.”
According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the entire process of colonizing and settling on Mars (if successful) will be “not for the faint-hearted.”
Life on Mars “will be very dangerous, cramped, difficult, and hard,” says Elon Musk.
“It’s important to emphasize that life on Mars, especially in the early days, will not be luxurious,” Musk stated in a video interview with Chris Anderson, the head of the TED program, released on April 18. “It will be very dangerous, cramped, difficult, and hard.”
The American billionaire compared current efforts to conquer Mars to the advertisement for an Antarctic expedition from the 1900s by explorer Ernest Shackleton. This advertisement is considered a “legend,” calling for strong men to undertake a “dangerous journey” with “safe return not guaranteed.”
“The calls from Mars are so dangerous, with so many risks that you might not be able to come back. There are too many challenges to overcome,” Musk said.
Elon Musk is expected to bring humanity to Mars for the first time.
According to Musk, living on Mars, a planet with an average temperature of -62.22°C, will be much harder than living in Antarctica, despite the temperatures being similar (-56.67°C).
The reason is that Mars has a hard surface, thick layers of rock, and deep trenches, along with many volcanoes and canyons. This planet also has only one-third of Earth’s gravity and a thinner atmosphere. Therefore, we cannot breathe in this environment.
Insider previously reported that a person without special equipment would die within minutes on the Red Planet due to low atmospheric pressure.
To realize the dream of conquering Mars, Musk plans to build a standard-sized city there.
In 2019, the billionaire estimated that it would take 1 million tons of cargo to build a self-sustaining city on the Red Planet. This process is expected to cost between $100 billion and $10 trillion.
In 2020, Musk further shared his vision, stating that he hopes to build 1,000 Starship spacecraft within ten years and plans to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050. He also mentioned that the first humans could land on Mars as early as 2029.
