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SPACEX STILL ON COURSE FOR A MANNED MISSION TO MARS ‘IN 10 YEARS, MAYBE SOONER’
Digital Trends ^ | 9/19/16 | Trevor Mogg

Posted on 09/20/2016 7:28:14 PM PDT by LibWhacker

Despite the tough challenges currently facing his SpaceX company, Elon Musk has made clear that he’s as determined as ever to get humans on Mars in the next 10 years.

“I’m certain that success is one of the possible outcomes for establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, a growing Mars colony,” the SpaceX chief said in a recent interview with Y Combinator, adding that up until just a few years ago he wouldn’t have been able to make the same claim.

Musk said that getting “a meaningful number of people” to Mars “can be accomplished in about 10 years, maybe sooner, maybe nine years.”

He first mooted the idea of a manned mission to Mars by 2026 at an event at the start of the year.

“Do we want a future where we are forever confined to one planet until some eventual extinction event, however far in the future that might occur?” Musk said at the tech gathering in Hong Kong. “Or do we want to become a multi-fantasy species and then ultimately be out there among the stars, and be among many planets, many star systems? I think the latter is a far more exciting and inspiring future than the former.”

The South African-born entrepreneur told Y Combinator that while he understands that his long-term goal of deep space travel is highly ambitious, he came to “a conclusion that if something didn’t happen to improve rocket technology, we’d be stuck on Earth forever,” adding that the big aerospace companies “had no interest in innovation.”

Beyond Mars?

And Elon Musk’s ambitions don’t stop at the red planet. Raising the bar even higher, Musk tweeted on Friday that SpaceX’s heavy-duty Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT) – the under-development reusable rocket system set to take crew and cargo to Mars – is more capable than everyone first realized.

“Turns out MCT can go well beyond Mars, so will need a new name,” Musk wrote in the tweet. Shortly after, and following reams of suggestions from his 5.3 million followers, he said he’d decided to rename it the “Interplanetary Transport System (ITS).”

At this stage we don’t know a great deal about the MCT, or ITS as it’s now called, though it’s possible Musk could offer up some new tidbits at next week’s International Astronautical Congress, where he’ll be one of the main speakers.

Related: In just two years, Elon Musk wants to establish a cargo route between Earth and Mars

Elon Musk’s space project recently took a serious hit when one of its Falcon 9 rockets suddenly exploded on a Cape Canaveral launchpad during a fueling operation. The cause of the incident, which could keep SpaceX rockets grounded for months, is still being investigated.

But keen to remind everyone of his team’s determination to make tangible progress toward its goal, Musk told Y Combinator, “People sometimes think technology just automatically gets better every year, but actually it doesn’t. It only gets better if smart people work like crazy to make it better.”


TOPICS: Astronomy; Business/Economy; Science
KEYWORDS: its; mars; mct; spacex
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1 posted on 09/20/2016 7:28:14 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

Microsoft is going to cure cancer in 10 years too. It’s always 10 years. We will have AI by then and giant chickens that are mostly breast meat. Oh and space cars


2 posted on 09/20/2016 7:30:25 PM PDT by brucedickinson
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To: brucedickinson

Sarcasm aside, you must admit Musk had done staggeringly well in a short time.


3 posted on 09/20/2016 7:42:00 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ("If anyone will not listen to your words, shake the dust from your feet and leave them." - Jesus)
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To: ctdonath2

Flim flam artist spending others money like any good lefty.


4 posted on 09/20/2016 7:47:30 PM PDT by cp124 (Dollar Store economy.)
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To: cp124

Flim flam artists don’t get completely new rocket designs built at 1/10th typical cost, recover first stages for re-use, while creating high-quality electric cars at rapidly lowering costs, while expanding solar energy services, while getting a by-far largest rechargeable battery factory built, all after creating PayPal and selling it for $billions.

And the only “others’ money” comes from customers handing him piles of cash and making intended & productive use of tax breaks (and yes I’m all for lowering taxes - if we can’t get it across the board, then wherever we can).

Elon has re-invented several industries from the ground up.
What have _you_ done?


5 posted on 09/20/2016 7:55:06 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ("If anyone will not listen to your words, shake the dust from your feet and leave them." - Jesus)
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To: LibWhacker

Cool! A mosque for Musk and a minaret to boot!


6 posted on 09/20/2016 8:06:00 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: LibWhacker

Please offer first choice to Democrat politicians, esp. OButthole, Klintoon(s), Soros, Reid, etc.


7 posted on 09/20/2016 8:06:09 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: cp124

Bingo!!! This is an incredible endeavor. All things considered, why? It’s a year to get there, and once they arrive, then what? Leave them stranded or bring them back? And for what purpose? Just to say we did it? Silly crap at other people’s expense.


8 posted on 09/20/2016 8:16:09 PM PDT by Fungi (Soy sauce, you want soy sauce? Enjoy your soy sauce with all the fungi in it!)
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To: LibWhacker

Too bad the fusion drive needed to get us to mars is only 20 years away....


9 posted on 09/20/2016 8:18:51 PM PDT by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
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To: ctdonath2
Sarcasm aside, you must admit Musk had done staggeringly well in a short time.

That he has!

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment are made of the same stuff that Burt Rutan and Pete Diamandis gave us with the original X-Prize (which also provided the impetus for Space X).

Dream BIG!

Make, raise or leverage enough money to hire good people with dreams, good ideas & technical skills to make those dreams happen.

"Behind every advance of the human race is a germ of creation growing in the mind of some lone individual. An individual whose dreams waken him in the night while others lie contentedly asleep." (Crawford H. Greenewalt)

10 posted on 09/20/2016 8:19:09 PM PDT by BwanaNdege
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To: ctdonath2

$5 billion of taxpayers money have been funneled into his rackets. Until he completes a venture without aid, he is just another green con man.


11 posted on 09/20/2016 8:26:48 PM PDT by deadrock (I is someone else.)
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To: deadrock

You like your home mortgage interest deduction?


12 posted on 09/20/2016 8:35:35 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ("If anyone will not listen to your words, shake the dust from your feet and leave them." - Jesus)
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To: ctdonath2

My ownership of my home would carry on without MID, grants, tax breaks, construction subsidies, discounted loans and environmental credits on any products I sell.


13 posted on 09/20/2016 8:54:35 PM PDT by deadrock (I is someone else.)
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To: LibWhacker
Despite the tough challenges currently facing his SpaceX company, Elon Musk has made clear that he’s as determined as ever to get humans on Mars in the next 10 years.

I applaud Musk's ambition and vision, I really do. But hype works best on a foundation of substantive accomplishment.
14 posted on 09/20/2016 8:57:11 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

he had done some stuff. Let’s get it done. Go Elon.


15 posted on 09/20/2016 9:00:20 PM PDT by CJ Wolf (just a conspiracy theory, no facts behind the above post.)
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To: LibWhacker
Well renaming the program from MCT to ITC is a great start. That was an essential step. Did he publish an updated org chart as well?

8 years for Apollo program to land on moon ('61 JFK speech to '69 Neil & Buzz on moon). The moon landing built on research from Mercury and Gemini programs. I don't see the same level of support or commitment for Elon.

Plus is there a national competition for Mars? What country can afford such a mission right now....

not seeing a Mars launch in 2025 happen

16 posted on 09/20/2016 9:51:17 PM PDT by HonkyTonkMan
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To: LibWhacker

Visionaries in Los Angeles built the Navajo rockets, Gemini rockets, Mercury rockets, Apollo orbiters and the best of the best: Shuttle missions. “[T]he possible outcomes for establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony” is maybe 5%. Today’s visionaries are wannabe kids compared to the engineers in the 1950’s. Why not restart the Shuttle missions and focus on increasing human lifespans around the world? Oh, I know, does not sound very glamorous.


17 posted on 09/20/2016 9:58:18 PM PDT by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94))
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To: LibWhacker

I think this guy should slow down and work on fundamentals a bit more before he gets a bunch of people killed. He is way ahead of his headlights.


18 posted on 09/20/2016 10:30:59 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: plain talk

I think this guy should slow down and work on fundamentals a bit more before he gets a bunch of people killed. He is way ahead of his headlights.


Said the guy on the dock watching the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria sail off over the horizon.

“They’re all going to die when they fall off the edge.”


19 posted on 09/21/2016 1:30:49 AM PDT by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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To: deadrock
Hey, Musk is at least designing, building and launching spacecraft.

Unlike NASA and its pork larded contractors who think it's great progress if they launch three manned missions in the next fifteen years. And they are getting billions of our money too, but aren't flying jack s__t.

20 posted on 09/21/2016 5:11:08 AM PDT by Eric Pode of Croydon
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