Several issues.
First, Musk has to actually prove he can get there
Second, Prove he can get there quickly, reliably and with large payloads
Third, Establish a safe presence on the ground leading to self-sufficiency
Forth, IF he can do the above, the new colony will have to survive it’s communist charter, throw it away and set up a capitalist system - same as when the Pilgrim’s arrived in the US - started commie, most people died, switched to capitalism and then thrived.
Is there any process which would induce a large scale manufacture of oxygen?
We could start seeding it with plants- does it have enough carbon dioxide?
Musk is a certifiable lunatic. He believes we are being controlled by Aliens from another planet... The only trip this dude should be on is a trip to the nearest asylum.
Enabling a schizophrenic seems to me to be a dangerous thing, but apparently the media doesn’t agree.
Sounds like a sixth grader’s science project to me.
He just wants more taxpayer money.
Earth is the only habitable planet.
Unless we can figure out how to revive the core to produce a stronger magnetic field there is not much we can do about terraforming the place.
“Musk has previously claimed Mars is “a fixer-upper of a planet” and even suggested dropping nuclear bombs on its surface to heat up the atmosphere and make it suitable for human colonisation.”
Mars has no molten core, thus no magnetic field, ergo, it can’t maintain an atmoshere suitable for humans, because the solar wind would blow it into space.
You’d think a billionaire space venturist like Elon Musk would know that.
If he's so smart, ask him if he can fix Chicago's murder epidemic.
I guess that's not as fun or exciting as going to Mars.
Martian statement: There goes the neighborhood.
Dont let muslims in or urban feral blacks.
Just so they don’t move Sheila Jackson-Lee’s flag...
Without addressing the lack of an electromagnetic field to protect us from cosmic radiation, living underground would be the only feasible option.
At least for the considerable future.
We are not going to and returning from Mars this century. Will we make attempts? Yes we will. But Mars aren’t no Moon. The fastest spacecraft launched from Earth was NASA’s New Horizons mission, which is en route to Pluto. In January 2006, the probe left Earth at 36,000 mph. The time it would take such a probe to get to Mars would be, on average: 3,888 hours (162 days). And although astronauts have been on the ISS longer, they are resupplied on a regular basis and that wouldn’t be possible for a Mars mission.
Love much of what Musk is doing, but any colony on Mars will only serve for resources extraction for building space-based colonies. Colonies NOT based on planets make far more sense than colonies based on planets.
Gary Johnson for Mayor!
All musk wants is more taxpayers’ money to advance his schemes. The guy is quite a snake oil salesman.