Tickets to Mars Will Eventually Cost Less Than $500,000, Elon Musk Says
Posted on 02/13/2019 10:51:09 AM PST by ETL
SpaceX's Mars ships won't be ferrying just the super rich to and from the Red Planet, if everything goes according to Elon Musk's plan.
The price of a seat aboard SpaceX's Starship interplanetary vehicle will eventually drop enough to be accessible to a large chunk of the industrialized world's population, the billionaire entrepreneur predicted over the weekend.
"Very dependent on volume, but I'm confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k. Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want," Musk wrote on Twitter Sunday night (Feb. 10).
The 100-passenger Starship will launch to Earth orbit atop a huge rocket called Super Heavy, then make its own way to Mars (or the moon, or whatever its final destination may be — the ship could go many places in the solar system, Musk has said). Super Heavy will return to Earth, make a vertical landing and fly again — many more times, in fact.
Indeed, rapid and repeated reuse of both Starship and Super Heavy is key to Musk's vision of ambitious but affordable spaceflight. Also helping in this regard, he said, is a recent Starship design tweak: building the vehicle out of stainless steel rather than pricier carbon-composite material, as originally planned.
"This will sound implausible, but I think there's a path to build Starship/Super Heavy for less than Falcon 9," Musk wrote in another tweet Sunday night, referring to SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. He then replied, "Yes," when one of his Twitter followers asked if the switch to stainless steel was an important factor in this potential price reduction.
SpaceX is aiming to launch its first Mars missions with Starship and Super Heavy in the mid-2020s. But a Starship prototype could get off the ground very soon. SpaceX has already built a small-scale "hopper" and plans to launch that vehicle on its first test flight in the coming weeks or months.
The hopper won't get anywhere near Mars, though; it will test the Starship design on brief flights in Earth's atmosphere.
Remember the good old 1980s.
When things were so uncomplicated?
I wish I could go back there again.
And everything could be the same.
I’ve got a ticket to the Moon,
I’ll be leaving here any day soon.
Yeah, I’ve got a ticket to the Moon,
But I’d rather see the sunrise in your eyes.
Got a ticket to the Moon,
I’ll be rising high above the Earth so soon.
And the tears I cry might turn into the rain,
That gently falls upon your window,
You’ll never know.
Read more: Electric Light Orchestra - Ticket To The Moon Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Gee, wasn’t he just at the “world government” gaggle? Trying to give away Teslas?
but you have to stay over a Sunday night.
ha ha ha one word: radiation
AOC will tell us, it means only rich, white men will go to Mars.
There will need to be a program to subsidize the sending of marginalized, disadvantaged and LGBTQ groups to Mars.
The first visitors must be diverse! Not all privileged White males. The passenger list must be adjusted so that there is the proper percentage of each race, each religion, each gender.
Ticket prices will be adjusted so that White males pay full price, while poor, downtrodden, oppressed victims will pay nothing.
< / s >
Those are the outbound tickets. Lodging and return tickets will be considerably higher. There will be no carrier insurance on those journeys. But, they probably won’t lose your luggage, either.
That’s cool because if the democrats ever get back both houses and the White House the resulting hyperinflation will mean that $500K will buy you a loaf of bread or a trip to mars. Mars seems like the best bet in such a situation, make it one way please.
Sure, they give you cheap flights, but then they’re really going to bend you over on the accommodations!
“But, they probably won’t lose your luggage, either.”
Yeah, but if you think the size limit on carry-on bags on airplanesis strict, just wait til you try to lug that golf bag on a flight to Mars!
I don’t mind the trip to Mars as much as I hate
changing rockets in Minneapolis or Salt Lake City.
Ah, the interplanetary travel age, Breakfast on earth, dinner on Mars (six months later), and luggage on Ganymede.
To the moon, Alice, to the moon!
How much will it cost to come back?
Yeah, and several years later, Tesla will turn a small profit.
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