During a conference last year in August, Elon Musk first suggested that the first settlers on Mars would probably die. Now, in a recent interview where he was barefoot, he reiterated this statement but clarified claims that the Mars mission is an escape only for the rich people.
The SpaceX CEO said that going to the Red Planet is not for the rich people. Rather, it is for explorers who would probably die during the mission, Popular Mechanics reported.
Mars Mission: An Arduous and Dangerous Journey to the Red Planet
Musk elaborated his statement that the Mars mission is not for the rich people. He said that it will be like Sir Ernest Shackleton's journey to the Antarctic. He was an explorer but not a wealthy man.
Musk emphasized that the journey to the Red Planet will be arduous, dangerous, uncomfortable, and long. There is even a chance that they might not be able to come back alive. But, he noted that it will be a glorious adventure and an amazing experience.
"You probably won't have good food. If an arduous and dangerous journey where you may not come back alive-but it's a glorious adventure-sounds appealing, Mars is the place. That's the ad. That's the ad for Mars," Musk said in a recent YouTube live stream.
"Honestly, a bunch of people probably will die in the beginning. It's tough sledging over there, you know," he added. "We don't make anyone go. It's volunteers only."
Taking inspiration from the ad of Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic journey, Musk pointed out that wealthy people and explorers are not mutually exclusive groups. Shackleton was still able to complete his exploration despite not being wealthy, although there may be people like James Cameron who make dangerous explorations his business.
Jennifer Buz, Ph.D., an areologist at Northern Arizona University, told Popular Mechanics last year that the key to surviving the conditions that await the first explorers on Mars is not having money, but it is balancing their response to limited water, no atmosphere, radiation, and to develop resiliency against unpredictable events.
Multiplanetary Species
According to NZ Herald, the interview of Musk to Diamandis in Cape Canaveral, Florida is about the SpaceX CEO's carbon removal project under X Prize Foundation. It aims to discuss the biggest threat to humanity by fighting climate change and rebalancing the planet's carbon cycle.
Elon Musk is the CEO of the X Prize Foundation who has opened a contest worth $100 million for those who can figure out carbon capture technology to reduce fossil fuel emission.
On the other hand, he has also made his intentions clear of making humans a multi-planetary species by sending crewed missions to Mars. He reckons that this mission might be fulfilled by 2026 and hopes to have a million people living on the Red Planet by 2050.
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