SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Says Becoming an Interstellar Is The 'Greatest Filter’ For Humans; What Does It Mean?

SpaceX has made significant progress toward its ambitious goal of conquering Mars. This is due to the Falcon 9 rocket's success in launching NASA's DART, the world's first planetary defense mission. This achievement, according to Elon Musk, will help them break past the "Great Filter."

According to Astronomy, the Great Filter states that "intelligent interstellar lifeforms must first perform some key steps, at least one of which must be very implausible." This stumbling block for Elon Musk might be the journey to Mars.

Teslarati published a story about SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which has already completed three orbital launches and spaceflights in the previous year. It also launched NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, which is currently on route to the Earth-Moon system.

The NASA DART mission is an actual proof-of-concept test for planetary defense on Earth. This mission involves a rocket colliding with an asteroid to deflect it from its course. This strategy, if shown to be effective, should shield Earth from future asteroid attacks.

Elon Musk Hints His Mars Mission in a Series of Tweet

Elon Musk tweeted that the most recent launch "will truly be crucial one day." He went on to say that meteors will slam against Earth repeatedly throughout time. Musk added that it is not a matter of if but when.

One follower added that this is only one of many reasons why humanity should go multi-planetary. A fan questioned Musk: Will mankind conquer the Great Filter if they can populate Mars?

"If we are able to make life self-sustaining on Mars, we will have passed one of the greatest filters," he tweeted.

"That then sets us up to become interstellar. Earth is ~4.5B years old, but life is multi-planetary, and it is extremely uncertain how much time is left to become so," he added.

Making Mars self-sustaining for human life, Musk responded, might be one of the biggest filters, setting people up to go intergalactic. The statement concluded that life on Earth is exceedingly uncertain and perhaps restricted. This is an allusion to the asteroids and comets discussed before, which may collide at any time.

Musk Prefers Spending His Money to Make People Interplanetary

Elon Musk, according to Science Times, intends to use his wealth to make humans interplanetary. With that, he has outlined a space travel scenario in which his company's Starship launch system would make its maiden orbital test trip as early as January.

Musk said during the National Academies' Space Studies Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy on Nov. 17 that the Starship could go through "a dozen launches next year, maybe more," and be ready to send valuable payloads to the moon, Mars, and even the solar system's outer planets by 2023.

According to Musk, SpaceX has created a facility capable of producing "a great many" Starship rockets. And a lot of them will be required to accomplish Musk's long-term vision for solar system colonization, which includes a moon base and a metropolis on Mars. "In order for life to become multiplanetary, we'll need maybe a thousand ships or something like that," he said per Universe Today.

Check out more news and information on Elon Musk in Science Times.