Elon Musk said during a recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that in the worst-case scenario, it will be about a decade before SpaceX can land a human on Mars. A key limiting factor today, however, is money: it's simply too expensive to send someone to the Red Planet right now.
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About half an hour into the interview, Fridman asked Elon Musk when he thought SpaceX would land a human on the Red Planet. After a delay of more than 20 seconds to think, Musk said that the best case would be about five years and the worst case would be closer to 10 years.
A major determining factor in getting humans to Mars is building the vehicle that will carry astronauts there. “Starship is the most complex and advanced rocket ever built,” Musk said. The SpaceX CEO added that the fundamental optimization for Starship is minimizing the cost per ton in orbit and, ultimately, the cost per ton on the surface of Mars.
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Right now, Musk said, money is the limiting factor. “You can’t fly to Mars with a trillion dollars. No amount of money could get you a ticket to Mars,” he said.
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The businessman made it clear that he doesn't just want to have a "flag and footprint" on Mars and not return for half a century like we did with the Moon.
Musk said earlier this year that SpaceX aims to land Starships on Mars well before 2030, adding that the real hard part will be building the first self-sustaining base. By 2050, Musk hopes to have transported a million people to Mars.
Information source: techspot.com
