JOHANNESBURG – South African born futurist Elon Musk is reaching for the stars in his new technology venture-literally.
The tech entrepreneur, known for his extravagant yet eclectic sci-fi ideas about future technological inventions and space travel, has laid out a plan for humans to colonies and live on Mars with his company Space X.
He also plans to take us “to infinity and beyond” by stopping over on Jupiter and its moon Europa, Saturn and its moon Enceladus and create a self sustaining city.
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico on Tuesday, Musk and his team plan to develop a fully reusable interplanetary spaceship that is able to refuel in orbit and is propellant on Mars so that people will be able to return to Earth.
“I want to make Mars seem possible, something we can do in our life times… and that anyone can go if they wanted to.” he said.
The spaceship includes a Raptor engine and rocket boosters and will take an average of 100 days in 2037, with one trip costing $43 million.
For now, the team at Space X continue to do research as they have yet to find out how to transport and land large equipment on Mars, identifying and characterising how to use resources such as water, and find out about key surface capabilities to land on Mars.
Despite many questions left answered, the possibility could be a reality. For now, we’re happy living on Earth, Mr Musk.
