Elon Musk outlines Mars colony vision

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37486372

Elon Musk outlines Mars colony vision

By Rob Coppinger
Spaceflight writer, Guadalajara, Mexico
27 September 2016

From the section Science & Environment

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has outlined his vision for establishing a human colony on Mars for people that can afford a $200,000 ticket price. Mr Musk, who founded private spaceflight company SpaceX, was speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday. His colonisation plan uses a fully reusable transportation system that would take 100 people and 80 days to get to Mars and eventually as little as 30 days.

This transportation system consists of a spaceship that is refuelled with methane and oxygen in Earth orbit and also on Mars after landing there. Mr Musk explained that to achieve the $200,000 price, the entire transportation system has to be reusable. He spoke of a colony of a million people to make it self-sustaining and that, with his plan, that could take 100 years. To reach a million, Mr Musk said: "I want to make Mars seem possible, something we can do in our life times… and that anyone can go if they wanted to."

The first Mars flight could take place in 2022, according to SpaceX's timeline for Mars colonisation. Mr Musk said that he would like to name the first spacecraft that goes to Mars, The Heart of Gold, after a starship in Douglas Adams' book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The launch site will be Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre pad 39, from where the Apollo Moon missions flew.

The reason why Mr Musk wants to go to Mars is, he said: "Without someone with a real ideological commitment, it didn't seem we were on any trajectory to become a spacefaring civilisation."
(snip)

[longship]

1. There's a real problem.

Nobody can survive on Mars.

[MrScorpio]

2. It's a one way trip to a Martian colony...

If anyone wants to spend two hundred grand to commit suicide on another planet, that's some serious hutzpah, that's for sure.

[Duppers]

3. Insane.

Mars to Musk: use your skills to try to fix the most urgent problem on Earth--the real threat of global mass extinction.

There is no sustainable Planet B within our reach.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/22/the-earth-is-on-the-brink-of-a-sixth-mass-extinction-scientists-say-and-its-humans-fault/&ved=0ahUKEwizysyHiLPPAhVDMSYKHRFRCRAQFggbMAA&usg=AFQjCNFJOu_ELkva-7EspK3PIC15RI-Vfg&sig2=e1WTXes1nS3Xy73txJcMhw

[byronius]

4. Awesome vision.

Robert Zubrin's book 'The Case For Mars' sets out a pretty clear case for a workable colony. I don't understand the comments above.

Elon's already done a great deal for the planet. He's earned the right to invest his time and energy wherever he wants.

[struggle4progress]

5. The PT Barnum School of Interplanetary Science!

Motto: New suckahs borned every minit