No one is more of an advocate for people going to Mars than Elon Musk. However, in this dream of his, he again admits to the truth that: ‘Many people will possibly die’ in the process.
In an interview with Peter Diamandis, the founder of Xprize, Elon Musk commended the journey:
“It’s uncomfortable. It’s a long journey. You might not come back alive…We won’t make anyone go…Volunteers only.”
For 20 years now, Musk has been addressing his interplanetary goals. The main mission of his driven, successful rocket company, SpaceX, was to ultimately make the technology needed to transport humans to Mars and from Mars.
SpaceX has been testing and blowing up without getting anyone injured yet. Musk has always discussed the unavoidable hazards regarding his plans to travel to Mars. In August during a virtual conference, Musk let everyone know that in the Space X mission to Mars, there is a “good chance you will die.”
This risk assumption seems all the truest when we look at the human spaceflight beginnings. In the last 10 years, during NASA’s Appolo program ground tests, a fire occurred, and three astronauts died.
Furthermore, in the Space Shuttle era in the Columbia and Challenger tragedy, 14 astronauts were killed. Previously Musk has said that one day he hopes to have a life on Mars. However, whether he will be part of the beginning missions has not been known.
Musk declared that for the first Mars mission, gathering the crew will be “similar to the Shackleton going to the Antarctic ad. He refers to the ad that Ernest Shackleton, the British explorer, put in a newspaper in the 19th Century to gather the first group of people to go to the Antarctic.
The advert read:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in case of success.”
It was said that Shackleton got more than 5,000 replies. However, historians are in doubt whether it is true or not. The plans that SpaceX has for Mars bring various questions regarding technology, politics, and ethics. The most challenging issue is financial. However, many, many years are yet needed by SpaceX for when this issue will need solving.
Mars is a lethal place for humans, as it could kill them with the radiation on the planet and the low surface of the planet means that a person’s blood would boil if they got revealed to the planet’s elements. It means that the humans wanting to settle there would have to live in spacesuits.
Musk says that SpaceX is moving further with plans to develop the required rocket technology because he believes that having humans settle on Mars is important for humans to survive long term.
