{"id":19359,"date":"2016-06-10T19:44:19","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T11:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacexs-elon-musk-teases-dangerous-plan-to-colonize-mars-starting-in-2024\/"},"modified":"2016-06-10T19:44:19","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T11:44:19","slug":"spacexs-elon-musk-teases-dangerous-plan-to-colonize-mars-starting-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacexs-elon-musk-teases-dangerous-plan-to-colonize-mars-starting-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk teases \u2018dangerous\u2019 plan to colonize Mars starting in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mars
An animation shows a lander separating from the rest of the Mars Colonial Transporter. Later concepts suggest that the entire MCT would land as a unit. (Credit: Michel Lamontagne \/ ESA via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX\u2019s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, is providing increasingly detailed previews of his plan to send colonists to Mars starting in 2024, more than a decade in advance of NASA\u2019s Red Planet timetable. But there\u2019s one part of the plan that\u2019s not yet clear: how to bring people back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s dangerous and probably people will die \u2013 and they\u2019ll know that,\u201d Musk told The Washington Post this week. \u201cAnd then they\u2019ll pave the way, and ultimately it will be very safe to go to Mars, and it will be very comfortable. But that will be many years in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span> This is going to be mind-blowing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The journey starts getting real in September, when Musk is due to lay out his detailed Mars colonization plan at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico. \u201cThis is going to be mind-blowing,\u201d he said. \u201cMind-blowing. It\u2019s going to be really great.\u201d (Sounds like Elon is channeling his inner Donald Trump!)<\/p>\n

SpaceX is already laying the groundwork for privately funded Mars missions starting in 2018, with an assist from NASA. Musk\u2019s company is benefiting from NASA\u2019s expertise, and NASA will benefit from SpaceX\u2019s experience with supersonic retropropulsion, which is an essential technology for landing large payloads on Mars. But the current plan calls for no money to change hands.<\/p>\n

Every 26 months, Earth and Mars are favorably lined up for a Red Planet journey, and Musk says he intends to take advantage of every opportunity. The 2018 trip will use a Falcon Heavy rocket send a Dragon spacecraft for a Red Planet landing. The 2020 trip will send at least two Dragons, loaded with experiments, Musk told the Post.<\/p>\n

Musk said 2022 would mark the first use of the Mars Colonial Transporter, a spaceship that\u2019s big enough to carry scores of people to Mars. The first MCT would be uncrewed. However, it\u2019s plausible to think that the craft could be pre-positioned at Mars to support the crewed mission to come, and the return trip to Earth. That\u2019s the part of the plan that\u2019s still fuzzy.<\/p>\n

In any case, Musk\u2019s schedule calls for that first crewed mission to be launched in 2024, with a Mars landing in 2025. And unlike the Apollo missions to the moon, this would not be a short-term stay.<\/p>\n