Mars is the best bet for Humanity to set up a base to further explore the cosmos.
We already know enough about mars to set up a colony there.
We even have a lot of prototypes for surviving on the Red planet.
We are discussing “How will SpaceX set up a Mars colony?” in today’s video of DiscoverZen.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company, headquartered in Hawthorne, California.
It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.
SpaceX's achievements: The first privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit - Falcon 1 in 2008,
The first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft - Dragon in 2010,
The first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station - Dragon in 2012,
The first Vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing for an orbital rocket - Falcon 9 in 2015,
The first reuse of an orbital rocket - Falcon 9 in 2017, and many more...
The company is a pioneer in rocket booster landing and reusing it.
The long term goal of SpaceX is to take humanity to Mars.
They are currently testing the prototypes of their rockets on earth which will be sent to Mars.
Their ultimate goal is to send humans to the Red Planet by 2024 and build a self-sustaining city by 2050.
But because of many delays and Musk always having ambitious timelines, this might be delayed by 3 to 4 years.
Before sending humans to Mars, SpaceX will land at least two uncrewed cargo ships - or famously known as Starships - on Mars.
The first uncrewed Mars missions will also be tasked with confirming the presence of natural resources that can provide fuel for future two-way missions to the Red Planet.
SpaceX wants to use water ice from the planet's surface and carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere to refuel Starships on Mars, enabling the rockets to return to Earth.
After the first two cargo missions, SpaceX will launch two crewed missions alongside two additional cargo flights to begin setting up a propellant production plant.
In that plant, water and carbon dioxide will be converted into liquid methane and liquid oxygen, which fuel the rocket's engines.
But how much is it going to cost to set up a City on Mars?
In a Tweet by Elon Musk, he said that it would cost somewhere between $100 Billion to $10 Trillion to set up a self-sustaining city on Mars.
But who is fundraising such a large investment?
SpaceX?
But how will SpaceX raise such tremendous funds?
Here’s where their Starlink plan comes in.
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation encircling the Earth being constructed by SpaceX providing satellite Internet access.
In total, nearly 12000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with a possible later extension to 42000.
According to Forbes Analysis, Starlink could be worth $30 Billion by 2025.
We will discuss about Starlink in Detail in a Different Video.
So, while SpaceX intends to set up a transportation system for humans and cargo traveling to the Red Planet, the company won't be building an entire Mars base on its own.
Musk has laid out his vision to create a million-people colony on Mars, but to establish that colony,
SpaceX will have to work together with NASA and the agency's international partners and other commercial space companies.
Several companies have already begun designing concepts for Mars habitats and have proposed orbital outposts similar to NASA's Lunar Gateway, which could serve as a waypoint for Starship and reduce the amount of fuel needed for return trips to Earth.
So, does this all mean that anyone can hop into anyone of those rockets and go to Mars soon?
No, that’s not likely to happen.
We need to wait until 2050 for Mars City to become self-sustaining.
That's a long way out.
And there are always too many risks involving any space travel and it’s certainly not going to be cheap unless we have some major technological breakthrough.
So, humanity will get to Mars but it’s going to be the astronauts in the early stages who will be sent there to assess all the mission hazards.
Let’s discuss about another scenario, “What if we terraformed Mars?”
Well, that sounds like a different topic to speculate and investigate on DiscoverZen.