Want to visit the Red Planet? Got a half-million bucks and it could happen.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says it’s possible this could happen in the near future. There are, of course, a few thing that need to happen first.
Musk says that in order to reach Mars for the half-a-million, we’d need a reusable rocket system and a refueling station on Mars.
He believes that, with advancing technology already beginning to lower costs and the right plan in place, it’s not only possible to get people there regularly, but to do it much more affordably than the way NASA’s been trying to do things.
“My vision is for a fully reusable rocket transport system between Earth and Mars that is able to refuel on Mars—this is very important—so you don’t have to carry the return fuel when you go there,” he said.”The whole system [must be] reusable—nothing is thrown away. That’s very important, because then you’re just down to the cost of the propellant.We will probably unveil the overall strategy later this year in a little more detail, but I’m quite confident that it could work and that ultimately we could offer a round trip to Mars that the average person could afford—let’s say the average person after they’ve made some savings.”
It will be a private org that puts man on Mars. As it should be.
If China doesn’t get there first, which is far more likely IMO. All this talk about reusable tech is nothing new, people at NASA; and elsewhere, have already has theorized about making fuel on Mars for a return trip. We could beat China or any private business enterprise getting to Mars but the U.S.; as a whole, has lost the will for great accomplishments.