Sincere efforts are being made to send humans to Mars, not just by government agencies like NASA but also by private space companies like SpaceX. The founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, has said in the past that he wants to put humans on Mars in less than a decade. He has reiterated that aim today, saying that the aim is to send humans to Mars as early as 2024.
Musk also mentioned his desire to live out his days on the neighboring planet, saying that “I think if you’re going to choose a place to die, then Mars is probably not a bad choice.” He made these comments at the Code Conference.
SpaceX has already announced plans to send up an unmanned spacecraft to the Red Planet by 2018, to test out the methods of landing spacecraft on Mars. The company won’t stop there, “We’re going to send a mission to Mars with every Mars opportunity from 2018 onwards,” Musk said. By Mars opportunity, Musk means the time when Earth and Mars are the closest together in orbit. This happens approximately every 26 months.
Musk didn’t go into much details about his plans to colonize Mars but did point out that it’s an endeavor which would require the ability to transport millions of tons of cargo across space, and not to mention people.
He’s going to provide more details about his Mars plans in September this year, at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico.
Filed in . Read more about Elon Musk, Mars, Space and Spacex. Source: theverge