Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Willmore thanked Elon Musk for bringing them back to their home, Earth. The duo, initially sent for an eight-day mission had to endure a total of 286 days on the International Space Station due to technical difficulties. The crew hitched a ride back home on Musk’s SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and made a picture-perfect splashdown after a 17-hour journey from the ISS. “Thanks to the excellent work of the SpaceX team working with NASA, the astronauts are now safely home. And so congratulations to the SpaceX NASA teams on excellent work. And a huge nerve appreciation to President Trump for prioritising the return," Musk said in an interview he shared over his ‘X’ account.
In the same interview with Fox News, Musk addressed the long-term goal of his company SpaceX. “We would be able to take astronauts to Mars. We want to take anyone who goes to Mars," he said. When asked how long it would take the company to visit the red planet, the rocketman responded by saying: “I think we could do it in 20-30 years." Can humans go to Mars?
Mars shares reasonable similarities with Earth. Similar tilt axis, summer and winter seasons, clouds, volcanoes, polar ice caps, much more. A Martian day (sol) is only 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. The temperature during Martian summer at the equator can be a pleasant 20°C. Mars is the second-closest neighbour of Earth after Venus.
The similarities, however, end there. Mars is cold. How cold, you may ask? The rocky planet’s temperature can plummet to -153°C near the poles. Mars barely has oxygen. The density of it is about 1/10,000th that of Earth. In short, humans can’t take a walk out there without protective gear. We learned that from Mark Watney in the movie Martian, didn’t we? To counter the low oxygen there, the brightest minds at NASA developed MOXIE and sent the technology with the Perseverance rover. Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment or MOXIE can take in the carbon dioxide (found in abundance on Mars) from the surroundings and convert it into oxygen. The amount of oxygen created by it is on a small, experimental scale. The soil being toxic would mean humans can’t grow crops. 30% less gravity to Earth would lead to long-term health impacts. The radiation in the cold, desert world that lacks an ozone layer and global magnetic field would put humans at risk when exposed. Liquid water? Non-existent. There is no Zomato or Swiggy on Mars (yet) for those late-night hunger pangs. What a bummer!
Mars, visible as a reddish-hue spot in our night sky, is not close to us. 54.6 million km on a good day, 401 million km when it’s at its farthest from Earth. While the average distance from Earth is 225 million km. A trip to Mars could take about 9 months. Communication with Earth would have long gaps and sending essential supplies to a rock located that far away from our pale blue dot would be expensive and time-consuming. At some point, if you feel homesick and wish to come back, a round trip could roughly take 3 years. Some billion kilometres are clocked on your dashboard.
All of that doesn’t deter Musk. Not one bit. The SpaceX chief not only thinks a trip to Mars is doable but he also wants humankind to colonise and establish a settlement on the planet that is quite frigid and hostile to life.
“We are just a few years away from landing on Mars", the 53-year-old wrote in a post dated 2024. “Less than 5 years for uncrewed, less than 10 to land people, maybe a city in 20 years, but for sure in 30, civilisation secured." Musk, however, did not explain the said timeline.
The tech mogul also gave his insights on how governance could function on Mars in a separate post.
“The Martians will decide how they are ruled. I recommend direct, rather than representative, democracy," he wrote.
“Uncrewed Starships landing on Mars in ~2 years, perhaps with crewed versions passing near Mars, and crewed Starships heading there in ~4 years are all possible," Musk added.
In a recent post, Musk announced a deadline of sorts for the red planet landing.
“Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus. If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely."
And if you are worried about doom scrolling on your phones while laying on your Martian bed, Musk has you covered. The SpaceX chief has proposed Marslink to NASA, wherein SpaceX satellites would orbit Mars to assist in data exchange.
NASA has taken giant leaps in bringing much-needed curiosity back into the red planet. With as many as five active missions – including two surface rovers: Perseverance and Curiosity – to explore and learn more about Mars, the aspect of human exploration remains NASA’s goal. Musk isn’t alone.
(NASA)
“Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is one of the only other places we know in the solar system where life may have existed. What we learn about the Red Planet will tell us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet," an excerpt on NASA’s website reads.
Calling it “Beyond the Moon," the write-up on the NASA website noted: “Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth."
NASA lays down 7 elements that could enable “living and working" on Mars: Oxygen, Food, Water, Power, Spacesuits, Communications, and Shelter.
Science communicator and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson isn’t as passionate or excited as Musk about shipping humans to Mars. Tyson has voiced his concerns about Musk’s plan in the public forum. Sharing his “strong views" on the subject, Tyson, talking to American talk show host, Bill Maher, said: “My read of the history of space exploration is such that we do big, expensive things only when it’s geopolitically expedient, such as we feel threatened by an enemy."
Tyson asserted that there was no return on investment in sight and people would probably die in Musk’s pet project.
“And so for him (Musk) to just say, let’s go to Mars because it’s the next thing to do. What is that venture capitalist meeting look like? ‘So, Elon, what do you want to do?’ ‘I want to go to Mars?’ ‘How much will it cost?’ ‘$1 trillion.’ ‘Is it safe?’ ‘No, people will probably die.’ ‘What’s the return on the investment?’ ‘Nothing.’ That’s a five-minute meeting. And it doesn’t happen," he added.
The video reached Musk and he was utterly disappointed. “Wow, they don’t get it," Musk remarked. “Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness."
In another interview, Tyson criticised the idea of terraforming Mars. “If you can terraform Mars into Earth, you can terraform Earth back into Earth," he said while asserting that moving humankind to Mars as an “escape" wasn’t realistic and we could instead focus on making Earth habitable for the generations to come. That was the cool thing to do, he quipped.
Would Tyson want to go to Mars? “I would, but only after the person who made the spaceship had sent their mother first!" Tyson told The Guardian in an interview in 2016.
