Elon Musk: settling Mars is a reliable way to save humanity

The person of Elon Mask arouses the genuine interest of many - and this is quite logical, given the success of the Mask and its originality. So, the other day, Elon gave a detailed interview to Aeon , in which he explained why he considers the settlement of Mars necessary.

According to Elon, Mars should be settled as quickly as possible so that by 2100 there would be about a million people on the Red Planet. A million people will be able to provide sufficient genetic diversity so that there are no problems in the development of a human population associated with an insufficient “genetic fund”.
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This should be done on the basis of several considerations. First, settling the neighboring planet will allow preserving civilization if a catastrophe occurs on Earth itself. Secondly, the colonization of the planets of the solar system is something like a springboard for a man to reach the stars. This is an experience that will help settle any other planets in any other region of the Universe. Elon Musk even said the following, we can do without translation: “Fuck Earth! Who cares about Earth?



Musk has defended a similar point of view for more than 10 years, of course, this point of view has many opponents, but Elon does not pay much attention to them, moving toward the goal. For Mask, as for many of us, the mystery is the lack of signals (accessible to human understanding) of alien civilizations. “If a developed civilization existed in our galaxy, why are there no signs of the spread of this civilization? Even with the very slow development of civilization, it would have needed only one-hundredth of a percent of the time cycle of the Universe for widespread propagation. Why didn't this happen? ” There are no answers to this question yet.

Musk believes that our world can only be a simulation. He also has a second point of view: the Earth is just a test site of a developed civilization, which follows us and our development in the same way as our scientists follow the development of strains of microorganisms in a Petri dish. Perhaps, Musk believes, there are a huge number of already extinct civilizations in the world (Universe), with which something strange happened.

The equipment and technologies used by astronomers are becoming more and more perfect, and yet there is hope that soon we will be able to find traces of pollutants (man-made) in the atmospheres of other planets, as well as to find asteroid belts where traces of metal mining will be found.



Now, Musk argues, there are people who are calling for a return to nature, to forget about technology, and to live as their ancestors lived. But technologies, according to Elon, allow a person to reach new horizons, approaching the capabilities of the “gods,” as our ancestors presented them. No civilization can develop if it limits its habitat to just one planet.

As for the settlement of Mars, then, according to Mask, more than a hundred thousand flights are needed here, for the delivery of a million people and the corresponding amount of equipment, supplies and everything else that may be needed by so many people.

Already by 2040, according to Musk, it is possible to establish a base on Mars with thousands or even tens of thousands of people. In this case, the first colonists will have to pay for themselves, but the pioneers will be able to establish a colony, which can be developed. Of course, the first settlers will not be able to return to Earth in the foreseeable future, and this must be realized. These people will experience physical and mental malaise, unexplored illnesses and severe depression. This, too, needs to be understood when getting rid of the romantic veil when thinking about traveling to Mars.

Industry will have to be created from scratch, which means that it will have to work hard. At the same time, the current capabilities of man are not enough for any active terraforming of Mars in the near future. Maybe this will work, but very soon. Already, Musk is considering a possible design of the ship for the transportation of colonists. There is even a name - Mars Colonial Transporter. But it still takes a long time for the project to become something more than just a name. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to reduce the price of a single rocket launch.

Interestingly, Musk is aware that the project will be very long. And in order to colonize Mars, he does everything to ensure that the project continues after Elon himself either leaves the project or dies (we are all mortal, and Musk is aware of this). Elon himself would like to fly to Mars, but only if the probability of death is not very high - because the company is now tied, basically, on Elon Mask.

As for the flight to other star systems, the SpaceX head is not in a hurry to plan such projects - they are very long-term, and whole generations will have to participate in the project. First it is necessary to settle on Mars, then fly to the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, to asteroids. And only then think about the transition to the interstellar level.