Elon Musk discusses future of SpaceX's Starship system
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made no secret of his burning desire to colonise the solar system. SpaceX has been working on its rocket fleet which will help humans move from Earth to the Moon and Mars. Now, Mr Musk has reiterated his decision to make humanity a “multi-planet species” – as per his pinned tweet – to a journalist.
Swiss-based financial journalist Walter Bloomberg has seemingly been chatting to Mr Musk about the SpaceX chief’s future plans.
While Mr Bloomberg has not shared their full conversation, he has revealed that Mr Musk called building a base on Mars and the Moon as the “next logical step” on Twitter.
Mr Bloomberg’s full tweet read: “MUSK SAYS THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP IS A PERMANENT BASE ON THE MOON AND ULTIMATELY A CITY ON MARS”.
This is not the first time that Mr Musk has revealed his ambitions.
Shortly before SpaceX sent astronauts to the ISS on a Crew Dragon in April, he said that it is time humans got back to the Moon.
From there, according to the SpaceX billionaire, the next step will be to go to Mars.
Mr Musk told reporters in April: “It’s been now almost half a century since humans were last on the Moon.
“That’s too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the Moon — again, like a big permanently occupied base on the Moon.
“And then build a city on Mars to become a spacefaring civilisation, a multi-planet species.”
SpaceX’s Starship will make it to Mars within the 2020s according to its owner, Mr Musk.
Mr Musk has said on Twitter: “SpaceX will be landing Starships on Mars well before 2030.
“The really hard threshold is making Mars Base Alpha self-sustaining.”
Mars Base Alpha is the code name for the first human base on the Red Planet.
However, Mr Musk has claimed that the first people to get there may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.
The SpaceX chief has previously said: “Getting to Mars, I think, is not the fundamental issue.
“The fundamental issue is building a base, building a city on Mars that is self-sustaining.
“We’re going to build a propellant plant, an initial Mars base – Mars Base Alpha – and then get it to the point where it’s self-sustaining.
“I want to emphasise that this is a very hard and dangerous, difficult thing, not for the faint of heart.
“Good chance you’ll die, it’s going to be tough going, but it will be pretty glorious if it works out.”
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