Musk sets deadline to put man on Mars

The Tesla boss and world’s richest man made the bold declaration on the Lex Fridman Podcast this week.

“Best case is about five years,” he said after being asked when Space X would put a person on Mars.

“Worst case is about ten years.”

He explained that if it were to happen in five years the vehicle would need to be engineered quickly.

“Starship is the most complex and advanced rocket that’s ever been made by humanity. It’s a lot. It’s really next level,” he said.

The technology appears to be at the right level to put a person on Mars but Musk said the biggest roadblock was cost.

“The fundamental optimisation of Starship is minimising the cost per ton per orbit and ultimately cost per ton to the surface of Mars,” he said.

“This is actually the thing that needs to be optimised. There is a certain cost per to do the surface of Mars where we can afford to establish a self-sustaining city and then above that we cannot afford to do it. Right now you can fly to Mars for a trillion dollars.”

His comments acme after being blasted by China for one of his rockets flying close to the communist nation’s space station.

In a note filed with the UN’s space agency in December, critics claimed the Space X vessel had the potential to put “life or health of astronauts” on board in danger.

“For safety reasons, the China Space Station implemented preventive collision avoidance control,” Chinese representatives said.

The small satellites involved in the alleged incidents were among nearly 2,000 launched by SpaceX’s Starling internet Services division. The hi-tech service casts internet to customers in remote areas who have limited access to traditional internet service providers.

Originally published as Elon Musk believes Space X will land man on Mars within 10 years in the ‘worst case scenario’