Elon Musk Targets Next 5 To 10 Years To Land Humans On Mars

JAKARTA - SpaceX founder Elon Musk has set a five to 10-year schedule for landing humans on Mars.

"When do you think SpaceX will land humans on Mars?" Lex Fridman asked Elon Musk about the latest issue of the Lex Fridman Podcast, quoted by Mediaite.com.

"The best case is about five years," Musk replied. "The worst case is about ten years."

Musk then expanded on what needed to happen to reach the five-year goal. "It's basically engineering vehicles," Musk explained. “Starship is the most complex and sophisticated rocket ever created by man. That's a lot. This is really the next level. ”

Musk also touched on the financial aspects of a human landing on Mars. "Starship's basic optimization is to minimize the cost per tonne per orbit and ultimately the cost per tonne to the Martian surface," he said.

“This is actually what needs to be optimized. There's a certain cost to surfacing Mars where we can afford to build self-sufficient cities and then on top of that, we can't afford to. Now you can fly to Mars for a trillion dollars," Musk said. "No amount of money can get you a ticket to Mars. We need to make it something that's actually possible."

Musk said the first Mars landing should be different from the 1969 moon landing. “We don't just want to have, with Mars, a flag and footprints and then not come back for half a century like we did with the moon. In order to get through such a hugely important filter, we have to be a multi-planetary species."

The Tesla CEO said he believes now is the best time to land humans on Mars. Musk concludes:

“Earth has been around for about four and a half billion years, and this is the first time in four and a half billion years that extraterrestrial life has been possible. That window of opportunity may be open for a long time and I hope it is open, but it may also be open for a short time. I think it's wise for us to act quickly when the window opens. ”