SpaceX and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has laid out the preliminary plans to colonize Mars.
The tech magnate announced at the International Astronautical Congress that SpaceX is hoping to have people in Mars within 10 years. Additionally, a civilization of 1 million people could make it to the neighbor planet within 40 to 100 years of that happening.
Musk says Mars is being chosen as the next frontier thanks to its composition, size and atmosphere. He added that traditional methods of bringing people to space would cost $10 billion per person to reach Mars, but new technology and a developing economy in the planet could bring this figure down to $200,000, or even $100,000.
A propellant plant in Mars that refuels ships, as well as recycling rockets would be key to making this happen. The rocket to take you to Mars would be entirely made of carbon, 120 ft long and three to four times more powerful than the vessels from the Apollo missions that first took humans to space and the Moon.
42 Raptor engines, 128 meganewtons of thrust and a capacity of 100 people that may eventually be doubled make up the ship. There are also plans to build a cargo rocket that delivers items to Earth within 45 minutes.
The first trip to Mars will be risky as there is a real threat of dying, Musk warns.
TSLA stock is down 1.5% Tuesday.
