More than 55 years after NASA’s Apollo 11 mission achieved the historic milestone of sending humans to the moon, Elon Musk has his sights set on something even bigger…
Colonizing Mars.
In a post on X this past weekend, Musk said that his SpaceX Starship will set a course to Mars at the end of next year. This initial voyage will have Tesla’s (TSLA) Optimus robots pave the path first, making way for human landings to begin as early as 2029.
To many, that may sound rather ambitious. After all, humans haven’t even set foot on the moon since 1972. And our lunar satellite is just ~240,000 miles from Earth.
Mars is about 140 million miles away – roughly 586 times farther.
So, yes, Musk proclaiming that SpaceX will send humans to Mars in as soon as four years is bold.
But ultimately, we’re talking about a guy known for accomplishing the seemingly impossible…
Elon Musk Sets His Sights High
Elon Musk co-founded PayPal (PYPL), the world’s largest digital payment platform, at a time when most people were using cash for transactions. Now the company is worth more than $70 billion.
He created SpaceX, the world’s largest private space company, which is now beating NASA at its own game – and is valued at $180 billion.
He persevered through consistent ridicule and criticism to pioneer one of the world’s largest automakers in Tesla… worth more than the next 10 biggest automakers combined.
And he’s also the man behind Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X.
Musk has influenced how we pay for things, what cars we drive, how we communicate online, how we see space…
I’d venture to say that he is one of the most influential business figures of the past 20 years.
And if he’s good at anything, it is turning the absurd into reality.
Of course, the billionaire is also known for his overzealousness and track record of missing deadlines. For example, while Tesla’s Cybertruck was initially slated to debut in 2019, it didn’t enter production until 2023. And though he has repeatedly stated that the firm’s full self-driving technology will be available ‘soon,’ it remains in beta testing.
As Medium noted – among other things – Musk “originally aimed to send an unmanned mission to Mars by 2018 and put humans on the red planet by 2024.” As we know, that goal failed to launch.
However… the Cybertruck is now on our roads. Full self-driving technology exists and is being thoroughly tested. And as of March 17, 2025, SpaceX has had 456 successful launches out of 459 total – a success rate of 99.35%.
Musk may not always hit the mark when it comes to timelines. But he does deliver.
And when this new era of space development does launch, it’ll create a whole new universe of investment opportunities – pun intended.
A Space Bursting With Potential
We believe that the prospect for Mars’ colonization and broader interstellar settlement will lead to the creation of several new and important companies.
For example, such extraordinary travel will necessitate reliable and cost-effective launch systems to transport both humans and cargo throughout space. As such, for the firms specializing in spacecraft capable of long-duration travel and planetary landings, the economic opportunities will likely be bountiful.
There will also be a great need for myriad new technologies. Things like:
- Sustainable life-support systems that recycle air and water and shield inhabitants from cosmic radiation
- New deep-space communication infrastructure and satellites for data transmission and navigation
- Controlled environment agricultural systems for food production and preservation
- Modular habitat construction using materials that are strong, lightweight, and resistant to a harsh environment
Additionally, Mars has a lot of natural resources and is also much closer to the asteroid belt than Earth. Therefore, humans would likely need to develop novel resource utilization technologies and asteroid mining techniques.
In other words… when humanity arrives on Mars… an entirely new economy could come into being.
Nearing Reality
According to Musk, this isn’t science fiction – it is a reality just a few years away.
So, what can we do about this news today?
Why? Well, let’s revisit Musk’s recent X post. Humans aren’t expected to embark on a Martian voyage until at least 2029. But much sooner than that, SpaceX will send Optimus – Tesla’s humanoid robot – to break ground first.
For years, Tesla has been working to perfect its Optimus bot. In fact, the company is already using these robots to complete a variety of tasks in its factories.
Tesla plans to ramp Optimus production to use them in its factories worldwide. It’s said that next year, it will start selling its robots to outside companies. And after that, it aims to offer them to consumers like you and me. We could soon have our own personal humanoid robot assistant in our homes, doing everything from unloading groceries and cleaning to safeguarding our house while we’re away.
Clearly, Musk thinks humanoid robots are big business. In fact, on a Wall Street conference call just a few weeks ago, he said that he thinks “Optimus will be overwhelmingly the value of the company” with “the potential to be north of $10 trillion in revenue.”
That’s why he is sending Optimus to Mars next year – to create the infrastructure needed to support human inhabitants by 2029.
The Final Word on Musk and His Martian Maneuver
This is a huge vote of confidence from Musk. And it is one worth paying attention to – because if Optimus really is that capable, then the world is about to enter a brand-new era…
One where robots help humanity achieve things once thought impossible.
This really could be a $10 trillion business.
And the time to invest in it is right now… before this technology explodes in popularity.
To play this coming boom, you could invest in TSLA stock. After all, Tesla does make this robot. It should pop strongly if Optimus is a success.
But we don’t think TSLA is the best way to invest in Optimus’ potential meteoric rise.
Rather, we’ve discovered what we believe is a far superior way to play it – with a more compelling stock that could supply the robots’ critical components.
It may just be the best way to play the Robot Revolution.
Learn all about this little-known supplier.
On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
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