Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has a life goal: To send 1.000.000 people to Mars.
According to him, that’s how many people it will take to build a self-sustaining population.
The work has already started, and the spaceship is being built!
It’s called Starship and it will take the world’s first humans to Mars.
A launch of the Starship. Photo: Forest Latsch
The first crew to land on Mars will start the hard work of creating the Mars colony.
One of their tasks will be to gather one tonne of ice every day!
They will use the ice to power a production plant where they, among other things, must create the propellant they need to go back home.
A plant growing in red sand. Photo: David Von
The first Martians will probably have to learn to grow some of their food on Mars.
Luckily, the technology to grow plants without soil already exists and is used on Earth.
The first Martians must build a system for mining and create a whole life support infrastructure for future flights.
The whole city project will depend on what these first Martian settlers are able to get done.
It all begins with a small base.
This will expand into a large base, which will expand further into a small village.
A beautiful astronaut sculpture. Photo: Jonas Verstuyft
Huge amounts of supplies are needed to start the work with populating Mars, and the first ships will probably carry about 100 tons of supplies each.
We don’t know what will meet us when we start building on Mars’s surface.
Will we be able to melt enough ice to create power and keep plants and humans alive?
Will there be any unforeseen hazards?
An astronaut selfie on the ISS. Photo: NASA
Elon Musk is known for his way to solve the unsolvable.
If he and SpaceX continue to solve the issues we face on Mars, our village will grow to be a town, the town will become a city, and eventually more cities will form around it.
On SpaceX' website you can read more about Starship and watch its recent test flights.
A city seen from the sky. Photo: NASA
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