Elon Musk said humans ‘must prioritise the colonisation of Mars’ so we can be conserved in the event of a ‘third world war’.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO was speaking on stage at SXSW about the importance of having a ‘self-sustaining base’ on the red planet.
SpaceX is now working on taking humans to Mars by building a ‘100-metre ship called the BFR’ (Big F*****g Rocket), writes The Guardian.
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Musk said building a colony on Mars would require ‘tremendous entrepreneurial resources’.
He added:
It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from Earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base.
If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages.
There were suggestions from some people who said it would be ‘some escape hatch’ for the rich – but Musk said it came with serious risks.
He said:
It will be like Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers. ‘Difficult, dangerous, a good chance you’ll die, excitement for those who survive.’ That kind of thing.
There’s not many people who will want to go in the beginning.
He also joked the colony would have ‘great bars’.
Adding:
The Mars Bar! I love dad jokes, I’m a dad!
The BFR is expected to fly for the first time in the first half of next year, according to Musk who also admitted his timelines are often ‘optimistic’.
Usually he does meet his deadlines. One example was last year when he gave himself just 100 days to build the world’s largest lithium battery in Australia. And he did it.
The guy really puts his money where his mouth is, so his future aims and ventures are very exciting to look at.
His next deadline comes in he form of the Model 3 production, which is looking on track to hit 5,000 cars per month by March 2018, reports Futurism.
Around the same time, Tesla promised an update to its self-driving car software, bringing them closer to reaching Level-5 autonomy before 2020.
By 2019, production is set to begin on the recently announced Tesla electric semi, a truck that can go from zero to sixty in five seconds while carrying the maximum weight on a highway.
Two years down the road in 2020, Musk plans skyrocket and the Tesla Roadster 2.0 is set for release and if plans for the Model 3 production go smoothly then Tesla should be producing one million of the electric vehicles (EVs) every year.
If he’s really on track, by 2021 Musk should have completed the Tesla gigafactory in China and start manufacturing EVs.
What a guy!
