The fantasy of humans living on Mars is a step closer to reality after Elon Musk, the founder-CEO of California-based SpaceX, put his space-travel vision on paper this month. <\/p>\n
Musk's article in the journal New Space has a fittingly lofty title: \"Making humans a multi-planetary species.\" But it has an appropriately down-to-Earth goal: Musk begins by saying he's writing \"to make Mars seem possible -- make it see it is something that we can do in our lifetimes. There really is a way that anyone can go if they wanted to.\" <\/p>\n
What follows is 16 pages, mostly understandable for the layman, of plans and illustrations that are both inspiring and practical-looking. <\/p>\n
Perhaps this exhortation to put heart and mind behind further exploration of outer space is just what Americans need at a time when public life is dominated by self-interest, narrow-mindedness and insularity. <\/p>\n
Or maybe it's just a good investment opportunity and a hedge against whatever disaster could someday -- as Musk thinks might happen -- leave Earth uninhabitable. <\/p>\n
Musk, whose SpaceX is the world's largest private producer of rocket engines, says it's possible to colonize Mars with as many as 1 million men and women over the next 50 to 100 years. <\/p>\n
The key is affordability; he thinks the per-person cost of a Mars trip can be shrunk from an estimated $10 billion using conventional ways of space travel to $200,000 or less. <\/p>\n
The key to such cost-cutting is having reusable, refuelable rockets, and hundreds of spaceships that could live in Earth orbit before beginning 80-day flights to Mars when the planets align properly every 26 months. <\/p>\n
Musk, a South Africa native who founded Tesla and SolarCity, is estimated to be worth $15 billion. But even he can't personally fund sustained travel to Mars and a human base there. <\/p>\n
Ultimately, Musk wants to encourage investment by other billionaires, and perhaps a public-private partnership. <\/p>\n
That's why making the plans public and plausible is a step in the right direction. <\/p>\n
But judge for yourself. See Musk's article at: http:\/\/online.liebertpub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1089\/space.2017.29009.emu<\/a> <\/p>\n -- By the L.A. Daily News editorial board, Digital First Media <\/p>\n <\/p>\n More: <\/p>\n EDITORIAL: An important step on long journey to Mars - Sentinel & Enterprise<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The fantasy of humans living on Mars is a step closer to reality after Elon Musk, the founder-CEO of California-based SpaceX, put his space-travel vision on paper this month. Continue reading