Elon Musk Will Operate Space Cargo Route To Colonize Mars
Elon Musk is planning unmanned space flights to Mars by 2018, leading to its colonization. Taking place every two years to coincide with the time window of the red planet being closest to Earth, the space cargo route followed by the flights will usher in the first human mission by 2025.
In a Washington Post interview at the Code Conference in southern California on June 1, 2016, Musk compared his Mars project to the settlement of the New World by the colonists who crossed the Atlantic Ocean centuries ago. He also recognized the logistical difficulties of traveling 140 million miles to reach Mars from Earth.
According to Elon, the months-long journey is sure to be “hard, risky, dangerous, difficult” but added he was confident people would sign up to go because “just as with the establishment of the English colonies, there are people who love that.” Musk explained what has driven men to undertake such perilous journeys in the past.
“They want to be the pioneers.”
“Essentially what we’re saying is we’re establishing a cargo route to Mars. It’s a regular cargo route. You can count on it. It’s going happen every 26 months. Like a train leaving the station. And if scientists around the world know that they can count on that, and it’s going to be inexpensive, relatively speaking compared to anything in the past, then they will plan accordingly and come up with a lot of great experiments.”
The Verge reports that Elon’s vision of a reliable cargo route involves SpaceX sending a mission to Mars every two years like clockwork. A Red Planet colony would need additional supplies such as more food or replacement hardware, delivered over time. But the way planets constantly reposition themselves, the window to do a cargo run comes every 26 months, when Earth and Mars are closest to each other in their orbits.
Onboard engines will help the Red Dragon lower itself gently to the Martian surface. Elon foresees the capsule earning the distinction of being the largest vehicle ever to land on Mars. From an engineer’s viewpoint, a very powerful rocket will be required to launch the capsule to Mars in the first place. Musk’s answer to the problem is the Falcon Heavy, a much larger and more powerful version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Though the Falcon Heavy still has to undertake its maiden flight, the leading-edge spacecraft is slated to lift off in the latter half of 2016.
At least two Dragon spacecraft will have been launched by 2020 on top of two Falcon Heavy vehicles, if Elon is to be on pace with his scheduling. Musk intends to invite various enterprising organizations to load these capsules with experiments to test out on Mars.
In 2022, Elon will get SpaceX to launch its highly-anticipated Mars Colonial Transporter. It is the vehicle configured to house future astronauts on their six-month journey to Mars. As another first, the MCT will take on passengers in 2024, targeting a 2025 arrival on the Red Planet. Not too many passengers will be on board the first mission, Musk explained, “because if something goes wrong, we want to risk the fewest number of lives as possible.”
According to The Next Web, past missions have been reliant on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and congress, giving Elon and his privately-held company high marks for initiative. Musk’s company lacks the resources of a government agency and is receiving only minimal support. NASA’s contribution to Musk’s 2018 mission is to provide technical, though not financial, support.
Elon Musk’s Dragon mission will be one of the most difficult and ambitious martian landings ever. So far, only 18 of the 43 robotic missions to Mars from four different countries, have been successful. NASA’s unmanned Curiosity rover currently roaming the Red Planet, is the latest of the pack.
In the historical context of interplanetary travel, the Dragon spacecraft will be the largest object to land on the Martian surface “by a factor of 10,” according to Elon Musk.
[Photo by Getty Images]
