Elon Musk Fears He Will Die Before Humans Reach Mars, As Space Innovation Is Very Slow
Elon Musk is upset that it has taken 18 years just to get ready to do the first people to orbit. If we dont improve our pace of progress Im definitely going to be dead before we go to Mars he said.
Hardly anyone can question Elon Musk¡¯s efforts to make human beings a multi-planetary species. The tech billionaire has worked so hard towards the goal that the very objective has, infact, led to the establishment of one of his companies - SpaceX. So it is only natural that Musk would find it troubling if he is not able to achieve this target within his lifetime. With a recent public appearance of his, this now seems highly likely.
"If we don't improve our pace of progress, I'm definitely going to be dead before we go to Mars," Musk was quoted as saying on Monday at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington. "If it's taken us 18 years just to get ready to do the first people to orbit, we've got to improve our rate of innovation or, based on past trends, I am definitely going to be dead before Mars," he added.
Known for setting ambitious goals and rapid-fast timelines to achieve them, Musk is understandably upset with the progress that the space agencies have made in their pursuit to send humans to Mars. Even SpaceX, which was born with the larger objective in mind, has somehow shifted its focus to other projects on the sideline.
For now, the project in focus is SpaceX¡¯s flight to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts on-board. The mission is expected to be conducted within this spring which will mark a considerable delay from the earlier marked timeline. This is also the same project that Musk highlights in his comment above.
Elon Musk (Representative Image: Reuters)
On the sidelines, SpaceX has been working on Starlink, the company's satellite business that plans to provide broadband service to consumers who don't have Internet, in different geographies around the world. SpaceX eventually plans the Starlink to be its cash-cow, generating much more annual revenue than can be expected from its space launch programs.
The money will, of course, contribute to the larger cause of creating a launch vehicle for Mars. Musk had earlier mentioned a 2024 timeline for reaching Mars through a SpaceX launch vehicle and had also hinted that he might be joining the one-way travel. With the current pace of development in space travel, it seems unlikely that the company will be able to deliver on the objective in the said year.
Elon Musk confirms it, saying "Unless we improve our rate of innovation dramatically, then there is no chance of a base on the moon or a city on Mars." This, apparently, is his biggest concern! Not the falling stock market, not the Coronavirus fear, but this. Talk about having a larger perspective!
