Elon Musk Thinks It'll Cost Up To $10 Trillion To Set Up A Human Colony On Mars

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has long since made clear that he really wants to go to Mars.

He wants to send humans there, he wants to set up a colony and launch base, and he wants to make a trip himself. But he's also very clear on just how much all of this may cost.

The Mars effort is something SpaceX is already actively pursuing with the end goal to put human astronauts on Mars by 2024. To do that, Musk already has a rocket and crew capsule, as well as spacesuits. Now, they just need to complete all their tests in time to send people across the expanse.

Yesterday, a Twitter user asked Musk what he thought it would cost to set up a self-sustaining civilization on the Red Planet. Musk's answer?

Between $100 billion and $10 trillion.

Between $100B and $10T

¡ª Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 9, 2019

Another user followed up in the thread, asking the SpaceX CEO what he thought it would cost to send 1,000,000 tons of cargo to Mars. That, Musk replied would be, "approx min payload to Mars to nearest order of magnitude, so at $100k/ton, cost would be $100B".

Approx min payload to Mars to nearest order of magnitude, so at $100k/ton, cost would be $100B

¡ª Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 9, 2019

It'll take a few years obviously to transfer people and cargo to Mars, and for them to get building, So though SpaceX intends to send the first batch of astronauts to Mars by 2024, Musk expects a colony to only be set up by about 2050.

The idea is to send 100 passengers alongside cargo on each trip. The ticket will also apparently be relatively cheaper he's said, since he doesn't want volunteer pioneers to be discouraged by price.

Of course, again, all of that depends on SpaceX getting its massive rocket off the ground, and getting certified as safe for travel through the solar system.