SpaceX Mars colonization program

Musk standing at a wooden podium talking at the 2006 Mars Society Conference
Elon Musk at the 2006 Mars Society conference. Before founding SpaceX in 2001, Musk had expressed interest in Mars missions and briefly joined the Mars Society's board of directors.

SpaceX Mars colonization program (colloquially also referred to as Occupy Mars)[1] is a planned objective of the company SpaceX and particularly of its founder Elon Musk to colonize Mars. The main element of this ambition is the plan to establish a self-sustained large scale settlement and colony on Mars, claiming self-determination under direct democracy. The main motivation behind this is the belief that the colonization of Mars allows humanity to become multiplanetary and therefore secures the long-term survival of the human species in case of Earth being rid of human life.[2]

Colonization is to be achieved via the development and use of reusable and mass-produced super heavy-lift launch vehicles called Starship. Starship has been referred to as the "holy grail of rocketry" for extraplanetary colonization.[3]

These plans for colonization have garnered both praise and criticism, being supported as a result of public excitement for further human involvement beyond Earth and a desire to prefer human longevity, and being questioned for its existential perspective, execution, livability and legality.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNN23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Sheetz, Michael (April 23, 2021). "Elon Musk wants SpaceX to reach Mars so humanity is not a 'single-planet species'". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 2, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Sheetz, Michael (November 5, 2019). "Elon Musk: SpaceX is chasing the 'holy grail' of completely reusing a rocket". CNBC. Retrieved July 23, 2024.