Elon Musk's Mars plan rocked as SpaceX CEO fears humans will 'self-extinguish' before 2050

[Elderberry]

Express By Callum Hoare 2/8/2021

Elon Musk's Mars plan rocked as SpaceX CEO fears humans will 'self-extinguish' before 2050

ELON MUSK revealed his fears that humans could "self-extinguish" before SpaceX is able to help colonise Mars, adding that "we're looking a little rickety right now".

The tech mogul previously detailed plans to colonise the Red Planet by building a one-million-strong city before 2050, but received a blow to that when the Starship SN9 prototype crashed and exploded after its first high-altitude test flight last week. Mr Musk said he hoped to one day produce 1,000 spaceships over 10 years and launch three a day. The rockets would blast off from Earth, each carrying roughly 100 tonnes of equipment, as well as 100 people in the hope of building a permanent settlement on Mars.

And the SpaceX CEO gave an insight into the rollercoaster ride he’d already experienced during the 2020 Mars Society Virtual Convention.

He said: “We’ve gone through many iterations, starting from not really knowing how to build rockets at all, with Falcon One and having three failures before reaching orbit.

“We only barely survived, I was at zero cash basically when we got this fourth one to orbit – if that didn’t work it would have been curtains.

“I think it’s helpful to have as the objective the creation of a self-sustaining city on Mars.

“This has to be the objective, not simply a few people or a base, but a self-sustaining city.

“The acid test really is if the ships from Earth stop coming for any reason, does Mars die out?”

Mr Musk made reference to the Great Filter theory – the idea that somewhere along the trajectory of life's development, there is a massive and common challenge that ends life before it becomes intelligent enough and widespread enough in the universe.

More: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1394940/elon-musk-mars-red-planet-spacex-starship-crash-2050-climate-change-spt

[Sled Dog]

He's so weird.

Such a kook.

Humans aren't going to "colonize" Mars by 2050 anyway.   

And the world has been on the "brink" of self-destruction since Ivy Mike.

Then again, the scenarios behind "Earth Abides", "Triumph", "On the Beach", "Farnham's Freehold", "Pebble In the Sky", and similar apocalyptic fare have never come to pass and this era is further from the "brink" than ever before.   It's not like China and Russia are going to blow up the horse they just stole now that the Usurper is riding it.

[Fishrrman]

The Dog wrote:
"Then again, the scenarios behind "Earth Abides", "Triumph", "On the Beach", "Farnham's Freehold", "Pebble In the Sky", and similar apocalyptic fare have never come to pass and this era is further from the "brink" than ever before."

Funny you mentioned that.
I'm midway-through reading "Earth Abides" right now.

[skeeter]

Elon needs a new CEO. The one he has is a tad negative.