Musk’s interplanetary dreams to colonize Mars are ambitious but could carry humanitarian risks
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Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, envisions relocating a million people to Mars by 2050 via starships, making it humanity’s next frontier to ensure survival amid global crises, yet his ideas have been undercut by a biologist.
Space X and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has been dreaming since he was walking about interplanetary missions, not least to Mars – a planet deemed to have conditions which coincide the closet to those of planet Earth. Musk has long envisioned Mars as a plausible destination for humankind, where we could build colonies with his first ambitious plan being to relocate about a million people to the Red Planet by 2050, thanks to a giant starship rocket. His objective? The “long-term survival of humanity,” in a world on the brink of disaster amid mass inequality, climate change and ongoing conflict.
Biologist and artist dash Musk’s hopes of colonising Mars due to risks
However, the question on everyone’s lips is: Will this ever be possible? Biologist Kelly Weinersmith and artist Zach Weinersmith have shattered Musk’s dreams in “In A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?” (2023). They certainly do not share the same high-flying, futuristic optimism as Musk, claming that colonization to Mars could engender a humanitarian disaster. The Red Planet after all is an incredibly dangerous and difficult place to live and by 2050, it is unlikely that we could adapt appropriately for such new lodgings.
Weinersmith has gone on to lay down the ground rules for human existence, claiming that Mars does not comply. A key axis upon which humanity survives is reproduction but with Martian radiation and low gravity which is only at 38 per cent of the earth’s, conception and childbearing would be next to impossible or would pose huge dangers to mothers and their offspring. Add to that, the heightened risk of cancer. Current research regarding time spent on Mars regards short-term stays and until there is a sufficient bank of research for long-term existence, taking hoards of people to the new destination planet would be inconceivably chancy.
Musk’s notion of Mars colonisation needs inconceivable investment
Back to Musk’s notion. His big idea was that huge investment would be involved in planning for this space-bound move. This would be beyond the means of even the world’s wealthiest people. Musk has often been slammed for focusing his projects in the wrong direction. In a world which needs money injected into protecting the planet and its inhabitants from climate change, Musk is splashing out on the latest forms of technology which are considered to have a “dubious prospect.”
Former US President Barack Obama had a word to say on the colonization of Mars which Musk may not take too kindly. He stated that even after a nuclear war, Earth would continue to be more habitable than Mars. Talk about dashing Musk’s dreams completely!
Elon Musk: “Mars is definitely not for the faint of heart”
Not all optimism has been drained away however. In the book by Weinersmith and Weinersmith, there is a solid argument for dropping willing humans off in space to conduct valuable scientific research. They say this COULD be achieved in our lifetime. Although Musk’s interplanetary forecasts are exciting enough for the next fantasy film, colonizing Mars would take several generations of planning and even then, could do more harm to humans than good as the next planned home-from-home destnation. Self-critically, Musk has slightly accepted the reality check of Mars colonizing being glorious yet difficult saying: “Mars is definitely not for the faint of heart.”
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