By 2050, plans to build a city for one million people, manned landing on Mars by 2028?
Elon Musk has an ambitious space exploration plan. He hopes to build a self-sustaining Martian city capable of housing one million people for long-term living by 2050.
To achieve this goal, SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2025 for preliminary testing and to select a manned landing site. Subsequently, around 2028, the first crewed Starship will be launched to land on Mars and begin the construction of a Martian base. The Starship will use liquid oxygen and methane as fuel, due to its low cost and the abundance of methane on Mars, allowing for in-situ fuel replenishment for the return to Earth. In the future, SpaceX also plans to build and launch over 1,000 Starships annually, regularly traveling between Earth and Mars.
However, this plan faces many challenges, such as Mars' harsh environment, including low temperatures, thin atmosphere, radiation, and the high costs and complex technical issues involved. But Musk firmly believes that humanity becoming Martian colonizers is key to ensuring a bright future.