A dream or a reality close to? The billionaire visionary Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, unveiled Tuesday night an ambitious plan to establish a “city” on Mars sending humans from 2024. The transport would be aboard large vessels reusable, equipped with cabins, regular refueling in orbit, at a price of $ 100,000 per person. His bill also provides for a possible return to the Earth, on condition of building a plant by transforming the methane in the red planet.
As a giant globe representing the planet referred to, during the 67th international Congress of astronautics in Guadalajara, Mexico, Elon Musk has notably released this video a futuristic cgi summarizing his project to send men and women on Mars.
“Civilization, self-sufficient on Mars”
starting in 2018, SpaceX needs to send a capsule Dragon (designed for flight, ready to move in only) no crew on the fourth planet of the solar system.
REUTERS/Stringer
beyond the technological feat that it still has to be done, Elon Musk has detailed his approach of a critical point for the project: money. The billionaire acknowledged that its plan a “civilization self-sufficient on Mars” requires a “huge public-private partnership”, but has not announced any alliance with the space agencies of government. Seats aboard the first flight will be expensive, but the goal is to “make it affordable to almost all those who want to go there”, by reducing gradually the price of the ticket from 200 000 $ to 100 000$ .
Two shots of the same launcher, refueling in orbit
Prior to SpaceX, Nasa has already announced its own plans to send men into the decade of 2030.
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Blue Origin, founded by the ceo of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is also building a huge rocket called New Glenn, indicating, however, that the goal of reaching Mars could take several decades.
The vessel of transport proposed by the company, is shown here in front of Jupiter.
SpaceX / Flickr
The project of Elon Musk expects to exit the earth’s atmosphere and reach the red planet in a rocket split into three parts. The first is the launcher, or the booster gigantic 77.5 m high, able to return to Earth intact, with as payload two possibilities: first, the huge transport ship, with up to 100 passengers, then a mothership or tanking also intended to return to the earth’s surface. SpaceX is aiming to achieve 1000 launches with a single booster and a hundred re-use of tanker.
The vessel, to the right, powered by its mothership, to the left, before the start.
SpaceX / Flickr
Two successive shots for a single transportation: the rocket would be joined in orbit around our planet by the reservoir to be replenished with fuel, before it started its trip of 80 days to Mars. His arrival would begin with a delicate aerobraking in the thin martian atmosphere before landing with its main reactor.
once depleted, the ship in the direction of March has deployed its solar panels.
SpaceX / Flickr
The plan is so ambitious that experts are questioning. “It is unlikely that [Musk] is capable of bringing humans to Mars in 2025″, a year after their departure from Earth, estimated, for example, John Logsdon, the former director of the Institute of space policy from the George Washington University.
The expert reminds that the billionaire has already been guilty of excessive optimism in the past regarding its launchers, and points to the problem of the cost: “tens of billions of dollars and SpaceX did not have this money.”
first “exploratory missions” risky
Visionary or megalomaniac, the contractor of 45 years of south african origin and has in the meantime referred to a spacecraft equipped with a restaurant, cabins, games adapted to the absence of gravity, and films. “It has to be fun and exciting, it is not necessary that it is uncomfortable and annoying,” said the one at the origin of the cars Tesla electric, or transportation projects futuristic Hyperloop.
And back on Earth? Once on Mars, humans should build a plant producing fuel from the resources of methane available, which might enable such a trip in the other direction.
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But the message of the first “exploratory missions” before “the building of a city” is clear: “the risk of death will be exalted.” The huge explosion of their latest launcher, at the beginning of September, seems to confirm this risk.
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