technical guru and all - around badass Elon Musk revealed in aninterviewwith CNBC on Tuesday that SpaceX is project to put humankind on the control surface of Mars by 2026 ; virtually a decennary before NASA .
" I ’m bright that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years , I cogitate it ’s certainly possible for that to fall out , " he said on the showClosing Bell . " But the thing that weigh long full term is to have a ego - sustaining city on Mars , to make aliveness multi - planetary . ”
SpaceX is currently vying for government activity declaration , in hope that NASA will choose theDragon V2spacecraft to play up to seven astronauts at a meter to the ISS . Though the Dragon V2 watercraft is extremely advanced and will be much more cost - effective than spacecraft presently in use , the fact that SpaceX is a relative newcomer is a disadvantage . SpaceX is competing against party like Boeing , who have install reputations and much more experience .
Though gaining the NASA contract bridge would be great for the company ’s fiscal security , getting passed up would slow SpaceX ’s developments , not stop them . " It ’s possible that we may not advance the commercial crew contract , ” Musk acknowledge . “ We ’ll do our unspoilt to carry on on our own , with our own money . ” He also adds that there are no hard feelings toward NASA if SpaceX does n’t get the declaration . " We would not be where we are today without the assistance of NASA , ” he said .
Back in 2012 , Musk begin let the cat out of the bag about the possibility of commercial-grade round - tripper tickets to Mars for$500,000 each . Quite a deal , compared to the $ 150 millionSpace Adventureswill cathexis to go circle the moon . Before Mary Leontyne Price per ticket to the red major planet is worked out , SpaceX will first need to finish the equipment that is capable of making the stumble .
presently , SpaceX is developing theFalcon Heavylaunch vehicle , which is standardised to theirFalcon 9 , with the addition of matching booster rocket salad which make it capable of lend an incredible payload to place , making a Mars military mission more feasible . The Falcon Heavy will get testlaunchesin 2015 . While getting there and back seems doable enough , SpaceX does n’t currently have a craft that is able to land and relaunch from the Martian surface , as NASA did on the lunar aerofoil during the Apollo missions . It may very well turn out that the earlier SpaceX missions to Mars will orb the red-faced satellite and not land on the surface .
In the interview , Musk alsoteased the ideaof SpaceX becoming a publicly traded company , though not in the immediate future . " We take to get where thing a steady and predictable , ” he said . " Maybe [ when ] we ’re near to developing the Mars vehicle , or ideally [ after ] we ’ve take flight it a few times , then I think going public would make more sense . ” allow us know when you have those duck in a row , Mr. Musk . We ’ll be eagerly wait .
