The tech industry should have noticed by now that Elon Musk regularly envisions projects ahead of others. Companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and others are the result of his forward-thinking attitude. After the success of several launches of its reusable Falcon 9 platform which already put astronauts into space as well as his constellation of Starlink satellites, Mars is apparently next. He offers his opinion on what would measure the sustainability of a colony on the Red Planet in the future.

Although this undertaking would likely happen beyond the current generation, the SpaceX CEO pointed out some key details that would need to be addressed as early as now. In his talk at the Mars Society annual conference, he stated: "Civilisation's not looking super strong, it's looking a little rickety right now." Thus projects that would eventually allow people to colonise the fourth planet of this solar system should be completed before a catastrophic event threatens life on Earth.

Much like any colony, the overall goal is to be independent and still manage to survive. "It's helpful to have as the objective the creation of a self-sustaining city on Mars... Not simply a few people or a base, but a self-sustaining city," Musk added. "The acid test really is, if the ships from Earth stop coming for any reason, does Mars die out? "If it does, then we're not in a secure place, reports Popular Mechanics.

Some of the examples that could potentially make Earth uninhabitable in the future are volcano eruptions, a comet hitting the planet, and even nuclear obliteration. Therefore, before any of the illustrated scenarios happen, it would be in the best interest of society to already consider the likelihood of a civilisation on Mars.

Elon Musk
A file photo of Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaking during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, not shown, at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound on January 9, 2018 in Beijing, China. (Photo: Mark Schiefelbein - Pool/Getty Images)

Musk claims the ultimate goal of SpaceX is to make interplanetary travel accessible for humanity. He also revealed that he wants to be able to travel to Mars in his lifetime. In fact, his Starship project has been through various tests to see if it will become the ideal platform to make the trip from Earth to Mars. By 2024, he plans to send an unmanned mission aboard the spacecraft as an experiment.

Elon musk