Elon Musk Says SpaceX Making Progress Toward Mars Colony

Elon Musk is laying out his plans for his company SpaceX to get to Mars. Apparently, Musk wants to build a rocket larger than Falcon Heavy for the trips to Mars, and the projected cost will be $500,000 per person.

"The reason SpaceX was created was to accelerate development of rocket technology, all for the goal of establishing a self-sustaining, permanent base on Mars," Musk told an audience here after receiving the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award during the 33rd annual International Space Development Conference on Friday (May 16). "And I think we're making some progress in that direction — not as fast as I'd like."

I think NASA should use SpaceX for its trips to the ISS, especially since Russia has dissed the US, saying that there will be no more rides for US Astronauts aboard Russia's Soyuz rockets. What says ATS?

www.space.com...

It's people like this that will bring us into the future. A future that we should already be living in.

a reply to: lostbook

I want people on Mars, and I want them their yesterday.

Would love to have actual people there, not only because it would be cool, exotic and all the great science that could be done, but also so they could go over to that Boat Anchor and look at it, and other things that people back here on Earth find in rover images and tell us once and for all:

"It's a rock."

Of course then again, they might actually say: "Holy Bat Snip! It's a GD boat anchor!!!"

In which case, I'll fly Arken to my house and eat plenty of crow.

Half a million sounds way too cheap. What were those trips to the ISS going for?
20 million for a week?

a reply to: eriktheawful

In which case, I'll fly Arken to my house and eat plenty of crow.

In this case, I will come to your house as a welcome guest and bring a crate of bottles of wine Primitivo di Turi to make better swallowing your crows.

originally posted by: Arken
a reply to: eriktheawful

In which case, I'll fly Arken to my house and eat plenty of crow.

In this case, I will come to your house as a welcome guest and bring a crate of bottles of wine Primitivo di Turi to make better swallowing your crows.

Keep looking my friend. I know we give you a hard time, and some times the arguments get heated.

But I'm very glad to see your enthusiasm.

originally posted by: Phage
Half a million sounds way too cheap. What were those trips to the ISS going for?
20 million for a week?

Good point,Phage. If anyone can pull this off, it is Elon Musk and SpaceX. Besides, 20million per seat is bureaucracy at work. SpaceX is private, thus, doesn't have the same overhead that a government does. I just hope that in dealing with NASA, SpaceX doesn't get caught-up in and slowed down by the NASA bureaucratic engine.

a reply to: Phage

Those were on disposable Russian vehicles. SpaceX's plan is to do things much cheaper, and one big factor is reusability. Both the booster and the vehicle will be reusable, just like SpaceX is working towards with Falcon 9 and Dragon. SpaceX is shooting for the vehicle, known unofficially as the Mars Colonial Transport, to carry 100 passengers. At $0.5 million per person, that's $50 million per launch. If they can get 10 reuses out of the vehicle and booster, that's $500 million. Not that outrageous considering a non-reusable Falcon 9 launch right now costs $54 million. Elon thinks with reusability and launch volume, they can cut the cost of Falcon 9 launches to a tenth of their current cost, so it's not unreasonable to apply the same economics to the MCT.

Will the first tickets be at that price? No. But with a proven design and the right volume, it's not as crazy as it sounds.

a reply to: nataylor
I don't know.
$2,500 per pound of passenger sounds awfully ambitious.
The shuttle (reusable) was about $650 per pound. Mars is far, much more weight for long term life support so you need to add that weight cost for each trip (each way). Mars is far, more weight for radiation shielding (assuming they can figure something out) but that is a one shot cost.

Maybe. But I don't think so.

a reply to: Phage

The Shuttle was only partly reusable, and required a lot more servicing between launches than SpaceX is aiming for. Getting farther and launching more is really just a matter of carrying more propellant, and propellant is cheap compared to the cost of the launch vehicle (I think Elon has said propellant is around 2% of the cost of a launch).

The MCT is going to be big, dwarfing the Saturn V. And I expect them to do some smart stuff to bring down the payload weight, like using consumables themselves as shielding (packing the walls with water and food, replacing it with waste during the trip).

And again, it's going to be about volume. When they're mass-producing these vehicles they'll be able to bring the costs way down. Elon is talking about delivering thousands of colonists per year eventually. That's going to require quite a fleet, since the vehicles are going to have to linger at Mars for a while for refueling and the right launch window for return to Earth.

a reply to: nataylor
I have no doubt they are smart. I have no doubt they've crunched the numbers.

I have my doubts that they can do it for that. But maybe they can. And maybe my house will be worth that much when I die and my daughter can buy a ride.

Woo Hoo!
Was that a one way trip fare?
By the time its ready, my house should be worth that
Sweet!
Im going to Mars!!!
Woot woot!

Trip to mars? Not in the next 15 to 20 years. That's if it means the craft lands there and the people on board are alive.

a reply to: lostbook

Out of all the bad news about, it is good to see some nice news.

Progress is progress. Lets hope it actually happens.

a reply to: Phage

sarcasm or a contradiction? or am I that stupid I had to ask? Probably the latter.

Mars is overrated as far as Im concerned.. a space-station in a lagrange point, or a lunar base would be a better choice.

mostly because of communication technology

a reply to: NonsensicalUserName
Serious problems with long term habitation though.
Microgravity. Radiation. The need for replenishment of consumables.

a reply to: Phage

most of those same problems would exist on mars, or on the trip to mars.

the thing about a earth-moon lagrange point is that you don't have to spend 6 months or so in transit, and you don't have launch windows/you have more flexibility.

a mars trip would be an excellent excuse to develop these technologies though

originally posted by: amazing
It's people like this that will bring us into the future. A future that we should already be living in.

Agreed. What happened to the future we are supposed to have?