SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is once again proving his repute as one of the most ambitious CEOs of our time. The tech mogul hasn’t had much sleep these few weeks because he’s thinking about something far more ambitious.
Musk held a post-launch press conference at four o’clock on Saturday morning, during which, he admitted to being “a little emotionally” exhausted. “Because that was super stressful, but it worked, so far,” Musk said.
The last weekend was a successful one for the private space company. On Saturday morning, SpaceX launched its futuristic passenger spacecraft Crew Dragon from the Kennedy Space Center. And the autonomous spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) some 26 hours later.
Two astronauts on board the spacecraft will in July fly out to the ISS if all goes well.
It is now evident that Musk has something bigger in store for the future, with all the operations associated with the ISS successfully carried out by SpaceX.
Image: Mars Ice House is 3D printed from water-ice on Mars which shields the crew from radiation, solar exposure, and the critical chemical hazards on Mars.
Musk ultimate aim is to build a human colony on Mars
Musk revealed earlier this year that the company doesn’t just have plans to go to the moon but to know the earth satellite more. “We should have a base on the moon, like a permanently occupied human base on the moon, and then send people to Mars,” Musk said. “Maybe there’s something beyond the space station, but we’ll see.”
Musk’s plan of building a permanent human base on the moon will be a sure catalyst to the plans of building a human colony on Mars.
Musk has never hidden his intentions to build a human colony on Mars. Earlier this year, the SpaceX founder tweeted that he is making plans to get to the Moon “as fast as possible.”
Though it was only landing on the moon that the South African billionaire revealed as his next plan, Musk ultimate aim is nothing but to colonize Mars. While Musk talked with Axios on HBO a few months ago, he mentioned his readiness to visit Mars even with slim chances of survival. He said that the chance of him going to Mars is 70 percent while admitting that there are greater chances of dying on the Red Planet than on earth.
Musk will only achieve that dream by using the stainless-steel monstrosity dubbed Starship. However, it could take SpaceX a harder effort than any of the NASA project to get Starship to the Moon.
Walt Engelund, director of Space Technology and Exploration Directorate at NASA in February said “it won’t be easy for us or SpaceX,” during an interview with Business Insider.
Musk believes the project will only require a step at a time. SpaceX is currently focused on succeeding at the Crew Dragon missions. That’s SpaceX’s priority, for now, Musk revealed at the press conference last weekend.