South African billionaire Elon Musk, founder of electric carmaker Tesla, said yesterday that “anyone can work and save” to pay the $100,000 (or 466,000 reals at the current exchange rate) amount and travel to Mars.
Aerospace systems maker SpaceX, also controlled by Musk, plans to build a selfsufficient city on the Red Planet in the coming decades the idea being for up to a million people to live there. Last year, the mogul said the company aims to land its Starship rockets on Mars well before 2030.
During the conversation with TED Conferences leader Chris Anderson, published yesterday, Musk was asked about the company’s ambitious plan and the high price of the ticket.
If, for the sake of argument, moving to Mars costs $100,000, then I think anyone can work and save and eventually have $100,000 to go to Mars if they want. We want to provide [as viagens] for everyone who wants to go. Elon Musk
According to a ranking by Forbes magazine, the billionaire is the richest man in the world (Search under)— In the interview, he also mentioned other ways of financing space travel, such as government sponsorship or loans.
SpaceX even raised around $850 million in funding, even though one of the company’s prototype rockets exploded on landing after a highaltitude launch test. Musk is among the list of billionaires chasing the socalled “space tourism age.”
The tycoon’s ambitious plan
In 2020, Musk reported that he plans to build a fleet of 1,000 spacecraft to create the City of Mars and house thousands of people, the 120metertall, shiny spacecraft that SpaceX is designing for passenger space travel.
100 ships would be manufactured per year for a period of 10 years. His goal is to reach the surreal number of three launches a day towards the red planet, taking not only the colonists but also tons of resources and equipment.
Each ship could carry 100 people and 100 tons of cargo. Thus, by 2050, a population of 1 million Earthlings could inhabit Mars.
Musk is named the richest man in the world
In April, Elon Musk was named the richest person in the world for 2022, with an estimated fortune of $219 billion (R$1.021 trillion), according to Forbes magazine.
It was Musk’s first time ever showing up. He made $68 billion in a year after Tesla stock soared 33%.
He left Jeff Bezos in second place, with $171 billion (R$797.25 billion), topping the list for four years. The Amazon founder, who has also invested in space tourism, lost his job when Amazon shares plummeted and his charitable giving took $6 billion from his fortune.