What Elon SaidAn archive of questions answered

Subjects / Mars

Mars

65 answers

Opinion

Why go to Mars / become multiplanetary?

“Peter is not correct about me in this case. I have always known that dangers from Earth will also pose dangers to Mars. Obviously so. However, the immense difficulty of traveling to Mars means that there is a much higher likelihood of mitigating risks originating from Earth. A clear example of major risk reduction would be a deadly pandemic. Since it takes 6 months to reach Mars, there is an automatic 6 month quarantine! Even traveling at the speed of light, a deadly computer virus or AI attack can potentially be stopped due to Mars being ~4 to ~20 light-minutes from Earth. This doesn’t mean that a Mars civilization eliminates all risk, but it absolutely greatly reduces the risk of consciousness being extinguished. Moreover, Mars is a stepping stone to extending consciousness broadly within our solar system and ultimately to millions of stars within our galaxy, which would extend the probable lifespan of consciousness as we know it by many orders of magnitude. That said, what I personally find most motivating is not the risk reduction aspect of extending life beyond Earth, but rather the inspiring nature of exploration and being out there among the stars! Perhaps we will meet aliens or find the remains of long-dead civilizations that lasted millions of years …”

— Elon Musk, 25 July 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Opinion

Why go to Mars / become multiplanetary?

“Asimov’s Foundation series was a major influence on me. That and the fall of Rome, from which Foundation takes inspiration, is what convinced me that we need to extend consciousness beyond Earth to avoid a potentially infinite dark age.”

— Elon Musk, 25 July 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Prediction

When will Starships and people get to Mars?

“For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city. That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.”

— Elon Musk, 8 February 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Prediction

When will Starships and people get to Mars?

“I am confident that Starship will land humans on Mars. That path is clear. But what really matters is securing the future of consciousness, not just getting a small number of people to Mars. That probably requires getting over 100,000 people and 1M tons of cargo to Mars. The critical threshold to pass is making it such that Mars can grow even if supply ships from Earth stop coming for any reason.”

— Elon Musk, 15 October 2025 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Prediction

What's the timeline for getting to Mars?

“Slight chance of Starship flight to Mars crewed by Optimus in Nov/Dec next year. A lot needs to go right for that. More likely, first flight without humans in ~3.5 years, next flight ~5.5 years with humans. Mars city self-sustaining in 20 to 30 years.”

— Elon Musk, 6 August 2025 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Opinion

Why is Mars “life insurance”?

“That’s one of the benefits of Mars, is life insurance for life collectively… So, eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun. The sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multiplanet civilization, because Earth will be incinerated.”

— Elon Musk, May 2025 · Space.com ↗ · In the archive

Opinion

Once we colonize Mars, how should governance work?

“The Martians will decide how they are ruled. I recommend direct, rather than representative, democracy. Uncrewed Starships landing on Mars in ~2 years, perhaps with crewed versions passing near Mars, and crewed Starships heading there in ~4 years are all possible.”

— Elon Musk, 29 December 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Opinion

What does success look like for Starship?

“Ultimate success is building a civilization on Mars that can continue to grow even if resupply ships from Earth stop coming. That gets us past the single-planet Fermi Great Filter. Along the way, there are of course many milestones of success that are significant from a product/technology or business standpoint, but becoming multiplanetary is one of the few things profound enough to make the top 10 all-time evolutionary milestones.”

— Elon Musk, 13 December 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Prediction

When will Starship be fully and rapidly reusable?

“Starship is now more than twice as powerful as the Saturn V Moon rocket and, in a year or so, it will be three times as powerful at 10,000 metric tons of thrust. More importantly, it is designed to be fully reusable, burning ~80% liquid oxygen and ~20% liquid methane (very low cost propellant). This enables cost per ton to orbital space to be ~10,000% lower than Saturn V. Starship is the difference between being a multiplanet or single planet civilization. Building a new world on Mars is now possible.”

— Elon Musk, 7 November 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Fact

Did you really say you have Asperger’s on live TV?

“I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL. I don’t always have a lot of intonation or variation in how I speak... which I’m told makes for great comedy. I know I sometimes say or post strange things, but that’s just how my brain works. To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill normal dude?”

— Elon Musk, 8 May 2021 · Watch: SNL video (0:48) ↗ · In the archive

Fact

What did you do after PayPal?

“Felt I had done enough on the Internet (Zip2 & PayPal) that my work would be useful to others. Needed to get going on accelerating sustainable energy & making life multiplanetary. Started Zip2 with ~$2k & ~$100k of student debt, rolled proceeds into X/PayPal, rolled proceeds again into SpaceX/Tesla…”

— Elon Musk, 19 September 2020 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Fact

How much will a ticket to Mars cost?

“Very dependent on volume, but I’m confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k. Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want.”

— Elon Musk, 11 February 2019 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive

Opinion

Why Mars?

“It’s the first time in four and a half billion years that we are at a level of technology where we have the ability to reach Mars. The sun is gradually expanding… the oceans will boil and there will be no meaningful life on Earth. …space travel is the best thing we can do to extend the life of humanity. I’d like to die on Mars, just not on impact.”

— Elon Musk, 9 March 2013 · Watch: SXSW video (42:36) ↗ · In the archive