For the last two decades, Elon Musk—head of the Department of Government Efficiency, owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X, and the wealthiest person in the world—has worked toward colonizing Mars. While its environment is far from accommodating human life, Musk has blazed on, spending billions of dollars on spacecrafts and cargo ships.
However, this determined push toward a multiplanetary life has one catch—it’s reserved for the rich.
According to SpaceX, Starship is a “reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo” out of Earth’s orbit is the missile that Musk plans on using. It’s 123 meters long, contains 33 Raptor engines, and … can only carry 100 people.
Limited seating leads to having to pay your way on, and prices are going to be through the roof.
While no Starships have launched yet, Musk currently has a RideShare program that gives customers an “affordable launch vehicle” to transport cargo or satellites into orbit. The cost is base $300,000, and an additional $6,000 for additional cargo. Already, the prices are high. I can only imagine how much it will cost to actually go to Mars—and that’s when this dream becomes unrealistic.
The end goal is to have a thousand Starships that each carry 100 people, resulting in 100,000 people inhabiting Mars—which is not even close to even 1% of the world’s population. The select process, Musk said, will be a‘“lottery” system, where those who don’t have the funds to go can take out loans.
While NASA has sent out a variety of rovers to the surface, there have been no successful rocket launches on the red planet. As for SpaceX, its test flights so far have not gone as planned. However, Musk has announced that in two years rockets will be sent to ensure safe landings, and four years later he will send the first group of crew ships. This ‘unknown’ aspect of success only adds to my skepticism about the process.
There’s also the lengthy amount of the time the rocket will take to find its destination. Mars is 140 million miles away from Earth, which means it takes about nine months to actually get there. This raises a significant challenge of delivering essential supplies to sustain lives on Mars. With only 100 people being able to take the journey at a time—each with limited cargo—it just seems impossible.
When the SpaceX program first began, Musk estimated it would take up to 100 years to get the Mars projects moving. In April 2024, he corrected the estimate to reflect that the first voyages could take place as soon as 20 years instead. Why he changed this approximation is largely unknown, since most people working at his SpaceX company have signed NDAs to not speak on the advancements of this project.
This makes me question the reliability of Musk’s words.
NASA describes Mars as extremely cold, rocky, windy, dry, full of “canyons, volcanoes, dry lake beds and craters,” and covered in red dust. Because of the pure hostility of the planet, and an atmospheric pressure low enough to rupture organs, Musk’s plan is to create a dome city that serves to sustain Earthly lives.
The ships will be equipped with life support technologies to mirror the atmosphere of Earth. But what about sick people? If someone has a medical condition that makes them sensitive to weather, how will Musk accommodate them? Or, will they just not be able to come? Would they have to pay more?
His endgame is to transform Mars into a complete replication of Earth, otherwise known as terraforming, but for now, the domes mirroring Earth’s environment are the first step.
So, inhabitability solved, then. Right?
Well, not entirely. Building a sustainable city is “the fundamental issue” of Musk’s space exploration since the Starship has already been constructed. Getting there and settling there is covered, but, now, what’s next?
My biggest fear with this Mars colony is the fact that it’s a “colony.”
While SpaceX is an American company, it is privately owned by Musk. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty states in Article II that outer space is “not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty.” This “province of mankind” is supposed to be open to anyone internationally, so if Musk establishes a colony under a privately owned company, it flies under the radar of a “claim of sovereignty.” However, now that Musk is a member of the Cabinet, this “private corporation” is now linked to the American government.
SpaceX works with NASA, which is, in fact, a government agency, and on top of this, Musk has established relations with the Department of Defense in his RideShare program. When does this “private corporation” have to acknowledge its national connections? The Space Treaty doesn’t explicitly address the idea of partnership, but it really makes me wonder if Musk’s company is America’s loophole in “nationally appropriating” Mars.
The area has never been grayer.
What will the government of Mars look like if it’s not connected to a country? Musk says it will be run by “self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.” So, I guess we won’t know until we get there.
