Billionaire Elon Musk has expressed his desire to travel to the neighboring Red Planet, despite knowing that he will die there.
In a recent interview with Axios, entrepreneur Musk was questioned on the likelihood of him personally going to Mars to which Musk replied that there is a ‘70% chance’ that he will go to Mars regardless of knowing there is a ‘good chance’ of death.
“We’ve recently made a number of breakthroughs that I… am just really fired up about. I’m talking about moving there,” said Musk. Musk said that this could be possible in as little as seven years from now, with the ticket price as low as ‘a couple of hundred thousand dollars’, reported Independent.
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Musk added that going to Mars is definitely an ‘escape hatch’ for the rich. “Your probability of dying on Mars is much higher than Earth. It’s going to be hard. There’s a good chance of death, going in a little can through deep space.”
Musk said going to Mars won’t be much of a leisure. Even if people land safe and sound, they would have no work continuously to build up a base. As CNET wrote, Musk admitted about the health risks on Mars and its harsh conditions but is still adamant to fly to the Red Planet.
“We think you can come back but we’re not sure. Now, does that sound like an escape hatch for rich people?” Comparing the Red Planet journey to a journey to Mount Everest, Musk said, “There’s lots of people who climb mountains. People die on Mount Everest all the time. They like doing it for the challenge.”
47-year-old Musk has long been planning to set up a human colony on the Red Planet. He is earlier announced his plans for his company SpaceX to initiate crewed flights to Mars by 2024.