SpaceX CEO Elon Musk seems to believe that most people, so long as they “work and save up” will be able to afford a six-figure ticket for a trip to Mars.
In a conversation with the head of TED, Chris Anderson, published on Monday, Mr Musk reiterated that he aims to colonise Mars by building a self-sustaining city of a million people on the planet. In the past, Mr Musk has estimated that a ticket to Mars on a SpaceX flight would cost between $100,000 and $500,00.
When asked by Mr Anderson whether the projected price point for Mars travel remains around several hundred thousand dollars, Mr Musk said that his company wants to “make it available to anyone who wants to go”.
“If moving to Mars costs, for argument’s sake, $100,000, then I think almost anyone can work and save up and eventually have $100,000 and be able to go to Mars if they want,” Mr Musk said.
It is not clear whether Mr Musk knows that the median income in the United States was just over $31,000 in 2019, or that nearly two thirds of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. The average per capita income worldwide is significantly lower, hovering around $10,000.
People on Twitter mocked Musk for his fanciful economics.
Mr Musk also floated a number of other avenues to finance trips to Mars, including government funding. Mr Musk also said that people may have to sell their houses and other assets or take out loans to finance their passage to the planet, where, at least at the outset, he envisions people would build lives of unglamorous toil.
“Mars in the beginning will not be luxurious,” Mr Musk said. “It will be dangerous, cramped, hard work.”
Mr Musk said that his push to colonise Mars is necessary to further his goal of “maximising the probable lifespan of humanity” — a lifespan that he acknowledged could be cut short by human-induced disasters like extreme global warming or another world war.
Mr Musk referred to human society as “a little candle of consciousness that’s only really come about after 4.5 billion years. And it could just go out.” His goal is to ensure that a city on the planet can sustain itself even if it loses all contact with humanity on Earth.
Musk has previous suggested that his SpaceX company, located in a historically marginalized and poor region of South Texas, may be able to land people in Mars as soon as the year 2029.
“The sales pitch for going to Mars is, ‘It’s dangerous, it’s cramped, it’s difficult it’s hard work,’” Mr Musk said. “But it will be glorious.”
“This is powerful, and I think a lot of people will be inspired by that vision,” Mr Anderson said of what he heard.
Some people were more inspired to try to send Mr Musk himself to Mars — where his understanding of the average American’s financial situation wouldn’t matter quite so much.
