SpaceX led by South African billionaire Elon Musk has confirmed that it has plans to build advanced cities on Mars and Moon in the coming years. The big revelation was made by Paul Wooster, the principal Mars development engineer of SpaceX, at the 22nd annual Mars Society Convention at the University of Southern California.
Initial steps to begin in 2021
Wooster made these remarks just a few days after Elon Musk unveiled the new starship that is designated to carry humans to Mars and Moon during upcoming space missions. During the speech at the annual Mars Society Convention, Wooster also added that the starship is capable of delivering large payloads to the moon and Mars which will help to build a future interplanetary colony.
As per previous announcements from SpaceX, they will initially launch a satellite in 2021, which will be followed by a manned trip around the moon. After completing both these missions, SpaceX will send a series of unmanned and manned missions to Mars and the moon to build early bases.
When will these cities become operational?
If everything goes as per plans, the first Martian city will be completely operational by 2050. Earlier, Elon Musk had claimed that the future government that will be set up on Mars will be based on direct democracy. With this new announcement from Wooster, it has become pretty clear that Elon Musk and his company have taken another giant leap to achieve their ultimate aim.
However, several critics believe that Elon Musk's plan to set up a human colony on Mars will never materialize due to various reasons. A few days back, Samatha Rolfe, an astrobiologist at the University of Hertfordshire claimed that Musk's plans to carry humans to Mars could surely turn out to be a moral catastrophe.
As per Samantha Rolfe, human missions to Mars could introduce earthly microorganisms in the Red Planet which could kill alien life that may be harboring there. The astrobiologist also made it clear that humans who walk on the Red Planet will be exposed to space radiations that will cause serious health hazards.
