By Tom McKay,
Published by Gizmodo, 17 January 2020
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has previously conceded that many of the people whom he desires to send to Mars must be prepared to risk death in the process, has sweetened the deal with the hint of some indentured servitude.
On Thursday evening, Musk answered some questions on Twitter regarding his prototype Starship spacecraft—a vehicle which he claims will, one day, ferry colonists to Mars as part of a species-saving colonization effort. And, well, the answers are a doozy. Musk claims that megatons of freight-to-orbit would be necessary each year—which is probably true!—and he set an ambitious timeline of producing 100 Starships per year to reach a total of 1,000 over the next decade. That fleet would be capable of transporting an average of 100 megatons of a year or around 100,000 people “per Earth-Mars orbital sync,” referring to the lowest distance between Earth and Mars, which happens every 26 months or so.
That would place SpaceX on track towards its goal of having a million people on Mars by the year 2050, assuming this is not all inane gibberish with very little to no chance of actually happening, and that Musk’s math checks out, which we can’t be bothered to do.
Megatons per year to orbit are needed for life to become multiplanetary
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Starship design goal is 3 flights/day avg rate, so ~1000 flights/year at >100 tons/flight, so every 10 ships yield 1 megaton per year to orbit
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Oh, and anyone who wishes to go along for the ride will have to pay for it, despite the fact that Mars would arguably be SpaceX’s job site.
Can’t afford it? Take out a loan and pay it off by working for SpaceX when you’re there, which is definitely not at all like indentured servitude because… Mars? Because it happens on Mars. That appears to be the logic. Mars!
This is assuming fuel production on Mars can support the return flights correct?
— Walter MacVane👀 (@EcoHeliGuy) January 17, 2020
That’s the goal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Elon? on what criteria do you think the 100k people will be chosen? Will there be a lottery once all the essential positions are filled or will they all be hired based on skill sets?
— Angella⭐️King (@vfx_starship) January 17, 2020
Wondering at what number we are likely to see families go to Mars.
Needs to be such that anyone can go if they want, with loans available for those who don’t have money
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Work off the loans?
— K10✨ (@Kristennetten) January 17, 2020
Yes. There will be a lot of jobs on Mars!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Mars is also the reason why Musk can be a billionaire and “actually a socialist” at the same time.
Loading the Mars fleet into Earth orbit, then 1000 ships depart over ~30 days every 26 months. Battlestar Galactica …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Helping to pay for this is why I’m accumulating assets on Earth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2020
Just sit back, relax, and remember: A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. Brought to you by SpaceX ™.
See: Original Article
