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Everyone knows who Elon Musk is... Everyone.
Even your grandma.
The dude is everywhere.
If you don't know who Elon musk is, you have probably isolated yourself from humanity for the past 15 years (a decision I understand and respect).
For the very very... VERY few people that do not know who Elon Musk is, allow me to enlighten you.
Elon is know as many things...
Billionaire,
Genius,
Memelord,
Twitter influencer,
The closest thing we've got to Tony Stark...
Some people even think he is an alien, which - let's be honest - is not that crazy of a claim.
The reason people think this is because of how wired and eccentric he is (even by billionaire standards). I mean, this dude gave his kid the same name as a nuclear launch code.
What the heck is "X Æ A-12"???
Anyhoo, even though he is a very strange man (or alien), one thing we can't deny is that he is a very successful businessman.
He has made some revolutionary business moved and is behind some very great companies like PAYPAL which is one of the biggest online payment processors in the world, TESLA which is arguably the biggest manufacturer of electric cars and SPACEX which is one of the biggest competitions of NASA right now.
And with the ways things are now, Twitter might be joining the list.
So we can say for a fact that Elon Musk is a guy that knows what he's talking about most of the time.
Most...
You see, there's another thing Elon is known for... His obsession with going to Mars.
Now, as I said Elon is a guy that usually knows what he's talking about, but this Mars stuff is honestly (and respectfully) complete balderdash.
You might be thinking; if the richest man in the world with multiple successful ventures believes in his Mars plan, why should we listen to a random unknown guy on hive?
Normally you'd be right to ask that question, but this is just one of those cases where hard facts trumls word of mouth, and those hard facts are what I'm going to be presenting in this article.
Time for the breakdown...
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE MARS MISSION?
The Mars mission is Elon Musk's dream project and the reason why SpaceX exists in the first place.
It was initiated in order to facilitate the eventual colonisation of Mars.
The ultimate goal of SpaceX is to land the first humans on Mars by 2029.
That's the plan...
Now, let me tell you why that plan is futile... Or at the very least a very bad idea.
THE PROBLEMS
1. GETTING TO MARS
The average distance of Earth to Mars is 230 million kilometers, and since Earth and Mars don't orbit the sun at the same speeds, a launch window is required and that lasts approximately 30 days.
Bad news is, the window only occurs once every 26 months. So if we miss it, that's 2 whole years until the next one.
Now, let's say SpaceX has their rockets all prepped up within the launch window. How long would it take to get to Mars?
7 to 9 MONTHS.
That's an awfully long time to be drifting in space. Asides from the physical and mental toll on the crewmates, this long journey is also sure to come with a slew of implications.
It's just too risky.
Maybe in the future when we have better technology and the trip would be shorter, we can attempt the trip? But right now, it's too long and too risky. Even in the late 2020s when the journey is expected to take place, I still don't believe our tech will be sufficient enough.
2. LIVING ON MARS
Think of the Sahara desert. Mars is a hundred times worse.
It is frankly a torrid hellhole and for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't wish a life there on anyone.
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Now I won't get too much into the science of it all and I'll just be mentioning a few effects.
The first thing we have to consider is that Mars has basically no atmosphere, which means dangerous levels of solar radiation (i.e cancer and mutations) and since there's no atmosphere, no heat is retained which means extremely low temperatures. Mars temperatures usually go below -120°C. For reference, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89°C.
So not only is Mars a hellhole, it's simultaneously a hot and cold hellhole.
Mars is also barren, which means no agriculture, which means the only way our potential colonists will survive is by depending on supplies from earth, which as I said earlier would take about 7-9 months every 2 years.
But Elon musk apparently has a plan called terraforming to fix this issue.
But before we get to that,
Try to visualize the extreme psychological effects that comes from living in such a harsh environment knowing that's it's highly unlikely that you would ever go back home to Earth.
Yea... you can't even pay me to live on Mars.
WHAT IS TERRAFORMING?
Terraforming is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth to make it habitable by humans.
With that said, terraforming is utter bullshit. You can quote me on that.
We simply do not have the resources and technology to change for this and we won't have it for centuries to come. This is some sci-fi movie shit. It is ridiculous that Elon Musk even considers this an option. Terraforming to us is like saying ants should build the Burj khalifa... And no, I will not elaborate.
BETTER ALTERNATIVES
If Elon wants to leave the Earth so had, there's a much more better option...
Luna. Or as most people know her — the moon.
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Not only have humans been on the moon before, but it also has numerous advantages over Mars,
Let's look at some of them.
The moon is 384000 kilometers away from Earth compared to Mars' 230 million kilometers. It is much, much more closer. Because of this, travel time is only 3 days compared to Mars 7 to 9 months.
Because of the distance, communication delay is only 2.5 seconds compared to Mars' 30 minute delay. If something goes wrong on the moon, people would know right away.
Less mental and psychological toll on people cause there's actually a chance you can go back to your home on Earth.
The moon can also offer a variety of benefits as opposed to Mars which will just be sucking funds with no real justification for an extremely long time.
Lemme explain.
You see, the moon has no atmosphere, and at first glance, that might seem counter productive but let me elaborate.
On Mars, dust storms and micrometeorites (tiny rocks moving at the speeds of bullets) are a serious problem, and this is due to the atmosphere. Even though that atmosphere is just 1% that of Earth, it's still enough to cause serious problems. Equipment will be ravaged and damaged, colonists will always be at risk. It's not worth it.
The moon however has no atmosphere, which means no dust storms or micrometeorites, and that gives way for benefits like an obsevatory, massive solar panel installations and a possible moon base among others.
CONCLUSION
Elon Musk is a guy I truly respect, but it is becoming more and more obvious that the guy is just a delusional billionaire.
On the surface, a mission to Mars sounds glorious. It's every astronomy geek's dream. But realistically speaking, it's nothing more than a fantasy.
It won't work,at least not for a 100 years.
And even on the very slim chance that it works, I'll say it again
There's absolutely no reason for us to go to Mars. None at all.
It benefits no one.
Some people bring up the excuse of;
What if the world ends? Wouldn't it be wise to prepare?
The earth can perfectly sustain life for another billion years. We got time.
Some ask;
What about research?
Rovers are much more efficient at collecting data and much less fragile than humans. There is nothing we can do on Mars that rovers can't do better.
Okay,
but what about climate change? you might ask.
It cost 2.9 billion dollars to send the latest Rover to Mars. And that's just a robot. Imagine how much it would cost to send a group of people along with supplies to keep them alive...
If that money was dedicated to preventing and managing climate change, the world would be a much better place.
Taking care of Earth should be our number priority. Regardless of what Elon wants you to believe...
There is no planet B.
Thank you for reading.
Stay buzzing,
Maximus✍🏾