From its likelihood, to whether SpaceX is
the right person for the job, and more, join
me as we explore whether SpaceX can get his
starship to Mars by 2024!
The mission to Mars is without a doubt the
"mission of the decade".
This is what many groups, including NASA and
other international agencies are attempting
to create.
One of those groups though is a privately
funded one called SpaceX.
And it's a team that is truly trying to go
and get to Mars within the next few years.
But to understand if that's even possible,
you really need to know more about SpaceX
itself.
"SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches
advanced rockets and spacecraft.
The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize
space technology, with the ultimate goal of
enabling people to live on other planets."
While that may sound very basic, it's actually
quite a complex thing.
You see, for all the advances that humanity
has made in regards to going into space, the
fact of the matter is that it costs a LOT
to do that.
So much so that the United States main space
agency, NASA, was hit with major budget cuts
because the attempts they were making to revolutionize
space travel just wasn't working.
Enter Elon Musk, one of the richest men in
the world, and a man who truly believes in
trying to make space travel not just the future,
but the present.
He founded SpaceX in 2002 to try and make
space travel better, cheaper, more accessible,
and beyond, and as the Space X website loves
to boast, since 2002, they've had quite a
few successes:
"SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for
a series of historic milestones.
It is the only private company capable of
returning a spacecraft from low Earth orbit,
which it first accomplished in 2010.
The company made history again in 2012 when
its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial
spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the
International Space Station.
SpaceX successfully achieved the historic
first reflight of an orbital class rocket
in 2017, and the company now regularly launches
flight-proven rockets.
In 2018, SpaceX began launching Falcon Heavy,
the world’s most powerful operational rocket
by a factor of two."
So as you can see, this is more than just
a company, it's a place with a mission, and
that mission is to get humanity into space,
onto Mars, and more.
And it's been working REALLY hard to try and
get a manned flight into space, and it's getting
closer than you might expect!
Why is that?
Because Elon Musk over the last several months
and years has been building various spaceships
like we noted before, and in recent months,
he's been testing the ones that he believes
will send us to the planet Mars, including
the line of ships he simply calls the Starship.
The Starship architecture consists of a big
spaceship called Starship, which Musk has
said will be capable of carrying up to 100
people, and a giant rocket named Super Heavy.
Both of these vehicles will be reusable; indeed,
rapid and frequent reuse is key to Musk's
overall vision, which involves cutting the
cost of spaceflight enough to make Mars colonization
and other bold exploration feats economically
feasible.
You see, that's the big problem with going
to Mars and trying to set up a home there.
It's easy in concept, we just have to get
there, set up a home, make sure it can withstand
certain things and self-sustain eventually.
But with how things actually work?
We're talking hundreds, thousands, even tens
of thousands of hours trying to figure out
all the potential problems that could happen
on Mars before we even set foot on it!
And of course, since things NEVER go the way
we think they will, it's going to inevitably
turn into a thing where we're trying to make
things work on the fly, or have to counter
some big issues that no one saw coming.
But if you think that this is stopping Elon
Musk from dreaming big and trying to get us
to Mars and beyond?
You don't know Elon Musk.
Before we dive more into the big dreams of
Elon Musk, be sure to like or Dislike the
video , that way we have a feedback to improve
our work, and subscribe to the channel!
That way you don't miss ANY of our weekly
videos!
Musk wrote that the eventual goal is to launch
each Starship vehicle three times per day
on average.
Each Starship will be able to carry about
100 tons of payload to orbit, so, at that
flight rate, every vehicle would loft about
100,000 tons annually, he explained.
Now, Musk may sound like he's just spouting
out a number here (and if we're being honest...he
kind of is) but in truth, he is trying to
abide by the laws of space and reality.
What do we mean by that?
Simple, when it comes to the facts of space
travel, having the right windows to travel
in are essential.
Not the least of which is trying to minimize
travel time by making sure you are in the
correct windows.
Confused?
I'll explain.
Think about the solar system we are in, ok?
Think about how every planet orbits around
the sun.
Now, if you were to look at Mercury, and its
orbit, and then compare it to Earth's orbit,
you would see quite easily that its orbit
was shorter than Earths by a very good margins.
88 days compared to 365.
So now, compare the Earth's orbit around the
sun to Mars.
365 days...to 867 days.
Yeah...that's quite a leap.
And because of that, the Earth and Mars aren't
in the same alignment most times.
Thus, Musk, NASA and others are aiming to
try and get people to Mars within certain
windows.
"Building 100 Starships/year gets to 1000
in 10 years or 100 megatons/year or maybe
around 100k people per Earth-Mars orbital
sync," he said in a tweet.
So for him, he's thinking REALLY long term
by not just trying to get to Mars, but also
trying to make it so WHEN we get there, and
we have enough time and resources to make
a true colony, we have the ships necessary
to get a full colony made in a decent amount
of time.
By "decent amount of time" I mean about 50-100
years.
Yeah, this is not a quick process, however,
the quicker we get started, the quicker we
get done, right?
And that's one of Musk's biggest goals.
Trying to do things now instead of hoping
something will develop later to make things
more speedy.
Because waiting around just isn't good when
you're trying to shape the human race towards
its future.
After hearing some of his numbers, he stated
one fan asked if he was seriously stating
that we could have a million people on Mars
by 2050.
His response?
"Yes."
Obviously that would go against his timeline
we just spelled out in part because of how
long it would take to MAKE a colony that could
house a million people and be both functional
and self-sustaining, but hey, goals!
And trust me when I say that these are just
some of the goals that Elon Musk has going
on right now in terms of pushing space travel.
He's also trying to get his Starship ready
so that it can make an around the moon voyage
in 2023 (which will be helmed by a Japanese
billionaire I kid you not).
Elon is working with NASA on various projects
meant to push space travel, and more.
In short, he's a busy guy, and we should respect
his ambitions in terms of trying to get us
into space and more.
But...let's be honest with ourselves for a
bit.
While it's true that Elon Musk is a very ambitious
and downright revolutionary thinker, and he
has lived up to his gift of gab in the past
by just making SpaceX and other ventures,
we have to be honest with ourselves here in
that getting to Mars and colonizing it is
a whole other set of issues that Musk and
his team will have to deal with as they happen.
And timetables are very easy to break as he
knows very, very well.
Just in the last year, while he's had many
successes like with the beginning of his Starlink
program, he's also had numerous setbacks with
his teams ships.
Including Starship.
There were mechanical failures, leaks (in
terms of fuel) that caused massive fireballs
on ignition, and of course, lost ships.
They were hoping to get to manned flights
soon, but now those have been pushed back
because they don't want to risk the safety
of everyone.
And this is all the stuff on Earth that we're
dealing with, imagine getting into SPACE and
having to deal with stuff.
It's true that the Starship will be able to
handle a vast cargo load and still go at a
good clip, but we're still talking months
in space even with "orbital sync".
The journey is going to be rough, and that
means all sorts of potential things could
happen before they even land on Mars.
Of course, Elon knows that to truly help make
things work, he needs to "set the stage" before
anyone arrives.
So he's going to send some heavy cargo ships
to the planet before people set foot on it
and leave a bunch of things for them to use
when the time comes.
This is actually what is intended to happen
in 2024.
It's the cargo that's going to go first, not
humanity.
But, once the ship lands and they get the
clearance for the next phase, we'll be going
to Mars...at least in small part at first.
When we colonize Mars, we would need to have
a base that would allow us to not just breathe,
but also protect us from all the effects of
the harsh Martian landscape, and ensure that
we can live without the need for spacesuits.
SpaceX is working on that as well.
their plan is to have a singular massive base
to start the colonization with.
The base itself will be 41 feet tall, 16 feet
wide, and have three different air locks that
will allows the colonists to go from the inside
to the outside with minimal change in air
pressure.
It's stated that the initial team of colonists
would be about 6 people, which is fair for
a first attempt at surviving on Mars.
Obviously you can't just start off with a
large city.
If it proves successful though, and there
are no serious issues with the base in terms
of air pressure, longevity and more, more
bases could be sent.
Ones that could connect to each other via
pressure tubes not unlike various sci-fi shows
and movies have shown.
These six people will have quite the task
ahead of them, mainly, they have to live on
Mars and do all the research and testing before
time runs out on them (more on that in a bit).
They'll be given all sorts of equipment to
do a wide variety of tests.
For example, if we were to try and live on
Mars, we would need food, right?
Obviously NASA or SpaceX (whoever gets there
first) will send all sorts of rations to allow
us to survive.
But to be a true colony, we would need to
be able to grow our own food.
Specifically, plant foods.
If you recall the movie The Martian, this
is exactly what the stranded astronaut had
to do in order to survive.
And he was successful via some ingenuity and
having the right components.
So now imagine a better equipped and less
improvised session of testing on that front.
Should we find a way to grow plants via Martian
soil, it could be a big deal.
There is also the notion of mining.
Mining on Mars is aiming to be huge for a
whole host of reasons.
Not the least of which is that some of the
materials under the dirt of Mars could be
beneficial to long-term survival via minerals
that could power things and even gold that
could be sent back to Earth to help fund the
expeditions that we are aiming to have there.
Now, as for the "time limit" I mentioned earlier,
the first set of people sent to Mars are only
going to be there for less than a year.
This is to help test things out, prove that
various things work, and more.
They're not aiming to push the envelope (for
once) here.
They want to ensure things get done, that
they work, and that everyone gets home safe.
Once they are home, they'll be tested, be
sure that they are ok and are good to go for
re-insertion to Earth and so on and so forth.
Those steps right there are very easy to say,
but very hard to achieve, and both NASA and
Elon Musk knows it.
But, that right there is part of the wonder
and the mystery of space.
Can we really do this?
Can we really achieve everything that we want
to do with this?
Can SpaceX really get their Starship to Mars?
It's a lot of questions, and with the potential
mission being years away, it's hard to speculate.
But, if we do make this work, and we get to
Mars and we get the chance to make a colony
there, it could change everything for humanity
as a whole.
Now, we wouldn't just be confined to one planet,
we have multiple ones that we could live on
over time.
And once the first colony is made, more can
follow.
In truth, we don't know what is to follow,
but you can't help but smile when you see
Elon Musk pushing things to try and get them
done, because when he gets them done in one
fashion or another, he'll be the first to
say, "I told you so."
Thanks for watching everyone!
What did you think of this look at SpaceX
and the mission to Mars?
Do you think that Elon Musk's plan to get
to Mars by 2024 will succeed?
What do you think will be the potential pitfalls
of the plan, if any?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure
to like or Dislike the video , and I'll see
you next time on the channel!
