
Elon Musk provides new details on his “mind blowing” mission to Mars - cryptoz
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/10/elon-musk-provides-new-details-on-his-mind-blowing-mission-to-mars/
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cryptoz
Elon is announcing this because he wants the world's scientists to get ready
to send their experiments to Mars!

> “Essentially what we’re saying is we’re establishing a cargo route to Mars,”
> he said. “It’s a regular cargo route. You can count on it. It’s going happen
> every 26 months. Like a train leaving the station. And if scientists around
> the world know that they can count on that, and it’s going to be
> inexpensive, relatively speaking compared to anything in the past, then they
> will plan accordingly and come up with a lot of great experiments.”

And the MCT in 2022!

> Then in 2022, Musk said he hoped to launch what the company now sometimes
> refers to as the Mars Colonial Transporter, designed to bring a colony to
> Mars.

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Aelinsaar
Here is someone who understands how to work the media to his advantage.

~~~
cryptoz
Not just any media, either; this is the Washington Post, owned by Bezos, who
runs what will probably become SpaceX's fiercest competitor in the launch
market (if they ever get customers and deliver payloads to orbit, which they
will). Another quick note on Bezos and Blue Origin: Bezos wants to move all
manufacturing and mining off-Earth, to take place on asteroids, comets, etc.
He envisions the Earth as a green and clean place to live. I believe him like
I do Musk: Blue Origin will succeed too.

~~~
internaut
If I remember properly the Kikkoman soy sauce company in Japan was helped by
its competitors to stay in business when it ran into financial difficulties,
reasoning that in the long haul the market would be healthier for all involved
if Kikkoman survived.

I say so because I'm enjoying Bezos and Musk's friendly competition and hope
the 'war' remains room temperature. There are so many confounding factors with
spaceflight somebody's going to need a support at some stage. After all when
the glorybuzz is said and done you need good frienemies to ward off
complacency from the adoration of sycophants. Besides, it's nice if somebody
else is going through the same shit as yourself! At least then you can have
war buddies. I think that's one of the reasons why it's easy to make friends
at school/university. Adversity is under-examined as a method to produce
lasting relationships.

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woodandsteel
When SpaceX starts landing people on Marx, I wonder if they will use ipfs on
their internet.

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SCAQTony
Too soon, too ambitious, and inhumane. This is not a well thought out enough
overview to suggest colony could be supported.

Here is a link to just some of the problems MIT found.

"...MIT students' analysis (PDF) by Sydney Do, Koki Ho, Samuel Schreiner,
Andrew Owens and Olivier de Weck estimates that the first fatality on Mars
will come at around day 68 of the mission. ..."

[http://www.cnet.com/news/why-mars-one-colonists-could-die-
so...](http://www.cnet.com/news/why-mars-one-colonists-could-die-sooner-than-
expected/)

~~~
cryptoz
Mars One is a scam and has nothing to do with SpaceX. That was a separate
group that had no real substance to their claims. The case is quite the
opposite with SpaceX! Mars One was not trying to build a colony, they were a
scam pretending to sell people one-way death tickets to Mars. That's not
relevant here.

~~~
SCAQTony
No doubt, but the problems are the same: Food, oxygen management, cosmic rays
and no atmosphere.

Though Musk mentions a "pre-fab city" of some kind built within a 8-year time
frame (starting yesterday and who or what is going to build it?) how can one
not think that this is too ambitious?

Question, what kind of food can they grow on Mars and would natural pressures
may make this good inedible? We do not know.

What about Musk's 26-month supply drop? Who is going to pay for it and what
happens if SpaceX misses a delivery due to a "black swan" event or the company
goes under?

Arguably, like MARS ONE this could be a scam, or more likely a well
intentioned vision with no ground work in place to be accepted as credible.
Since none of these problems have been addressed, and not one "Matt Damon"
potato has been grown on Mars or a "Mars sim" environment I think my remarks
were credible, YMMV.

~~~
cryptoz
Well, if you think that Elon's companies are a scam, that's that then, I doubt
I'll be able to change your mind. This project is difficult and risky,
especially for the first colonists, yes. But it's not a scam.

Your questions will mostly be answered slowly over the next few years as
SpaceX, NASA, and others collaborate and build the infrastructure for a Mars
colony.

~~~
SCAQTony
Ok, let's revisit this comment in 8-years and you can either dig me up or
down. ;-)

