Elon Musk's hopeful message to Earthlings: 'Humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime'

Making humans a spacefaring civilisation is one of the primary goals of Elon Musk and the reason why he established his private aerospace company SpaceX. The tech mogul, who pioneered the concept of reusable rockets, now has a hopeful message for his fellow Earthlings and our future as a multi-planetary species. "Humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime", wrote Musk in his latest tweet. Simple but significant, this statement is evoking a range of reactions from his followers including popular MIT scientist and podcast host Lex Fridman who replied, "I hope to set foot on Mars one day".

Notably, this is not the first time Musk has initiated a conversation about humanity touching down on the red planet. In the past, he has insisted that humans will get to Mars in the next five years or maybe ten years in the worst-case scenario. These bold timelines set forth by Musk are in line with SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell who recently stated during an interview with CNBC that humans will surely land on Mars in this decade. 

Mars: Humanity's next frontier

Mars has emerged as humanity's next frontier as its characteristics make it the most viable option for a habitable planet in our solar system other than Earth. It is the same reason why it has also triggered a space race between multiple countries including the US, China and entire Europe. On July 5, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it will land the first European astronaut on the Moon by 2030 and on Mars by 2040. It even released a roadmap detailing its plan for levelling with space powers such as the US and China in leaving a footprint on the red planet.

On the other hand, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is planning to bring samples from Mars two years earlier than NASA and ESA, which have a joint sample return mission of their own. This competition is amplified by the fact that NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently admitted that the space race between the US and China has already begun. He even accused Beijing of stealing spacecraft designs from NASA, something which made the former furious.