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Updated March 14th, 2021 at 16:00 IST

Elon Musk's idea of colonising Mars is 'dangerous delusion', says astrophysicist

Is it no secret that space genius Elon Musk is planning to make human life multi-planetary.Last year, he revealed that he plans to send humans to Mars.

Reported by: Riya Baibhawi
Elon Musk's idea of colonizing mars is a 'dangerous delusion': UK's top astrophysicist
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Is it no secret that space genius Elon Musk is planning to make human life multi-planetary. Last year, the SpaceX chief executive revealed that he plans to send at least a million people on Mars by 2050. While Musk's plan could be appealing to many, Britain's top astrophysicist has dismissed it saying that it was merely a 'dangerous delusion'. 

'No better than living on Mount Everest' 

Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees, on March 13, discredited Musk’s ambition saying that there was little possibility of it turning into a reality. Speaking at the World Government Summit, Reese stressed that living on the Red planet was plainly not possible because of its hostile and extreme environment. The top cosmologist, in his concluding argument, likened it to living in another space with an extremely cold environment such as the tip of Mount Everest. 

“The idea of Elon Musk to have a million people settle on Mars is a dangerous delusion. Living on Mars is no better than living on the South Pole or the tip of Mount Everest."

While the rusty red tint of Mars creates an illusion of it being hot, it is the opposite which is actually true. According to NASA, the temperature of Mars could drop to minus 125 degrees C in winters near the poles. In orbit, Mars is about 50 million miles farther away from the Sun than Earth. That means it gets a lot less light and heat to keep it warm. Added to that, the red planet also has a 100 times thinner environment than the earth, making it almost impossible to hold the sun’s heat. 

Musk's plan to colonise the red planet came to light during online interaction. In January last year, a Twitter user questioned the Tesla Chief about it. "Dying on Mars? Billionaire Elon Musk in 2017 gave a statement to government leaders that when he lived he could be on Mars preferably. Elon wants to populate Mars with more than 1 million people by 2050. Is that possible, Elon Musk?”, He further wrote about how Elon set a mission to build 100 space ships a year which could send 100,000 people from Earth to Mars ‘all times when the planets' orbits align favourably’. Answering the question, Elon Musk revealed that the first colony on Mars will be built using 'glass domes'.

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Published March 14th, 2021 at 16:00 IST

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