The challenges facing Elon Musk and NASA in sending humans to Mars

The challenges facing Elon Musk and NASA in sending humans to Mars


President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, want to make living on Mars a reality. 

Musk has said that his company, SpaceX, can get humans to Mars as early as 2029. Meanwhile, NASA officials have said that sending humans to Mars even by 2040 would be an “audacious” goal. China also has ambitions, with the country planning to establish an autonomous Mars research station by 2038.

In Musk’s view, going to Mars is tantamount to preserving humanity and escaping the ever-growing threats to Earth, including natural disasters and warfare. For scientists, Mars offers possible answers to questions such as the prevalence and diversity of life in the universe.

“The early Earth and Mars were twins. They were both rocky planets with liquid water, CO2 dominated atmospheres,” says Robert Zubrin, president of The Mars Society, a nonprofit. “So if the theory is correct that life originates naturally from chemistry, wherever the right physical and chemical conditions, then it should have appeared on Mars.”

But landing humans on Mars and settling the planet will mean overcoming a number of daunting technical challenges and risks that humans have never before faced.

“The Mars landing problem is complicated. The transit problem, super complicated. You know, the radiation environment is very severe. The life support problem. The reliability has to be super high,” said Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator of the Moon to Mars Program at NASA, during a panel discussion in February. “The propulsion capability is not – you know, we got to get better in all those areas.”

At the core of Musk’s plan to reach Mars is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built: Starship. In March, SpaceX conducted Starship’s eighth test flight. While SpaceX was able to successfully retrieve the Super Heavy booster, the Starship spacecraft exploded, leaving a trail of debris in its wake and disrupting commercial flights. SpaceX’s next test flight for Starship is expected soon.

CNBC visited the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah to get a behind-the-scenes look at what life on Mars could be like, and spoke to experts about what challenges remain to landing humans on the red planet. Watch the video to find out more.



Source

Sam Altman says he doesn’t think about Elon Musk that much
Technology

Sam Altman says he doesn’t think about Elon Musk that much

Sam Altman, left, and Elon Musk. Muhammed Selim Korkutata | Anadolu | Getty Images Sam Altman has dismissed longtime rival Elon Musk’s warnings that OpenAI is set to dominate Microsoft, after the companies announced that OpenAI’s latest AI model will be incorporated into Microsoft products. On Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that OpenAI’s GPT-5 […]

Read More
OpenStore’s demise marks endgame for once-booming e-commerce aggregator market
Technology

OpenStore’s demise marks endgame for once-booming e-commerce aggregator market

When venture capitalist Keith Rabois got into e-commerce, he couldn’t stop buying brands. Now, everything must go. OpenStore, co-founded by Rabois in 2021, is shutting down nearly all of the 40-plus Shopify stores it acquired, and it’s in the process of liquidating any remaining inventory by offering steep discounts to move merchandise. Earlier this week, […]

Read More
South Korea launches national AI model in tech race with U.S. and China
Technology

South Korea launches national AI model in tech race with U.S. and China

Ryu Young-sang, CEO of South Korean telecoms giant SK Telecom, told CNBC that AI is helping telecoms firms improve efficiency in their networks. Manaure Quintero | Afp | Getty Images South Korea has tasked some of its biggest companies and promising startups to build a national foundational AI model using mainly domestic technology, in a […]

Read More