Elon Musk Reveals His Visions on Human Habitation on Mars

The easiest way to gather support for a mission to Mars is to become approachable to the general public. This is what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is doing as he cheerfully answers questions during a Reddit AMA session.

Musk discussed some of his thoughts on colonizing Mars. The commercial space flight mogul is also known for his cryptic tweets and his way of dropping news "bombs" every now and then. And it looks like a strategy that works in promoting his space projects.

Last September, Musk delivered his speech called "Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species." In his speech, the billionaire discussed how SpaceX would bring humans to Mars. He also discussed other factors such as the price for a one-way ticket to the red planet. Musk discussed his powerful Interplanetary Transport System (ITS). However, during the conference, the space mogul revealed very little specific information about the colonization of Mars.

But during an AMA on Reddit session, Musk revealed a few more interesting information about the mission. When someone asked Musk about specifics on his mission to Mars, the businessman gladly answered by saying that a SpaceX Red Dragon spacecraft will be sent to Mars in 2018 or maybe 2020. This will exhibit his company's ability to travel to and land on the red planet.

Musk also mention the key factors in his mission to Mars; he intends to harvests useful elements from the Martian surface. He wants to study methane and water on the surface of the planet.

Musk will send its first unmanned ITS to Mars that he fondly called "Heart of Gold" might be filled with cargo and equipment to build the propellant facility that will harvest materials on Mars. After that, the next mission will entail sending the first batch of humans to Mars that will start the colonization of the red planet. The company is expected to send humans to the red planet as early as 2024 and will arrive on Mars by 2025. SpaceX plans to send a batch of people to Mars every 26 months in order to build a successful colony on the red planet. But Musk admitted that there are still much to be done.

"We are still far from figuring this out in detail," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a statement.