Children often have dreams of glorious success in their near adulthood. Some dream of winning Olympic gold, becoming president, climbing a mountain, or playing for the Yankees or Real Madrid. Elon Musk says his passion as a child was space travel, sci fi and Mars. Now a few decades later, he controls the most influential space agency in the world. SpaceX has 4 US launch sites, shuttling personel and equipment to the International Space Station and 6000 Starlink satellites bring internet to remote locations. But his signature mission is to colonize Mars. His plans propose the first manned launches in the early 2030’s and a million people living on Mars by the year 2050.
But Mars is not a welcoming host. The surface pressure is less than one percent of that on Earth and there is precious little oxygen gas. So without a pressurized suit and oxygen source a human would be dead in minutes of suffocation and embolism, the expansion of bodily fluids into gas. The pressure is low because there is so little atmosphere – molecules held by the planet’s gravity. No atmosphere because there is no magnetic field flowing from the poles. And no magnetic field because the core of Mars has cooled, unlike Earth’s core of molten nickel. The magnetic field on Earth serves to defray the solar winds, charged particles which emanate in all directions from the sun. Without this barrier, the solar winds sweep away most molecules which may consider forming an atmosphere on Mars.
Also, the matter of temperature. The surface of Mars averages minus 63 centegrade (-83F). Wherever night falls on the planet, the temperature goes below -100 centigrade or -140 F. Then there is the cosmic radiation, which causes cancer and neurological damage and which the planet is constantly bathed in, 40 times the intensity of that on Earth. And finally there are the Martian dust storms, not regional but enveloping most of the planet every 3 years.
3 There is no general consensus, but many scientists believe that a base could be established on Mars with the right protection from all the forbidding elements, albeit at enormous expense. This would entail transporting many tons ( Musk: “about a million”) of equipment and constructing living and working accommodations in a micro environment providing oxygen, pressure, food and water, waste removal, radiation protection. If Spacex doesn’t succeed, it won’t be for not trying. The technologies being developed jar the imagination.
4 But the delicate balance of forces, waves and particles, pressure, and temperature that make up Earth’s biosphere not only ensures our physical integrity but also helps to maintain our mental wellness. Some people are more depressed on dark, rainy days and more peppy on sunny days. Natural sunlight helps to stimulate serotonin, a neurotransmitter that aids in mood stability; artificial light cannot. Novelty and new experiences help regulate neurotransmitters which foster social bonding, effect calmness, and reduce stress-inducing rumination over regretful experiences. Thus the universal appeal of art, music and dramatic performance. And the institution of vacation, practiced even in primitive societies, gives relief from the routine. Over the millions of years, life has developed a symbiosis with earthly conditions in countless ways, many of which we surely don’t yet understand.
5 Inmates in prisons have a much higher rate of mental illness than the general public. This is due, certainly in part, to the isolation and relative stimulus deprivation of their lives in prison. The privations of life confined to a Martian habitat, possibly without the hope of returning to Earth, would certainly cause mental challenges and should be a cause for concern for all Mars missions.
6 Five countries have landed vehicles on the surface of Mars with varying degrees of success. The Soviet Union was the first in 1971, but lost contact with the craft minutes after it landed. The US had a successful landing in 1975 and since then NASA has landed 9 more times, deploying 4 rovers and a helicopter . Besides these NASA has put various satellites in orbit around Mars. Britain and ESA landed on Mars in 2003 but lost contact before the landing, which was only confirmed in 2013. China landed on Martian soil in 2021 deploying its own data-gathering rover.
7 But why go, exactly? Why go to Mars and expend such vast resources in time, effort, money, and mineral wealth? One reason is certainly the one that has motivated mankind over the centuries and continents – the challenge. The challenge to find India by sailing west, to conquer Constantinople, to swim the English Channel, to break a world record, to finish a marathon at the age of 50, to discover a cure for brain cancer. Technological challenges are no less motivated by this human spirit. On initiating the moon mission in 1962, JFK said, “We choose to go to the moon this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” We feel gratified when we meet a challenge. The disciplined Houston Control room dissolved into joyful, raucous celebration when Apollo 11’s lunar module Eagle landed on July 20,1969.
8 Second is the prestige factor, which was not far from the surface of Kennedy’s moon mission speech. The Soviet’s had just delivered a one-two punch in Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth in 1957 and Yuri Gargarin’s single orbit around the Earth in April 1961. The advantage the Soviets demonstrated had some Americans in near panic. . The space race was indeed a race for prestige and a flexing of geopolitical muscles. Neil DeGrasse Tyson: “People forget why we went to the moon. We went to the moon to beat the Russians. When we looked over our shoulders and saw nobody there, the Apollo program was cancelled.” Moon rocks on display in the Smithsonian were impressive, but not cost effective, and did not radically change our society.
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A dozen years later, however, the Russians did indeed stir the pot a bit. In 1971 they landed a space craft on the surface of Mars, but lost contact with it almost immediately. Periodic Mars trials followed, but the Mars race was low-keyed compared with the Moon Race, and many people didn’t know it was happening. The first American craft landed successfully on Mars in 1975. In the next 50 years 8 more successful US missions followed. In 2003 the European Space Agency landed a craft on Mars but lost contact before it landed, which was only confirmed in 2013. China landed a craft on Martian soil and deployed their own data-gathering rover.
musk has evolved – interview — much moe wxciting – spacefaring
just ify his mars plans. Tyson – vanity mission-
later – rogue I, WW,
But Elon Musk’s intentions go far beyond landing a human on Mars.
Most sucessful life long scientists – researchers and engineers derive there gratification from their work
Insert Neil De Grasse Tyson – skepticism. vanity project
9With so many hurdles to overcome why does Musk persist? For one thing, he is no ordinary scientist. Most get their gratification over a lifetime by immersion into their work – into the gratification of receiving a grant for research, for seeing their work published, for seeing their work applied to improve the world. If their research reveals a dead end, they back off and try another path. But Musk has fallen into another realme: The limelight. Celebrity. He has found another source of gratification – a worshipping fandom, as The Richest Man in the World and he has fallen hard. Jumping high in the air on stage with Donald Trump in front of teeming applause. Now on stage with a buzzing chain saw dramatizing what he plans to do with government spending. Now hosting Saturday Night Live. Now on the Tonight Show. Now publicly challenging Mark Zuckerburg to a cage match. After developing such a craving for celebrity, how could he abandon the source of his fame no matter how unlikely it is to succeed or be of value to mankind.
He has justified his Mars plan in ways that often defy reason or at least conventional wisdon, the scientific kind. atomic explosions to crete n tmosphere.
But Elon Musk’s envisioned plans are far grander. Central to his scheme is to make Mars not just a lab for scientists, but a place fun for the whole family.
IT is often the case that a luminary in one field is underdeveloped in another. Musk is seemingly a genius in the space sciences but naive in the social sciences During the ill-fated DOGE debacle, Musk, as chief, oversaw the dismissal of 300,000 federal employees – in some cases two in the same family. Many had worked decades, believed their jobs were important and integral to government function, and had recieved commendations. For their devotion they recieved a two-lined e mail informing that their employment was ”terminated, effective immediately. ” It left them with no income, mortgages to pay, doctors bills and no insurance, their children’s education to pay for. They knew Musk knew nothing about their work. And to boot he was the richest man in the world. Is it a wonder that animosity grew?
What happened next was classic sociology. And it wouldn’t surprise any social scientist familiar with the French revolution or the Arab spring or any grave case of percieved social injustice: The vast majority reacts with anger, indignation and alarm. A minority demonstrates in public places, and a tiny minority react violently – attacking Tesla showrooms and cars.
A wiser Musk might have reacted with thoughtful re-evaluation: Maybe we could have given a 3-month notice before termination. Maybe offer a termination package or extended FEHB health insurance coverage. But Musk only reacted with arrigant indignation:
” I’m not someone who has ever commited violence and yet massive violence was committed against my companies, massive violence was threatened against me. What’s wrong with these people? Why would they do that? How wrong can they be? They’re on the wrong side of history. I’ve not harmed anyone. Those people will go to prison.” Then he ominously pointed to the camera on him and said. ”We’re coming for you.”
I’m not someone who has ever committed violence and yet massive violence was committed against my companies, massive violence was threatened against me.
Who are these people? Why would they do that? How wrong can they be? They’re on the wrong side of history. And that’s an evil thing to do….What’s wrong with these people? I’ve not harmed anyone. Those people will go to prison.
“If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes.” Carl Sagan, Planetary Scientist, Cornell University.
strikingly said he believed that “
