SpaceX Mars City: What We Know About SpaceX’s Plans

SpaceX is one of the most successful private space companies today. But despite all its achievements, Elon Musk founded the company for just one reason, to get humans to Mars. Since SpaceX was born in 2002, Musk has never lost sight of his vision for a city on Mars.

Most believed Musk’s plans for living on Mars would fade away once SpaceX matured into the “serious” space market. However, they have not. Instead, Musk continually doubles down on the Red Planet. He has two main arguments, which he repeats like a mantra. One is the lifeboat theory. A city on Mars would ensure the species’ survival if a devastating event wiped out humanity on Earth. The second argument is just the thrill of space exploration.

Almost everything SpaceX designs, builds and operates can be considered a test-run for their Mars Program. The SpaceX Mars Program relies mainly on the Starship. It is a massive reusable spacecraft. It can launch, land, refuel and launch again, making it the holy grail of rocketry. The Starship is designed to reach Mars and can take 150 tons of payload or over 100 people in just one flight. That is how Musk plans to build a city on Mars. The Starship is not yet ready, but it is getting close.

Mars City 2050

“I would like to die on Mars, just not on impact,” one of the most famous quotes of Elon Musk says. A trip to Mars takes between 128 to over 300 days. Every two years, Earth aligns with the planet creating perfect windows for traveling. In 2019, Musk said a trip would start out costing half a million dollars, but it would eventually drop down to 100 thousand dollars. Musk added that volunteers traveling to Mars could pay for the ticket by working in the new Mars City upon arrival. “Shortage of labor in Mars is not expected soon,” Musk says.

Musk is still set on his goal of building a self-sustainable city on Mars by 2050. He says the city will be home to one million people. The goal was to launch the first Starship in 2022. Then, in 2024, two cargo and two crew Starships would deliver the first settlers. These would focus on water, a first base, energy and the propellant factory. Then in 2026, six Starships would fly off to Mars. They would carry enough mass to finish the first stages of the city, the propellant factory, solar arrays and everything needed to mine volatiles resources and water and extract CO2 from the atmosphere.

The plan is to make the city bigger and bigger as more Starships launch from and to Mars. Musk also says that terraforming Mars is possible, but it is unlikely that it will happen during his lifetime if it is to happen at all. Nevertheless, Elon Musk says that a city on Mars is the “next logical step for humanity.” During his last SpaceX Starship update, he asked people what kind of future they wanted, one where humans stay on Earth forever or one where humans become interplanetary.

Source: SpaceX