Elon Musk, while responding to a tweet on Twitter, has announced that he hopes that a trip to Mars would cost under $500K or even under $100K. By doing so, he has put a figure on what the SpaceX’s founder anticipates as the cost of relocation to the Red Planet.
The question about the cost of moving to Mars was posted by @SPEXcast on the Twitter thread about the successful force testing of the Raptor rocket engine. The Twitter user had asked Elon Musk about the anticipated cost of a ticket to the Moon or Mars.
Musk responded by saying that the cost of the ticket will be ‘very dependent on volume, but I’m confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k. Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want.’
The goal sure is quite an ambitious one. Especially when you consider the fact that the recent trip to Mars of NASA’s Curiosity Rover cost approximately 2.5 billion dollars. Of course, Musk is counting on the volume to make up for the price differential; but there’s also the question of what kind of volume will there be at the given cost.
In comparison, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space plane that is aimed at providing tourists a low-Earth orbital experience in a weightless environment only for a few minutes is slated to cost over $200,000 per ticket, and the same cost is being expected of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space tourism capsule.
Elon Musk, however, is committed to making it happen and has made traveling to Mars the biggest endeavor of his life. His vessel that will be used for taking people to Mars, Starship, is currently undergoing development in Texas and the recent tests have shown promise. You can read about the Super Heavy rocket system and its incredible heat shield technology as well!
