CNBC AI News – July 2, [Year] –
Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel has revealed that Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, may be shifting his focus away from the political aspirations tied to colonizing Mars.
In a recent interview, Thiel remarked, “2024 is the year Elon stopped believing in Mars.” He suggested that Musk no longer views Martian colonization as a viable political solution for establishing a new society, a sentiment that has long been a cornerstone of Musk’s public vision for humanity’s future.
While Musk has consistently championed interstellar expansion, Thiel pointed out a subtle but significant evolution. “His plan used to have an ideological flavor. Now, it’s purely technological,” Thiel stated, implying a pivot from a socio-political grand narrative to a more engineering-centric objective.
Musk has previously projected human landings on Mars as early as 2028. In a May interview, he reiterated the critical importance of Martian settlement for “ensuring the long-term survival of civilization in case something catastrophic happens on Earth.”
Complementing this, SpaceX remains on track to launch its Starship vehicle, slated to carry Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots, to Mars by the end of 2026. The spacecraft is expected to reach its Martian destination in 2027, at which point the Optimus robots will commence surface exploration, gathering vital data for future human missions. SpaceX is reportedly evaluating several potential landing sites, with the Arcadia region emerging as a favored candidate.
Musk’s ambition to send humans to Mars is no fleeting fancy; it’s a decade-long endeavor with meticulously laid groundwork. His public pronouncements on the matter date back to 2007, when he first articulated his desire for humanity to explore and colonize the Red Planet.
By 2011, in an interview, Musk had envisioned sending humans to Mars within 10 to 20 years, envisioning a self-sustaining Martian colony numbering tens of thousands.
The conceptualization of the “Mars Colonial Transporter” followed in 2012, paving the way for SpaceX’s development of its powerful Raptor rocket engines.
The crucial Starship prototypes, the linchpin of future Martian transport, began production in 2018.
SpaceX’s Starship test flights commenced in 2023, though the initial launches encountered setbacks. Despite ongoing testing and occasional spectacular failures, the Starship program continues to advance methodically, inching humanity closer to its Martian aspirations with each iteration. The dream of stepping onto Martian soil, once a distant fantasy, is gradually becoming a tangible reality.
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