In a Twitter exchange on Friday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said humans are two to three decades away from the first human landing on Mars.
“Mars may be a fixer upper of a planet, but it has great potential!” the billionaire wrote.
User @PPathole responded, asking Musk what he believes is the “estimated timeframe for creating a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.”
“20 years? Self-sustaining meaning not relying/[dependent] on Earth for supplies,” he said.
ELON MUSK SEEKS TO BLOCK TWITTER REQUEST FOR EXPEDITED TRIAL
“20 to 30 years from first human landing if launch rate growth is exponential,” the Tesla co-founder replied. “Assumes transferring ~100k each rendezvous and ~1M total people needed.”
“Tesla is to protect life on Earth, SpaceX to extend life beyond,” Musk said in a separate post.
This is not the first time the tech leader has discussed colonizing Mars – or the moon.
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He has previously touted the idea of becoming a “multi-planet species,” building a city on Mars and sending one million people to the red planet by 2050.
Earlier this year, he hinted that a crewed mission to Mars could happen as soon as 2029.
“Humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime,” he tweeted on July 6.
Just how feasible or lofty Elon Musk’s goals are, however, remains up for debate.
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Images of Mars through robotic emissaries like the Perseverance rover shows a desolate, rocky, dusty and frigid landscape.
Notably, efforts for NASA’s Artemis program – which will eventually be crewed – have faced delays.