Starhopper and the idea of Elon Musk to live on Mars

In these days, on Twitter, Elon Musk relaunched the idea of the 2015, by promoting it even by the sold of personalized t-shirts. It’s a theory according to which the planet Mars should be nuking to allow the quick melting of the polar ice, by allowing so even the release of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Musk seems now sure to find the quicker way to go living on Mars.

Living on Mars

The owner of SpaceX has clear ideas about how to deal the climate change that threats the terrestrial species. His idea is the one to leave the Earth and to move on another planet to restart again.

The first announcement was made in the 2015, at the talk show of Stephen Colbert, where he said how to bomb Mars was the quicker way to make it liveable. After that (we are in the 2017) at the 67° International Astronautical Congress in Mexico, he told about his worry for the future of the terrestrial population.

The best planet where to start again, according to Musk, might be right Mars. The huge quantities of water and carbon dioxide which are present in the underground of the polar ice caps should be the key of the life on the planet.

Infact the theory wants that, once bombed the poles, huge quantities of carbon dioxide and water vapour will be released in the atmosphere. It will create so a greenhouse effect able to let increase the temperature and the air pressure. Basically it’s what is happening on the Earth, but faster.

To promote this idea, this time the CEO of Tesla and Space X realized some t-shirts with the write Nuke Mars which are selling on the shop of Space X for 25 dollars.

What do the experts think

A study on Nature Astronomy of the last year calculated that the quantity of CO2 available on Mars won’t be enough to obtain the results waited by Musk. Not even if all the reserves of the planet will be released together.

According to some scientists anyway the release of this carbon dioxide will, instead, get started to a long nuclear winter. Infact the particles produced by explosion (made by dust and debris) will cover the sun rays for a long time by further reducing the planet’s temperature by making so impossible living on Mars.

Starhopper

Starhopper is the prototype of space vehicle dedicated to the cargo and people transport for the future long travels in the space. The rocket completed the first target by flying few meters over the ground for about 15 seconds and then it landed few meters forward by making a little “hop”.

The next target is the one to flying at 200 meters from the ground and to safety landing. Once finished all the tests it will be the time of the experimentations of the Starship. This is the vehicle chosen for the project Dear Moon which provides the circumnavigation of the Moon with onboard 8 artists that will have the possibility to see it closely. Dear Moon will be financed by the japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and it would take off in the 2023.

If the project will work it will surely be a step forward to arrive to the travels on Mars. The passage for the Moon, however, at the moment is a must. For Musk it is a possible challenge for the 2025. While for the 2035 it will be possible to have thousand of rockets ready to reach the red planet, the place where there will be the first human colony.

The costs are surely high. On Twitter the same Musk has assumed a total cost between the 100 billion and the 10 trillion of dollars for a self sustaining city. The one that remains a dubt is if it is only marketing or a real dream of Elon Musk, due to all the effort that he has for this planet.

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