We have repeatedly heard the news that after its colonization, not just small settlements, but entire cities will be built on Mars. Of course, nobody will do it right now, because several stages of preparatory work are necessary. However, the approximate cost of building Martian cities is already known. And recently, one of the main ideologists of the colonization of the red planet, Elon Musk, told how much it would cost to build a city on Mars.
When will the city be built on Mars
The vision of the SpaceX CEO includes not only sending the first humans to Mars in the next decade, but also using this mission as a starting point for creating a settlement. Assuming that everything goes according to plan, Musk believes that a self-sustaining, fully-functional city can form as early as 2050. It is worth noting that earlier, Mr. Musk suggested that SpaceX could offer a ticket to Mars for about $ 200,000. Moreover, this figure is taken “not from the ceiling.” This is the cost of an average American home and, guided by this logic, it will be possible to sell your house and move. Only not in another state, but on another planet.
How much will the construction of the Martian city cost
According to Elon Musk, this may be the most expensive construction project in the history of mankind. And its value can reach up to one eighth of the total world economy. If you want to know the exact number, Musk also named it on his twitter: from 100 billion to 10 trillion US dollars.
The calculations are based on the assumption that the city will need at least a million tons of cargo from Earth to function for the first time. The cost of creating a Martian city will depend on how much it costs to send each ton to Mars. If it is $ 100,000 per ton, ”explained Elon Musk, then this will set the price at around $ 100 billion.
The upper limit of the announced amount looks much more interesting. For $ 10 trillion, for example, you can buy almost all of the UK’s public and private assets. At the moment, their cost is estimated at 11.8 trillion dollars. Or for the money you can buy the 10 most expensive companies in the world and you will have about 3.5 trillion dollars left in stock.
This amount sounds even more incredible if we take into account the fact that it is about 2 times higher than the total amount of all, so to speak, “physical” money in the world today. Are you impressed? You can find even more interesting materials in our news channel in Telegram.
How Elon Musk is going to build a city on Mars
According to the plan announced back in 2017, the first batch of colonists will be 100 people and it will be sent on two rockets at a time when the orbits of the Earth and Mars will be as close as possible to each other. These people will be tasked with creating a fuel depot, filling the ship with liquid oxygen and methane to return home. Over the next 10 “orbital synchronizations,” when Earth and Mars are closest, enough resources can be brought to the red planet to create a city by around 2050. For this, the first flight must be completed as early as 2024.
There are many things that at first glance seem impossible, but I think that becoming a cosmic civilization is one of those things that are quite feasible. Is this the most expensive project of humanity in history? Yes. But he will open a new era and unite us all.
