There’s no doubt Elon Musk is a man of ambition – and his latest vision sees manned missions to Mars beginning as soon as 2022.

That’s six years to figure out not only how the mission will happen, but how such an extravagant mission will be funded.

Addressing an audience at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday, Musk explained why his company SpaceX plans to send people to Mars:

What I really want to try to achieve here is to make Mars seem possible – like it’s something we can achieve in our lifetimes.

There are two fundamental paths facing humanity today. One is that we stay on Earth forever and then there will be an inevitable extinction event. The alternative is to become a spacefaring civilisation, and a multi-planetary species.

But how does he plan to do this? He explained in one Tweet:

Okay, okay, there’s an actual ship with an actual name.

Called the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), SpaceX released a video to show how the ITS will work:

I feel like I have just come out of the planetarium after watching that.

engadget gave a break down of the information in the video:

The ITS is capable of carrying up to 100 tons of cargo (that’s supplies and people) and it will rely on a few different power sources to make it all the way to Mars.

Liftoff requires 28,730,000 pounds of thrust, which suggests the ITS will use roughly 40 Raptor rocket engines, which each generate 680,000 pounds of thrust.

Once the ship reaches orbit, its booster will return to Earth and immediately re-launch with a refueling pod, which matches up with the ITS to top off its propellant.

Then, the ITS deploys its solar arrays, two wing-like panels that fold out from the base of the ship and provide 200 kW of power, and it sets off.

Once humans on the ITS actually make it to Mars and successfully land, SpaceX teases that the planet will be terraformed, transitioning from classic red to lush greens and blues.

You can watch the full presentation below, which strangely begins at the 20-minute mark:

Elon was applauded by both NASA and Bill Nye the Science Guy, calling the notion “extraordinary.” Bill Nye, who was in the audience, said:

Watching the crowd go absolutely wild today tells me that the best is yet ahead for space exploration. Musk presented a very aggressive schedule that seemed feasible to the crowd.

No matter what we send to Mars, I very much hope we conduct a thorough, careful search for life before we consider landing people and cargo. I believe the discovery of life or evidence of life would change the way we think about the cosmos and our place within it.

If anyone knows what he is talking about, it’s Musk – and we only have six years to wait to see.

[source:engadget&spacex&theguardian]