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THE FUTURE OF SPACE EXPLORATION

Though not the first space exploration

organization to express interest in Mars, Elon

Musk’s SpaceX has been the most vocal in its

ambitions. The firm is on a “road to making

humanity multi-planetary,” because, at an

average distance of 140 million miles away,

Mars is one of Earth’s closest neighbors, offering

decent sunlight as it’s close to the Sun and has

an atmosphere primarily of CO2 with nitrogen

and argon, meaning plants can be grown by

compressing the atmosphere. What’s more,

gravity on the planet is around 38% of that of

Earth, meaning heavy things could be lifted

easily, with a day length of 24 hrs 37 min - similar

to Earth’s - and a 4,220-mile diameter - smaller

than Earth’s 7917.5-mile diameter, making it

easier to manage whilst offering vast space.

It would take six months to get to Mars, and

SpaceX’s Starship will “be the world’s most

powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with

the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric

tonnes to Earth orbit.”. Orbital-flight is targeted

for this year and combined with a Super Heavy

rocket, SpaceX can create reusable transport

that is capable of on-orbit refilling and uses

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