Elon Musk told Fox News that colonizing Mars is essential "life insurance" for humanity, warning that the sun will eventually destroy Earth.
On Monday, during a televised interview with Fox's Jesse Watters, Musk reiterated that his goal is not just a symbolic Mars landing, but to establish a self-sustaining colony capable of surviving without resupply from Earth. He emphasized the urgency of building this system within his lifetime, describing the endeavor as "a fundamental fork in the road of destiny."
"If the resupply ships are necessary for Mars to survive, then we have not created life insurance. We've not created life insurance for life collectively," Musk said. "'So that's the key point in the future where [the] destiny of life, as we know it, will forever be affected, is when Mars becomes self-sustaining."
Musk has long championed interplanetary survival as the ultimate goal of SpaceX, arguing that humanity must evolve into a multi-planet species. NASA has projected that the sun will expand into a red giant in approximately five billion years, potentially engulfing Earth — a scenario Musk references frequently as the impetus behind his Mars mission.
The Mars initiative is already taking shape through Starbase, Musk's newly incorporated Texas city built around SpaceX's launch site at Boca Chica.
A recent vote saw 173 out of 177 residents — most of them SpaceX employees — approve the incorporation. Musk plans to use the site as a launchpad for Mars-bound missions and further human space exploration.
While Musk initially promised a manned mission to Mars by 2024, that goal has shifted to a potential robotic launch by 2026 and a human landing by 2029 or later.
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