Elon Musk on colonizing Mars: “A bunch of people will probably die,” but it’s going to be “a glorious adventure”

Late last year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his space company could send Starship to Mars as early as 2024. “I think we’ve got a fighting chance,” Musk said of making the 2024 Mars transport window during the 2020 Mars Society Virtual Convention. Musk added that SpaceX could probably lose a few ships as part of the mission. Musk has been honest that the mission to Mars would not be easy. He even admitted that “a bunch of people will probably die” in the race to get to Mars.

During the Earth Day event last week to discuss the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal project “aimed at helping to keep the Earth habitable while humanity seeks to become an interplanetary species,” Musk made a blunt prediction about the planned Mars mission to colonize the red planet.

In an interview with Dr. Peter Diamandis, the founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation for scientific discovery, Musk said: You might die. It’s going to be uncomfortable and you probably won’t have good food, and all these things, you know.”

“Honestly, a bunch of people will probably die in the beginning,” Musk added while insisting it will also be “a glorious adventure and it will be an amazing experience. It’s “not for everyone,” he stressed — adding with another chuckle, “Volunteers only!”

To which Diamandis responded, “I think it’s a moral imperative for the human race to be able to move off earth while we have the opportunity.” Musk later admitted that:

“Going to Mars is dangerous, uncomfortable, it’s a long journey, and you might not come back alive. But it’s a glorious adventure and it will be an amazing experience. It’s “not for everyone,” he stressed — adding with another chuckle, “Volunteers only!”

Below is a video of the interview.

Even with all the risks involved, Musk didn’t see any problems finding volunteers for the Mars mission. “Honestly, a bunch of people probably will die in the beginning. It’s tough sledging over there, you know. We don’t make anyone go,” he added about a colonization project that doesn’t really even exist. “It’s volunteers only.”

Meanwhile, Musk wrote on Twitter last week that “if we make life multiplanetary, there may come a day when some plants and animals die out on Earth, but are still alive on Mars.”

If we make life multiplanetary, there may come a day when some plants & animals die out on Earth, but are still alive on Mars

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2021

In January, Musk tweeted that he was donating $100 million toward a prize for the best carbon capture technology. About a week later, Musk delegated the running of the contest to the XPRIZE Foundation.