Send Humans to Mars

If SpaceX is going to provide the transport, what's going to be needed after you've landed?

You need a way to generate food, a way to generate water, a way to generate atmosphere, a hab to live in, a process for recycling waste, and all of that takes a way to generate power.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the rest.

(img via Bryan Versteeg, of spacehabs.com)

Symphony of Science is still regularly able to bring my tears to my eyes.

They have a ton of fantastic songs, but this right here was the first one I came across.

"The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars."

Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Symphony of Science) MP3: http://www.symphonyofscience.com My own musical tribute to two great men of science. Carl Sagan and his cosmologist companion Stephen Hawking present: A...

Elon said, essentially, during his speech that "Interplanetary Transport System" was a provisional name.

So I ask everyone, what do you think would be a better name?

One of the things that comes to mind is that maybe it's time to start referring to rockets by a classification system.

Things that can only get *people* to anywhere within the Earth/Moon system could be called "Earth Class".

Things that can get people to anywhere within the asteroid belt could be called "Terran Class" (in reference to the fact that they're all rocky bodies".

And then things that can get people to anywhere in the solar system could be called "Sol (or Solar) Class".

Obviously this doesn't really address *how many* people, but I'm just spitballing here in the middle of the night.

Hey, you made it all the way through the post... have an MSL selfie.

"There is a choice in life. One either grows or one decays. Grow or die. I think we should grow."

-Dr Robert Zubrin, founder and president of The Mars Society.

It's time for us to grow.

IMG credit: http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/images/PIA15696-HiRISE-MSL-Sol11__2_.jpg

Spaceflight Insider has a really good technical writeup on how we're going to finally move humanity off this rock!

Elon Musk shows off Interplanetary Transport System In a presentation akin from something out of science fiction, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, announced the Interplanetary Transport System.

"We're going to try and send something to Mars on every rendezvous from here on out."
-Elon Musk

Ars Technica has a good feature piece on Musk's presentation. Check it out!

Musk’s Mars moment: Audacity, madness, brilliance—or maybe all three Ars dissects the feasibility of SpaceX's plan to colonize Mars in the coming decades.

"The cost of moving to Mars could ultimately drop below $100,000"
-Elon Musk

So, now that a Mars colony is a potential reality in our lifetime, does anyone plan on getting an education in a particular area that will increase their value in the settlement?

One question I would like to see Elon Musk answer is what infrastructure will be awaiting the first colonists.

"[Expanding humanity to Mars] would be the most inspiring thing that I could imagine. Life needs to be more than about solving problems every day. You need to wake up and be excited about the future, be inspired, and want to live."
-Elon Musk

I don't know about you guys, but I was giddy like a school girl at a Bieber concert today watching Musk talk about putting humans on Mars.

Check out the size of this beast of a rocket!