REASONS FOR MARS EXPLORATION

Humans must prioritise the colonisation of Mars so the species can be conserved in the event of a third world war.

"It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” Musk said on stage at SXSW.


"If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,”


SpaceX is working on a vehicle that will take humans to Mars, a 100-metre ship codenamed the BFR (Big Fucking Rocket).


There’s not many people who will want to go in the beginning,” he said, adding that over time the Red Planet colony would be hospitable