Who is trying to colonize Mars? And other projects for life outside Earth
Multiple agencies, including private and government, are looking at how to sustain life outside of Earth and get a deeper understanding of outer space.
In order to do that, many believe a presence on the surface of the moon can provide a base camp for robots and astronauts to launch even further into space.
Here are some of the American agencies pushing space exploration and ways to live outside the Earth:
NASA’s Artemis project
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FILE - Illustration of an astronaut in a space suit walking on another planet. Made from high res textures by NASA. Getty Images
NASA has a multi-year plan to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. The knowledge gained from that will lead NASA to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.
No person has set foot on the hostile planet, and there have been no return missions.
NASA’s Artemis mission was delayed in early 2024, with the next NASA moon landing planned for at least two years out now in September 2026.
Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator, has said NASA’s timeline of a human to Mars mission to be early 2040s.
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Elon Musk and Mars
Tesla founder and billionaire Elon Musk has shared it is his lifelong goal to create a self-sustaining colony on Mars. And he believes he can do it much sooner than NASA.
In fact, Musk tweeted in May that he believes an uncrewed mission can get to Mars in the next 5 years, and in less than 10 years, people will be landing there.
"For sure in 30, civilization secured," he said.
A recent article from The New York Times detailed several anonymous conversations and internal documents regarding Musk’s aggressive plans with SpaceX to reach Mars.
But first, SpaceX is working with NASA on its Artemis moon-landing program.
NASA has contracted SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship to get the first Artemis moonwalkers from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up. Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, with the goal of ferrying people to the moon and Mars.
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Robert Zubrin’s Mars Society
One name you may come across when learning about space exploration is Robert Zubrin.
Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer, author and advocate for human exploration of Mars. He’s created proposals for building habitats on Mars.
He’s the president of the Mars Society, a nonprofit group that runs a station simulating the planet in the Utah desert.
Jeff Bezos Blue Origin
Another billionaire who has entered the space exploration race is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, a rocket company.
While Musk is aiming for planetary colonization, Bezos has a differing vision. He believes "trillions" of humans can go on to live in giant space stations.