SpaceX founder Elon Musk has outlined a six year plan to see the first manned missions touch down on Mars.<\/p>\n
Forming part of his keynote speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk noted that there are \u201ctwo fundamental paths\u201d facing humanity today.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is that we stay on Earth forever and then there will be an inevitable extinction event,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe alternative is to become a spacefaring civilization, and a multi-planetary species.\u201d<\/p>\n
“In order to achieve this goal, Musk outlined a multi-stage launch and transport system, including a reusable booster \u2013 like the Falcon 9, which SpaceX has already successfully tested<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 only much larger,” reports The Guardian<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The booster and the \u201cinterplanetary module\u201d on top of it would be nearly as long as two Boeing 747 aircraft. It could initially carry up to 100 passengers, he said.<\/p>\n “Once people are on Mars, Musk said they’ll be able to grow crops in contained buildings with compressed atmosphere.<\/p>\n They’ll also have the resources they need to make more rocket fuel — allowing them to send spaceships back to Earth.”<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I really want to try to achieve here is to make Mars seem possible \u2013 like it\u2019s something we can achieve in our lifetimes,<\/strong>\u201d Musk told the audience.<\/p>\n Check out SpaceX’s proposed Interplanetary Transport System below:<\/span><\/p>\n