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MrGraveyards t1_ir0t3fa wrote

Reply to comment by House13Games in what is the real reason for SpaceX trying to "colonize Mars"? by dMartian-official

The thing is ELON has a dream of a Mars base. It is NOT the goal of SpaceX itself. The goal of SpaceX is to provide transport, build a vehicle that can enable a Mars colony, or a space colony, or a Titan colony, or whatever you pretty much want to do in this solar system.

Maybe they'll simply decide once they have that Starship thing worked out completely that we don't need to make humans 'multiplanetary', we need to move humans to space, where we can easily use the abundant materials to build stuff. I wouldn't count too much on that Mars colony, doesn't mean they're not doing something useful.

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House13Games t1_ir4cm45 wrote

Ok, I'll concede that they are pushing technology forward regardless of where it ends up. But my greatest fear is that the insane cost of a Mars base, and no actual tangible financial benefit, is just a re-run of the 60s moon race and will actually turn off the major backers and sources of money from further missions. It would be a shame to let Elons dream derail space exploration for another 60 or more years, just cos he wants to. At least government-financed missions were influenced by public support, whereas Elon essentially can do what he wants with all the money he got from everyone, with no accountability.

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