Elon Musk's roadmap to a million residents on Mars

Colonising Mars has shifted from being the domain of science fiction literature to a real possibility. Thanks to the efforts of companies like SpaceX, ICON, and NASA, technologies that allow for creating self-sustaining settlements on Mars are becoming increasingly real. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has set the goal of creating a city on the Red Planet that could accommodate a million people. However, for this to succeed, advanced rockets alone will not suffice; innovative technologies for producing oxygen, food, and even homes will also be necessary.

Musk's ambitious plan assumes that the main mode of transportation to Mars will be the Starship - a reusable rocket developed by SpaceX. It can carry large amounts of materials and people, making it the foundation of the planned colonisation. Musk plans to create a fleet of up to a thousand ships, which will launch in transfer windows every 26 months when Mars and Earth are in their closest proximity.

Starships will be not only a means of transportation but also a construction tool. Upon landing on Mars, the ships will be dismantled, and their parts will be used to build the first structures on the planet. SpaceX also foresees fuel production directly on Mars from local resources, using the Sabatier process to produce methane and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water.

One of the key challenges on Mars is oxygen production. The planet's atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, making breathing impossible. However, NASA has already tested the MOXIE technology (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), which has proven that oxygen can be generated from Martian carbon dioxide. In the future, MOXIE can be scaled up to supply oxygen for both human use and rocket fuel production.

Another challenge is the construction of safe and durable habitats on Mars. ICON and AI SpaceFactory are working on 3D printing technologies that can utilise local resources to build homes on the Red Planet. ICON, known for printing houses on Earth, is now developing a project that will allow the construction of Martian structures from on-site materials, such as regolith. AI SpaceFactory won NASA's competition by printing a prototype of a Martian base named MARSHA.

Ensuring access to water and food is crucial for survival on Mars. Interstellar Lab is developing bioregenerative systems supporting plant cultivation in extreme conditions. This technology is tested on Earth in closed, controlled environments that can simulate conditions on Mars. Water can be sourced from Martian ice, and Interstellar Lab is working on closed-loop systems that maximise available resources.

Colonising Mars is no longer just a dream. Thanks to the efforts of companies like SpaceX, ICON, NASA, and many others, the technologies necessary to settle on the Red Planet are currently in testing and development stages. While the challenges are enormous, advances in oxygen production, habitat construction, and ensuring water and food offer hope that Elon Musk's plans for establishing a city on Mars could be realised. In the coming decades, humanity may stand on the threshold of a new era - the era of interplanetary life.