In ten minutes you can see the summary of the Mars plan that was unveiled in a 1.5 hour speech given by Elon Musk on Sept. 27th, 2016.  My goal is for you to see a quick run down and understand the basics behind the plan to colonize Mars.  There has been a lot of speculation on Elon's plans and now there is a road map of how SpaceX is approaching the problem.  

(Note: All screenshots are credited to Elon's amazing SpaceX team unless otherwise stated. The screenshots are from this video below.  Feel free to watch that instead if you have the time.)

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System

Why Mars?

Mercury is too hot.  Venus' surface has so much atmospheric pressure at the surface it makes it a lot more challenging to create a self sustaining colony there.  The Moon doesn't have the required resources to become self sustaining.  Mars has all the elements to become a self sustaining human colony.  Other planets that are gas giants aren't feasible to create self sustaining human colonies at either.  There are a few moons that have potential but Mars is the clear winner.  

Getting the Cost Down

Elon described four main things that need to be addressed to get the cost of going to Mars down.  

• Full Re-usability Of the Spacecraft
• Refilling In Orbit
• Propellant Production On Mars
• Using the Right Propelant

He said they are shooting for a ticket price to Mars of $200,000 / person.  At that price he thinks there will be enough people who want to go that the colony would get established.  

Each ship would initially carry around 100 people.  Here is a picture of the system.  

To understand this system better you can watch this short 5 minute video.  

Another way they are initially going to be able to keep the cost down is that NASA is going to allow SpaceX to use Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral, FL which was built for the Apollo program.  It has the capabilities that SpaceX needs for the Interplanetary System.  

The rockets are approximately the same height but the SpaceX system will provide far more thrust than the Saturn V Rocket.  

One of the major ways cost will be cut down is to have a propellant plant on Mars.  The chosen fuel will be CH4 / O2 or Deep-Cryo Methalox.  Here is the diagram of the process that will occur to create this on Mars.  

Elon addressed the fact that it would take a lot of energy to produce the propellant and that they felt they could do it with a large solar panel array.  I was initially surprised he said this because there is less light that gets to Mars and solar is already questionably efficient at this time even in a place like Arizona.  In the questions and comments later on he did confess that if it can't be done with solar then a nuclear approach could be utilized.  

Engine Configuration

The Saturn V rocket had 5 Rocketdyne F-1 engines.  The Interplanetary System will have 42 Raptor engines and will have the highest chamber pressure of any rocket engine every built. 

The center cluster of 7 engines will be able to gimbal to steer the rocket.  The outer engines will be fixed in place.  These engines will have the highest thrust to weight ratio of any rocket engine.  The propellant will be loaded close to their freezing point.  Most propellant used today is loaded close to the boiling point.  Loading it close to the freezing point will improve the density of the propellant which will ultimately improve performance.  Here is a closer look at the Raptor engine.  

Crew Vehicle

• 450 Tons of Cargo
• 100 Passengers At Least
• 80 Day Trip To Mars

This ship will fly faster than the Saturn V to cut down on travel time.  Elon also mentioned that he thinks eventually the trip could get down to a one month duration.  

He said that since there is a window to go to Mars every two years and entire fleet would be prepared in orbit and it would be like the fleet in Battlestar Galactica.  I thought that was really cool he referenced one of my favorite shows of all time!  

Here is the entire ship structure.  The system really relies on advanced materials and super powerful rocket engines.  

Q and A Section

Elon fielded questions for 30 minutes after the speech.  Here were some notable things I took away from that section.  He was asked how the radiation issue would be taken care of.  He mentioned that there is some risk but it isn't deadly but did say it presents a higher risk for cancer.  He said that the rear of the spacecraft would be pointed at the sun to provide shielding and if there was a solar flare the passengers would cluster around a water column.  

He was asked if interstellar travel needed to be looked at and he said it did and that an Antimatter Drive will most likely be the right approach.  He said that tackling the Mars situation makes the most sense because trying to go interstellar right now would be like trying to build a 747 before previous large aircraft were built.  

My Thoughts

I was really excited to see this come out and know that they are very serious about these plans.  Some serious development has went into this.  SpaceX is committing tens of millions of dollars into this project.  It is a progressive thing and went the Falcon heavy flies they will learn more from that experience and also when the Dragon 2 is completed they will be several steps closer to making this a reality.  

When the plans for the engine configuration were unveiled it immediately made me think of the N1 Rocket the Soviet Union developed to go to the Moon.  They never were able to get the rocket to work properly and they subsequently never made it to the moon.  Here is a picture of that configuration.  

(Credit: Russian Space Agency / Roscosmos State Corporation)

SpaceX's current rockets use a large array of rocket engines and when the Falcon Heavy comes out it will use 27 rocket engines I believe.  So these systems are a progressive step toward the Mars Transport System.

Personally Elon Musk is extremely impressive to me and he is always thinking about the future even when there isn't a clear path to profitability.  What he has done with SpaceX has blown my mind.  To see those boosters come back down to Earth and land on the barges blows my mind.  When he announces a plan like this I believe him.  Him and his team are extremely smart and more and more people are going to get behind him on this project.  I won't be surprised that in the future their will be a legion of billionaires that will commit funds to see this system become reality.  

It is extremely exciting to see such a bold plan mapped out and to see a clear path to this really happening.  

It will happen!  I'm sure of it!  

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