Elon Musk Plans To Put Man On Mars In The Next 10 Years

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, says the company is focused on creating technology that with enable large groups of people to travel to Mars. "I'm hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years, I think it's certainly possible for that to occur," he said during an interview on CNBC'S "Closing Bell" on Tuesday. "But the thing that matters long term is to have a self-sustaining city on Mars, to make life multiplanetary." SpaceX recently unveiled the Dragon V2, a spacecraft that it hopes will carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as soon as 2016.SpaceX, vies against established players such as Boeing for a big NASA contract, Musk said his firm will just keep going, even if the contract falls through. He noted that SpaceX's progression would be slowed down if the U.S. government doesn't choose the company's Dragon V2 as the next crew carrier to the International Space Station."It's possible that we may not win the commercial crew contract.... We'll do our best to continue on our own, with our own money," Must said. "We would not be where we are today without the help of NASA."He acknowledged that the company's plans were too long-term to attract many hedge fund managers, which makes it hard for SpaceX to go public anytime soon."We need to get where things a steady and predictable," Musk said. "Maybe we're close to developing the Mars vehicle, or ideally we've flown it a few times, then I think going public would make more sense."So what do actual planetary scientists who aren't billionaire CEOs think about Musk's plan?"I believe it is completely feasible," says Philip Metzger, physicist and planetary scientist at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.The real challenge when it comes to Mars missions is not just getting man there however, but getting him there alive and then getting him back.But as John F. Kennedy said back in 1962: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."Credit: nbcnews.com, forbes.com, independent.co.uk