Elon Musk unveils his Mars plan to the scientific communityJune 15, 2017 - 14:44 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - In this month's issue of New Space, Elon Musk outlined his plan to colonize Mars. His article discusses how to bring down the cost of Mars flights as well as some of the specs of necessary equipment, Engadget said. The article is adapted from Musk's presentation at the International Astronautical Congress and begins with an argument for why we should focus on Mars for our move towards interplanetary life. Musk then notes that with current technologies, a ticket to Mars would cost around $10 billion, which he correctly deduces is a prohibitive amount if we want to actually colonize another planet. Getting that cost down to the median price of a house -- around $200,000 -- is key to making the Mars plan viable, says Musk. And he outlines four essential steps that will need to be taken if there's any hope of doing that. First, the transportation would have to be fully reusable because any amount of waste would significantly increase the cost. And ships would need to be refilled while in orbit. Additionally, we would need to be able to produce propellant on Mars and it would have to be optimized for cost, reusability, and easy production -- Musk proposes methane. Musk then proceeds to detail the proposed engine, rocket booster and ship as well as how many ships we would need and how many people each one should be able to carry. For the crew compartment Musk says, "There will be movies, lecture halls, cabins, and a restaurant. It will be really fun to go. You are going to have a great time!" Musk sketches a rough timeline for these events, but keeps it purposefully vague. It's clear, however, that this is something he's actively working towards. The fifteen-page journal article is not quite what you expect to see in a peer-reviewed journal -- there are some humorously unnecessary venn diagrams and a few tables that are nothing more than bullet points. But it's a much more flushed out write-up than we usually get from Musk, Engadget said. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. |