Musk's Mars life plan a dangerous delusion, says scientist

Dubai - The renowned astrophysicist played down suggestions that humans could live on Mars long-term.

Astrophysicist Lord Martin Rees said Elon Musk’s plans to send humans to Mars was a “dangerous delusion”,

Lord Rees – who has been the UK’s Astronomer Royal since 1995 and holds fellowships of several prestigious societies – said that housing populations in “glass domes” on the Red Planet would be comparable to living in hostile environments like the South Pole or Mount Everest.

Speaking alongside astrophysicist Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson at a WGS Dialogues panel on the global space race, the renowned scientist played down suggestions that humans could live on Mars long-term – in sharp contrast to SpaceX CEO Musk’s predictions that a million people will soon live on the Red Planet.

Lord Rees said: “So, the idea of Elon Musk to have a million people settle on Mars is a dangerous delusion. Living on Mars is no better than living on the South Pole or the tip of Mount Everest.”

Dr Tyson added: “To ship a billion people to another planet to help them survive a catastrophe on earth seems unrealistic. If you want to call Mars home, you need to terraform Mars, turn it into Earth. It is so much easier to make Earth return to Earth again rather than terraforming Mars.