In a recent interview with Axios, SpaceX’s Elon Musk told reporters there’s a “70 percent” chance that he’ll one day travel to Mars.
While Musk didn’t put a timeline on the proposed visit, he did note that it’d most likely be a one-way trip. Although the news has excited fans from across the world, many have reserved their elation as Musk is known to sometimes promise more than he can deliver – a fact he even admits himself.
What’s different this time, however, is Musk’s unusually high level of confidence. The billionaire once famously said both Telsa and SpaceX had just a “10 percent chance of success,” leaving many to assume his “70 percent” assertion is a virtual guarantee.
According to Musk, a “recent number of breakthroughs” have the company on the cusp of achieving the mission he first envisioned when he founded it in 2002.
But despite the optimism, Musk says SpaceX still has to overcome a number of challenges before the first astronauts land on the Red Planet. For example, establishing reliable power, food sources, stable habitats, and finishing the Starship.