In Adelaide, Elon Musk’s new space vision took us from Earth to Mars, and back home again

In front of a huge SpaceX multimedia slide presentation, the company’s founder Elon Musk said on Friday that in 2022 he will send cargo missions to Mars, and manned missions by 2024.

“We’ve already started building the systems. Five years seems like a long time to me.”

Just a few hours earlier, Lockheed Martin unveiled its highly anticipated lander, the newest element of its Mars Base Camp Deep Space Transport program enabled by NASA’s exploration vision. The company hopes to use it “in about a decade”.

Both groups were attending the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, South Australia.

But how important is it when big names come to scientific conferences and describe their big vision projects? Would it matter if they didn’t show up?

“I have been ‘doing’ Mars for about 15 years, and I know that my colleagues of all ages involved in Mars research would carry on regardless – Mars itself is the inspiration,” said University of SA Associate Professor Graziella Caprarelli.

“But somebody with the vision and drive of Elon Musk will certainly be inspirational to younger generations and generate more interest in the topic across broader sections of the public.” Read more

Sara Keenihan - Smart Company - 2 Oct 2017