Leothebear wrote:I can't help thinking the time effort, cost and innovation would be far better spent getting our own planet healthy again. Who would ever want to live on a bleak, cold and dead place? OK perhaps really fat people, thanks to the weaker gravity. The fact that Musk seems to think there's a future there is far more an indication of his hyper-inflated ego than any medium term reality.
Stephen Hawking thought it was vital that we colonise other planets because otherwise there is a significant risk of the extinction of our species if we only exist on one planet. Mars is a start on that. Whatever one thinks of Musk's quirks, I have a lot of respect for his judgement on scientific matters and he seems to think colonising Mars is practical.