SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Wants to ‘Nuke Mars’ to Prep It for Colonization

By CCN.com: Billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, reiterated his calls to “nuke Mars!” on Twitter. It’s part of Musk’s previously announced proposal to prepare the red planet for human colonization.

While he has your attention, Musk joked that he plans to shill “Nuke Mars!” T-shirts soon.

Musk has toyed with idea of nuking Mars for years

Musk’s starry-eyed tweet elicited hilarious responses from his followers. One woman presented a mock T-shirt for Musk’s consideration.

Another lady showed off her “Occupy Mars” heat-sensitive terraforming coffee mug.

One guy used a popular meme to illustrate Musk’s growing fascination with space.

Elon Musk: Here’s how you warm Mars up

While the notion of dropping nuclear bombs on Mars sounds outlandish, it’s actually an idea Musk first proposed in 2015 on Stephen Colbert’s talk show.

While discussing his ambition to colonize Mars, Musk said one way to warm up the planet to make it more habitable is to drop nuclear bombs on it.

After jokingly calling Mars a “fixer-upper of a planet,” Musk explained that “you could transform Mars into an Earth-like planet.” (see video starting at 1:39.)

“You’d warm it up. The fast way is to drop thermonuclear weapons on the [North and South] poles.”

Musk’s unexpected response prompted Colbert to joke that that’s what a comic book “super-villain” might do.

Musk: We can build a 1-million-person colony on Mars

In 2016, Musk gave a presentation before the International Astronautical Congress, where he explained that humans will be able to establish a 1-million-person colony on Mars within 40 to 100 years. The presentation was entitled “Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species.”

It was excerpted in the space journal New Space  (see below). Musk followed up on the idea in 2017 with another presentation he posted on SpaceX’s website.

SpaceX’s valuation tops $33 billion

Like bitcoin billionaires the Winklevoss twins, Elon Musk has long been fascinated with space. That’s why he launched SpaceX in 2002. Its mission is to make space travel accessible to everyday people and to eventually colonize Mars.

However, before Musk can accomplish any of his lofty goals, he has to make sure SpaceX is solvent. Despite Musk’s undeniable genius, he has struggled to manage his numerous business ventures.

As CCN.com reported, SpaceX was forced to lay off 10% of its 6,000-person workforce in December 2018 amid mounting financial problems. At the time, SpaceX said the cost-cutting measure was necessary because it would face “extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead” and would not survive without the layoffs.

Despite its struggles, SpaceX is one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

In May 2019, SpaceX raised more than $1 billion in new capital, according to regulatory filings . The funding rocketed SpaceX’s valuation past $33 billion.

About the Author

Samantha Chang

Samantha Chang is a New York City-based financial editor who writes about crypto and business at CCN. She is a law school grad and an alum of the University of Pennsylvania. You can reach her on Twitter at Samantha Chang or email her at [email protected].

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