By 
June 14th, 2017
Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX
The informative New Space journal is making available an Elon Musk commentary entitled “Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species” – a detailed overview of Musk’s plan to create a self-sustaining city on Mars.
The article draws upon Musk’s presentation at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, September 26–30, 2016.
Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX
Major challenge
In the New Space commentary, Musk explores the planetary options for expanding to a spacefaring civilization and describes the advantages Mars offers. He provides a comprehensive review of a system architecture required for a rocket and spaceship capable of transporting people and supplies to Mars, comparing possible vehicle designs and performance features.
A major challenge facing engineers and scientists at present and discussed in the commentary is the need to improve the cost per ton of transporting materials to Mars by 5 million percent.
Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX
Archival reference
“In my view, publishing this paper provides not only an opportunity for the spacefaring community to read the SpaceX vision in print with all the charts in context, but also serves as a valuable archival reference for future studies and planning,” explains Scott Hubbard, Editor-in-Chief of New Space.
“My goal is to make New Space the forum for publication of novel exploration concepts,” Hubbard adds, “particularly those that suggest an entrepreneurial path for humans traveling to deep space.”
Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX
Make Mars possible
Musk notes in the commentary, “by talking about the SpaceX Mars architecture, I want to make Mars seem possible…make it seem as though it is something that we can do in our lifetime. There really is a way that anyone could go if they wanted to.”
New Space is a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
The article is available free on the New Space website until July 5, 2017.
Go to:
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/space.2017.29009.emu
Posted in Space News
