Elon Musk's Mission to Mars Live Stream: What We Learned

Elon Musk, the famous multibillionaire, imaginative entrepreneur and founder of SpaceX, announced his plans Tuesday in a live stream event to "make humans a multiplanetary species," or in other words, to colonize Mars.

In a detail-heavy presentation, Musk explained how he plans to create the technology and infrastructure needed to have a thriving colony of human beings living on the surface of our nearest planetary neighbor. His ideas are bold and his goals are sky-high.

The ships — yes, plural, because Musk is planning many successive trips — will be designed not only to make it to Mars but also to make it back. "It will take a while to build up 1,000 ships," he said, but that's the goal, because Musk wants to have around 1 million people on Mars to sustain an independent colony.

How many could go at a time? "About 100 people per trip," Musk said. Eventually, he hopes to get that up to 200 people, to reduce the cost per person.

In total, he predicts it will take "20 to 50 total Mars rendezvous, 40-100 years to achieve a fully life-sustaining colony on mars."

Here's what else you should know:

Is Musk serious?

Yes, he's absolutely serious. Musk has talked about extra-planetary colonization for a long time, because he thinks it's the best way to ensure humanity's survival over the long term.

Is any of this really possible?

No one knows for certain, but we won't know unless we try. Other groups have also announced plans for missions to Mars. NASA itself intends to put a human on the red planet by the 2030s.

So it's very likely that someone will try at some point in the future. Elon Musk is also an extremely successful businessman, with major companies like PayPal, Tesla Motors and SolarCity to his name. SpaceX has had some troubles recently, but Musk has proven his ability to handle large-scale projects.

Will governments be involved?

Right now, SpaceX is pretty much working on its own, though it's had some help from NASA. But in Musk's view, any serious colonization effort will be a public-private partnership. He's working on getting as much technology developed now as he can, and once travel to Mars proves viable, he believes governments will jump on board.

How much will it cost to travel to Mars?

A whole lot, to start — but Musk said his long-term goal is to get the price down to $100,000 for a move to Mars.

"The key is making this affordable for almost anyone who wants to go," he said. That price tag might still leave a lot of would-be Martians on Earth, but the even idea of cheap interplanetary travel is mind-boggling all on its own.

Who would want to go?

Many, many people, actually. When Mars One, another group with similar aims, asked for prospective Mars colonists to apply, it had around 200 finalists after an initial round of cuts (it's unclear how many people applied to start).

Musk points out that, contrary to many assumptions, the first trip to Mars does not have to be one-way. Since his plans include bringing the ships back, colonists who get cold feet could return to Earth, if needed. It's important to make the trip appealing if the colony's population is to grow substantially, which means making travel back to Earth possible.

Will it be dangerous?

Oh, yes. Musk said the probability of dying for the first colonists would be very high. The major qualification for being on the first trip, he said, was whether or not the travelers were prepared to die.

What is Musk's real goal here?

All signs suggest that Musk just wants to colonize Mars for the good of humanity.

"The reason I'm personally accumulating assets is to fund this," he said. "I don't really have any reason to acquire assets except to make life multi-planetary. This is about minimizing existential risk [for the species]."

But he also thinks there are good, old-fashioned, boldly-go-where-no-man-has-gone-before reasons to make the trip.

"The argument that I actually find most compelling is that it would be an incredible adventure."

This story is being updated. Watch the live stream below.

Photo credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr