The question about Elon Musk's plan to colonize the red planet has become an interesting topic to think about. First off, how would we be able to live on a planet that lacks oxygen? Second, how would be able to sustain a supply of foods and drinks? Lastly, how long would this project take, exactly?
At the South by Southwest(SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, Musk has said that "it's important to get a self-sustaining on Mars because it's far enough away from the Earth that it's more likely to than a moon base." Now, what requirements are needed to make sure that the mission is successful? Jim Pawelczyk, an associate professor at Penn State and former astronaut, made the analogy that the colonization of Mars would be similar to the finding or Jamestown. "It was not a good place to be-it was kind of failure. But these would be plant-the-flag kinds of approaches." Pawelczyk also added that "turning an outpost into a colony depends entirely on human biology...So maybe [outposts are] not going to sustain the species genetically, but they're going to sustain the human spirit."
From what information was available, it would seem that this mission would be quite the challenge and would need time for planning. There isn't really any way of telling whether or not this project will be successful, but it would be very interesting to see how it all turns out in the end.
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