Space bases could preserve civilization in World War III: Elon Musk

Billionaire entrepreneur and the founder of rocket and spacecraft company SpaceX Elon Musk has said that bases on the moon and Mars could help preserve human civilization and hasten its regeneration on earth in the event of a third world war. The company's interplanetary ship could begin test flights as soon as next year. There is "some probability" that there will be another Dark Ages, "particularly if there is a third world war," Musk said at the SXSW conference. "We want to make sure that there's enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring civilization back, and perhaps shorten the length of the Dark Ages," he said.

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"I think a moon base and a Mars base that could perhaps help regenerate life back here on earth would be really important." Musk said he thinks that SpaceX's interplanetary ship will "be able to do short flights, short sort of up and down flights, probably sometime in the first half of next year."

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SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, last month, sending Musk's red Tesla Roadster car toward an orbit near Mars.

Elon Musk in his Tweets also has said he is ready to send humans to the red planet within the next decade. Musk wrote, "I'm confident moving to Mars ... will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k," Musk tweeted on Sunday, "low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want." He added that if anyone decides they don't like Mars (there are plenty of reasons to hate it), a "return ticket is free."

SpaceX is working to complete the Starship, a fully reusable stainless steel vehicle designed to comfortably transport around 100 humans to Mars and even beyond. The Starship uses liquid oxygen and methane to power its Raptor engines, meaning humans can set up a propellant plant on Mars to create more fuel and return to Earth. Musk claimed on Monday that “there’s a path” to building the Starship for less than the Falcon 9 SpaceX currently uses to send satellites into space, estimated to cost $62 million, according to Inverse report.