Congress

Elon Musk Outlines Plans to Go to Mars

Musk said the trip it will be very expensive and very time consuming

It was a press conference with a little bit of everything — space travel, science, technology and the offer of a kiss.

Welcome to the world of Elon Musk.

Musk spoke at the International Astronautical Congress about SpaceX's plan to take us to Mars.

Spoiler alert: It's going to take some time, and there's no guarantee of a return trip.

Musk was honest about the speculative nature of it all; it will be very expensive (at least at first), and very time consuming.

Also, he was fairly honest about the fact that it's just not yet possible.

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He showed a "timeline," admitting (a nod to Tesla deliveries) that "I'm not very good at these."

He also addressed whether or not he himself would travel to space, saying that "I may die, so I'd want a succession plan in place."

A crewed mission to the Red Planet could come in 10 years "if things go super well," Musk said, as CNBC noted. The spaceship would have to fit around 100 people and come with everything needed to build a colony: "iron foundries, pizza joints, you name it."

During a surreal Q&A session, Musk was asked if Mars was like Burning Man (he's not sure), and if someone could come up to the stage and give him a "good luck kiss."

He demurred.

With NASA, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and others talking about space travel, Musk laid out more detail than we've heard before. You can see his whole talk here:

Scott scans the skies on Twitter: @scottbudman

https://twitter.com/scottbudman/status/780844444018892800
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