Elon Musk

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Elon Musk Claims One Million Humans Will Live On Mars In 20 Years, Offers His Sperm To Seed The Mars Colony

Mr. Musk told SpaceX employees in April that he now expects one million people to be living there in about 20 years. No one has ever set foot on the planet. NASA doesn’t expect to land humans on Mars until the 2040s.

And if people get there, they will be greeted by a barren terrain, icy temperatures, dust storms, and air that is impossible to breathe. Yet Mr. Musk is so wedded to the idea of creating a civilization on Mars — he once said he plans to die there — that it has propelled nearly every business endeavor he has undertaken on Earth.

Employees said that Musk has ordered a team to make a spacesuit fit for Mars’ inhospitable environment and a medical team to research whether humans can procreate on Mars. Musk has volunteered his sperm to help seed a colony, two people familiar with his comments said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-...onize-mars

I don't know why humans *wouldn't* be able to procreate there.

Provide a habitat, some privacy and a modicum of medical care, and have at it.

I give you, one-third Earth gravity.

We don't know how much gravity humans need to live long term without major health issues. We do know that micro-gravity is extremely bad. But development of a fetus and child is another matter entirely. We have no idea if development is even viable in that gravity. My intuitive guess is it is not. Even if it is, normal skeletal growth is sure to be well off from what it would be in normal gravity.

I believe it is completely unethical to attempt human reproduction in reduced gravity without some major research. You would need to construct a rotating space habitat with Mars gravity and see if how primates such as chimps fare for a start. I suspect it would take decades of research. Of course, that wouldn't fit in Musk's time table.