If Elon Musk would have his way, man's mission to Mars should be expedited before World War 3 begins. The tech visionary, who found the spaceflight company SpaceX, appears to be expecting that such a catastrophe, among other massive calamities, could cripple man's chances of colonizing the Red Planet.
"I don't think we can discount the possibility of a third World War," Musk said, according to UNILAD. "In 1912, they were proclaiming a new age of peace and prosperity ... and then you had World War I followed by World War II followed by the Cold War."
Musk fears that a new world war could set space technology several decades back. "We need to acknowledge that there's certainly a possibility of a third world war, and if that does occur it could be far worse than anything that's happened before," Musk stressed in a GQ interview. SpaceX is said to be accelerating its capability to send an astronaut to Mars for this very purpose.
In addition to the threat of war, Musk also believes that early colonization of Mars can ensure mankind's survival. The idea is to ensure a back-up in case humans are wiped out by massive man-made or natural calamity on Earth. "You back up your hard drive... maybe we should back up life, too?" he told GQ.
Ironically, Musk has previously proposed in an interview with Stephen Colbert to nuke Mars in order to make it more livable, as HNGN previously reported. It is not clear whether it is still part of his vision for Mars colonization.
