Elon Musk, billionaire and CEO of the space transport service SpaceX, said the company has made some progress toward building a colony on Mars.
The colony is a longtime goal of Musk's, aimed at helping humans to inhabit other planets, according to Discovery News.
"The reason SpaceX was created was to accelerate development of rocket technology, all for the goal of establishing a self-sustaining, permanent base on Mars," Musk said to an audience after receiving the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award. "And I think we're making some progress in that direction - not as fast as I'd like."
Musk received the award on Friday (May 16) during the 33rd annual International Space Development Conference.
The comments were made after SpaceX successfully tested rockets last month. After having three delays, the company launched a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket from Florida at the time, The Daily Mail reported. Musk is looking to establish a colony on Mars by 2020 and plans to sell tickets for $500,000 per trip.
He said he is aiming for a colony consisting of up to 80,000 people. However, he added that he would like to start the colony with 10 people, and build up from there.
"At Mars, you can start a self-sustaining civilization and grow it into something really big," he said.
The Hawthorne, California-based company was founded in 2002 with the goal of advancing manned spaceflight making rocket launches cheaper. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to launch 12 cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station (ISS). The company's Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon spacecraft would be used for the missions, Discovery News reported.
Musk admitted that not everyone will pay $500,000 for the trip, but that it will still be a goal for adventurous people.
"There will be those who can afford to go, and those who want to go," he said. "I think if we can achieve that intersection, then it will happen ... and, hopefully, it will happen before I'm dead."
