SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk revealed his plans to establish a moon base and a colonization city on mars within the next decade. Presented at the international astronautical congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, the astronomic project also involves a BFR spacecraft that proposes hypersonic passenger travel and much cheaper and larger payloads being launched around earth.

“Mars Base Alpha” is the code name given to the proposed
first human base on Mars
by SpaceX by CEO and lead designer Elon Musk.

It can be argued if SpaceX will be in a position to have the naming rights for the first human base on Mars and even if it will – is SpaceX intended to keep the name. It’s quite possible there will be, for example, some public naming contest for the name of the base. Whatever it is, we will use Mars Base Alpha as a code name for the first human base on Mars…for now.

The establishment of Mars Base Alpha will be enabled with the development of SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy, capable to bring large quantity of cargo and passengers to the surface of Mars.

Musk has said that it would take 1,000 of SpaceX‘s Starship Rockets 20 years to transport the cargo. He estimated that SpaceX’s 100-passenger reusable rocket design otherwise known as starship, would cost $2 million to launch.

First there will be sent at least two cargo Starships (to separate locations) to confirm the best place for a sustainable human base; the landing zone should be located in low elevation at less than 40° latitude for best solar power production, relatively warm temperature, and critically: it must be near a massive sub-surface water ice deposit.

SpaceX is hoping to perform those first landings in 2023 (cargo) and 2025 (crew + cargo) but we estimate it will happen a few Earth-Mars synods later – in 2027 and 2031 respectively – as developing a large human-rated spacecraft will definitely encounter unexpected obstacles and delays.

Musk stated a full ‘Mars Base Alpha’ – a preliminary city on the red planet – could be completed as soon as 2028.

Project Credits
Designer: Elon Musk
Manufacturer: SpaceX