On September 27th at the International Astronomical Congress, Elon Musk the CEO and founder of SpaceX announced his vision for making humanity a multi-planetary species and the Interplanetary Transport System that would make it a reality.

The audacity and scale of his proposal is almost impossible to overstate. The end goal is nothing less than to have a million people colonising mars. There are obviously massive technical problems to solve if this is ever going to happen; life support, food, water, waste disposal, radiation, to name but a few. Musk did not shy away from admitting as much during his speech. There are also social questions, such as; is it wise to fracture humanity onto two different planets, at a time when we are already so divided? Would that make things better or worse for us? Would we be better off working on our problems here first, before we journey to other worlds? Or should we go whatever the cost here on earth?

Or indeed, is it possible that it would help bring us together, being able to see ourselves through the lens of such a fantastic project, an ideal so big and so bold.

What ever the answers to these questions and the many more this project raises, I am personally amazed and uplifted that someone has the vision and the courage to try to make colonising another planet a reality in my lifetime. It is easy to sit and be sceptical, even if scepticism is a necessary step in scientific progress. It is far harder to actually try to make such a massive change a reality. And it demonstrates the very best of what humanity is capable of; coming together to solve what was once thought impossible!

Link to speech: http://www.spacex.com/mars