Sending astronauts to another planet is still a problem for today’s science. Space agencies have sent rovers to various parts of the Solar System, but landing a person on another planet and bringing it back to Earth implies a lot more work.
Astronomers see Mars as pretty much the only option when it comes to sending humans to another planet. Reaching another solar system is out of the question, as the distances are way too big for humanity to handle. Alpha Centauri, meaning the closest solar system to ours, is located 4.3 light-years away from Earth.
Will humanity reach Mars this decade?
If we’ll believe what Gwynne Shotwell has to say, who’s the SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer, it means that humanity will land on Mars this decade. According to Space.com, she made the claim for Shepard Smith from CNBC recently.
In the interview, the SpaceX representative said, as Space.com quotes::
I think it will be in this decade, yes. People on the moon, sooner,
Shotwell also added, as the same source quotes:
I think we need to get a large delivery to the surface of Mars, and then people will start thinking harder about it,
And then, I think within five or six years, people will see that that will be a real place to go.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, is extremely confident that people will be walking on Mars some years from now. He said it numerous times in public.
If we only consider the distance to Mars, we have to be aware that it’s much larger than the one that separates our planet from the Moon. The distance between Earth and the Red Planet can even reach 401 million km at its maximum.
In the end, we all have to be realistic and admit that only time will tell for sure if humanity will land on the Red Planet or not.
