Inda's Mars mission (Photo : Reuters)
In 2002, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk founded SpaceX, his own private spaceflight company. His goals? To reduce space transportation costs and to colonize Mars.
The goal to colonize Mars is too far-fetched, but the businessman is serious. In fact, during his interview with The Wall Street Journal in April 2011, he said he will put a man on the Red Planet in 10 years time. He also added in an interview with The Guardian in July 2013 that he is willing to fund 80,000 people on Mars.
"The key thing for me is to develop the technology to transport large numbers of people and cargo to Mars. That's the ultimate awesome thing," Musk said.
But technology is not the reason why he is serious with this goal. There is another driving force that pushes him to complete his works.
"There's no rush in the sense that humanity's doom is imminent; I don't think the end is nigh. But I do think we face some small risk of calamitous events," he said. "It's sort of like why you buy car or life insurance. It's not because you think you'll die tomorrow, but because you might," he said in the 2013 interview with The Guardian.
There was no mention of what he thinks is the biggest threat, however. It was only last month that a Redditor may have known the reason. Upon examining Musk's works, investments, and interviews, he thinks that the threat in which Elron believes will endanger humankind in the next ten years.
