As we know Elon Musk has recently announced some major updates about the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), with which he not only plans to visit other planets and moon but also inhabit them. He also stated that the first tourist ever to fly around the Moon aboard a BFR will be Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
Unrelented, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has again announced that he believes his space company can build a Mars base by 2028. American space agency NASA, on the other hand, is not even sure whether or not it'd be reasonable to launch a manned Mars mission in the 2030s.
Musk announced this on Twitter; although, the Twitter exchange doesn't reveal any more information. A few days ago, SpaceX boss had tweeted a new rendering of a Mars base that had BFR rockets landed in close proximity. Some Twitter user asked Musk referring to that rendering as to when would that become a reality? To this, Musk replied 2028.
Probably 2028 for a base to be built
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2018
Now, the timeline that Musk stated falls loosely in line with what SpaceX has said about its BFR plans. BFR's first test flights are supposed to take place the next year. After that, if the space vehicle works fine, then the company can send people in it.
Previously, Musk had informed that SpaceX is planning to send a pair of BFR spacecraft sans humans to Mars in 2022 and then two more in 2024. In 2024, following the two unmanned missions, the company could send two more BFR rockets with humans to the Red Planet.
Now, all those unmanned spacecraft are capable of carrying up to 100 tons of supplies, which will be essential in building the colony on the planet.
Since SpaceX has just begun developing the first BFR rockets, a lot can happen in the meantime. Even a small delay can alter the entire timeline. If Elon Musk wants to achieve his target, he will have to test the rockets and also figure out how humans can survive on the Red Planet.
At this time, building a full-blown city for humans on Mars is equally ambitious as the moon landing was in the 1960s.