In an interview this week, Elon Musk said that SpaceX would be able to take humans to Mars within five to ten years. Musk, the world's richest person with a net worth estimated to be upwards of $270 billion as of late December, has never been shy to express his opinions on everything from Bitcoins to weed and everything in between. However, while he has been extremely upbeat on SpaceX in general, he also recently warned that the company might face bankruptcy if Raptor engine production isn't ramped up.

Elon Musk is not only the world's richest person but was also recently declared Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" in a much-debated decision that received a mixed response from the media and online commentators. However, even though Musk's free-flowing style often attracts attention for all the wrong reasons, the publication suggested that his outspokenness might have contributed to his selection as the person of the year.

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Musk's claim of putting humans on Mars in five to ten years came in an episode of the Lex Friedman Podcast released Tuesday. Answering Friedman's question about when Musk thinks SpaceX will be able to land a human being on the Red Planet, Musk took an extra-long pause before saying, "best case is about five years, worst case 10 years." When asked about what he thinks are the deterrents from the engineering perspective, Musk replied that building the vehicle itself is a big challenge, but an even bigger issue is to minimize the "cost per ton per orbit and ultimately cost per ton to the surface of Mars."

Establishing A Human Habitat On Mars

SpaceX launch and Elon Musk over money

According to Musk, establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars will require SpaceX to hit a certain cost per ton to the surface of the Red Planet. Anything above that would put all ideas of colonizing Mars in jeopardy. He further claimed that establishing a habitat on Mars will be essential in "about 500 million years" when the Earth will get too hot to sustain life. Right now, he said, there's a window of opportunity to establish life beyond Earth, and "it is wise for us to act quickly while the window is open, just in case."

Apart from colonizing Mars, Elon Musk also spoke on a whole range of subjects during the freewheeling interview, including his views on Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies in general. He also denied being Satoshi Nakamoto and reiterated that he'd tell the world if he was. Some of the other topics that Friedmann and Musk spoke about include Tesla's controversial autopilot feature, FSD mode, the Tesla Bot, and more. Notably, the interview didn't cover The Boring Company and Elon Musk's plan to reduce traffic congestion in cities through underground tunnel networks.

Next: Elon Musk And Russia's Space Program Are Friends Again - What That Means

Source: Lex Friedman/YouTube