--- title: "Elon Musk’s “Hubris and Arrogance” Are Ruining Our Chances of Actually Getting to Mars, Says Leading Expert" description: "The founder of the Mars Society has accused SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of derailing existing plans to explore and visit the Red Planet." date: "2025-06-06" modified: "2025-06-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/mars-society-expert-elon-musk-ruining" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Mars" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "mars" - "mars society" - "SpaceX" --- # Elon Musk’s “Hubris and Arrogance” Are Ruining Our Chances of Actually Getting to Mars, Says Leading Expert ![The founder of the Mars Society has accused SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of derailing existing plans to explore and visit the Red Planet.]() *\Image: ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images/Futurism\* The founder of the Mars Society has accused SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of derailing existing plans to explore and visit the Red Planet. Robert Zubrin, who has coauthored hundreds of papers and laid out several blueprints as to how to settle on Mars, [told *Agence France-Presse*]() in an interview that Musk is "absolutely instrumental in opening up this opportunity to get humans to Mars, both through the development of Starship and also the inspiration that has caused." But given the "hubris and arrogance" he has since bred — Zubrin went as far as to compare him to failed European dictator Napoleon Bonaparte — our future efforts to travel to the distant planet over 140 million miles away could be in peril. For our effort to send humans to Mars "to succeed, it has to go beyond these — this initiative cannot be seen as a Musk hobbyhorse or a Trump hobbyhorse — it must be seen, at a minimum, as America's program, or preferably the Free World's program," Zubrin told *AFP*. The publication of the interview comes in the wake of an [incredibly messy divorce]() between Musk and president Donald Trump, though Zubrin made his comments before the relationship disintegrated. The two have been going at each other's throats and even [threatening to cut off NASA's access to space](). Musk's dreams of making humanity interplanetary by establishing a city on Mars appear to have slipped significantly on his list of priorities. The mercurial CEO was heavily criticized for abandoning his businesses in favor of overseeing a disastrous gutting of the US federal government, and is now racing to make Tesla investors happy as [sales continue to plummet worldwide](). SpaceX has also [encountered major headwind]() in getting its Mars-bound Starship to not explode. The company's last three test flights ended in so-called "[rapid unscheduled disassemblies]()," highlighting growing technical difficulties and the enormous degree of complexity involved in launching and landing the most powerful rocket in the world. While Musk has previously vowed to land Starships on Mars before the end of next year — he [admitted]() it was a "50-50 chance" late last month — his characteristically ambitious timelines are once again looking unrealistic at best. "Progress is measured by the timeline to establishing a self-sustaining civilization on Mars," Musk said in a [promotional video shared by SpaceX]() on May 29. "Each launch is about learning more and more about what’s needed to make life multi-planetary and to improve Starship to the point where it can be taking, ultimately, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people to Mars." But all the turbulence Musk has generated, in addition to the Trump administration's [brutal budget cut proposal to NASA](), likely will only hamper our efforts to visit Mars, Zubrin argued. Complicating matters are fundamental disagreements about NASA's future direction. In a move largely seen as retribution, the Trump [administration pulled its nomination]() for SpaceX space tourist and billionaire Jared Isaacman, who was hand-picked for the job by Musk. "This combination of Trump and Musk is not going to persist forever," Zubrin told *AFP*, foreshadowing Thursday's drama. "And if this program is identified as their deal, it will be crushed as soon as opposing forces have sufficient power." Most of all, Zubrin disagreed with Musk's stance that humanity will be saved by leaving the Earth behind and settling on Mars instead. "We're not going to Mars out of despair," he told *AFP*. "We're going to Mars out of hope... to establish new branches of human civilization which will add their creative capacity to that of humanity as a whole." "If we do the kind of program that I advocated... we will once again, as we did in Apollo, astonish the world with what free people can do," he added. "We'll make it clear that freedom, not authoritarianism, is the future of the human race." **More on Mars:** *[Trump Just Kicked Elon Musk's Hand-Picked NASA Head to the Curb]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()