--- title: "Elon Musk: “Good Chance You’ll Die” On Mars" description: "CEO Elon Musk stated settlers will likely die on Mars when building a self-sustaining city. Learn about the progress of the SpaceX Starship." date: "2020-09-01" modified: "2020-09-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-die-on-mars-city-starship" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Mars" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk: “Good Chance You’ll Die” On Mars ![During a virtual summit on Monday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk elaborated on his ambitions of building a self-sustaining city on Mars — and the dangers involved.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Almost Inhabitable During Monday's virtual Humans to Mars summit, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk elaborated on his [grand ambitions]() of building a self-sustaining city on Mars [by the year 2050]() — and the potential dangers settlers will face in the construction of such an extraplanetary civilization. "Getting to Mars, I think, is not the fundamental issue," he said during the event, as [quoted by *CNBC*](). "The fundamental issue is building a base, building a city on Mars that is self-sustaining." "I want to emphasize, this is a very hard and dangerous and difficult thing," he added. "Not for the faint of heart. Good chance you'll die. And it's going to be tough, tough going, but it'll be pretty glorious if it works out." ## Starship Progress Musk also discussed progress on his space company's Starship, a gigantic spacecraft that's meant to ferry up to 100 passengers or 100 tons of cargo as far as Mars. Building a Martian city using Starship would be an undertaking of unprecedented proportions. Last year, [Musk claimed]() that "a thousand \[Starships\] will be needed to create a sustainable Mars city as the planets align only once every two years," as Musk wrote in a [November 2019 tweet](). "We’re making good progress," Musk noted during Monday's summit. "The thing that really impedes progress on Starship is the production system... A year ago there was nothing there and now we’ve got quite a lot of production capability. So we’re rapidly making more and more ships." The CEO also said that SpaceX will "do hundreds of missions with satellites before we put people" on board Starship. The company [recently "hopped"]() the fifth iteration of its full-scale Starship prototype to a height of 150 meters. Many future prototypes are already under construction, [as well as the Super Heavy](), a gigantic rocket booster meant to launch Starship. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starship rocket will launch ‘hundreds of missions’ before flying people]() \[*CNBC*\] **More on Starship:** *[Elon Musk: SpaceX Is Starting Work on Starship Super Heavy Booster]()* ## 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]()