--- title: "Elon Musk: Mars Base Will Have “Outdoorsy, Fun Atmosphere”" description: "In an interview newly published by Popular Mechanics, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared his thoughts on colonizing Mars — even how they might grow vegetables." date: "2019-02-25" modified: "2019-02-25" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-mars-base-outdoorsy-fun-atmosphere" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Mars" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "hydroponics" - "mars" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk: Mars Base Will Have “Outdoorsy, Fun Atmosphere” ![In an interview newly published by Popular Mechanics, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared his thoughts on colonizing Mars — even how they might grow vegetables.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Fun Atmosphere In an interview [newly published]() by *Popular Mechanics*, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared his thoughts on colonizing Mars — from how the first settlers will grow food to the friendly vibe he envisions at the first base on the Red Planet. "For having an outdoorsy, fun atmosphere, you’d probably want to have some faceted glass dome, with a park, so you can walk around without a suit," Musk told the magazine. "Eventually if you terraform the planet, then you can walk around without a suit. But for say, the next 100-plus years, you’ll have to have a giant pressurized glass dome." ## Terraform Terrafunction When *PopMech* editor-in-chief Ryan D'Agostino pressed Musk on the feasibility of terraforming the entire Red Planet, the enigmatic CEO dismissed the concerns. (Musk, you may recall, [famously suggested]() converting Mars to a more Earth**-**like climate by dropping atomic bombs on its poles.) "Of course you can terraform Mars," Musk told D'Agostino. "Why would they think you can’t? You totally can." ## Mars Farmers On the subject of how the first Martian colonists will produce food, Musk went into more detail, describing an elaborate hydroponics system that the settlers could use to grow nutritious vegetables. "I mean, the easy way to do the food would be just to do hydroponics," he told *PopMech*. "You essentially have solar power — unfoiled solar panels on the ground, feed that to underground hydroponics, either underground or shielded by wires, dirt." **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk: The Popular Mechanics Interview]() \[*Popular Mechanics*\] ***More on colonizing Mars:** [Four Legal Challenges to Resolve Before Settling on Mars]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()