Source: Popular Mechanics

Earlier this week, SpaceX founder Elon Musk explained on Twitter that in order to colonize Mars, we would have to support “life in glass domes at first” before we “eventually, terraformed [Mars] to support life, like Earth.”

Musk, as has been well established, wants to realize his dream of making humans a multiplanetary species and build the first colony on Mars by 2050. To make the Red Planet habitable for life, Musk has previously suggested terraforming Mars by nuking the planet’s ice-capped poles. But now, perhaps after realizing such a plan would require nearly the entire world’s supply of nuclear warheads to accomplish, Musk is taking a more sensible approach to colonization.

Musk continued in the same thread:

“Terraforming will be too slow to be relevant in our lifetime. However, we can establish a human base there in our lifetime. At least a future spacefaring civilization – discovering our ruins – will be impressed humans got that far.”

This may be a good pivot for Musk, because the science isn’t exactly on his side. Studies have shown that even with the right firepower, there simply isn’t enough of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide available on Mars to create an atmosphere capable of supporting life on the surface.

This isn’t the first time Musk has mentioned using glass domes as habitats on the Red Planet. In a 2016 Reddit AMA, Musk said glass panes with carbon fiber frames could be used to build geodesic domes on the Martian surface, while mining droids could build pressurized caves underground for industrial operations.

More recently, Musk laid out his plans to build a city on Mars in a livestream event last month. He stressed the idea of a Martian colony being fully self-sufficient in case support from mothership Earth would somehow be cut off.

Source: Popular Mechanics