I was reminded today of a series of ideas I had about the possible colonization of Mars, by watching the Livestream today by Everyday Astronaut (Tim Dodd). SpaceX led by Elon Musk almost flew their 12 flight of the Starship rocket today (V3). I’ve always loved watching rocket launches, and even though they had to scrub the mission because of some technical issues with the propellant loading system, it was exciting as ever. SpaceX has brought enthusiasm about space back to the masses again, becoming the biggest player in the space race today.
And the space race is no longer about beating the Soviets, instead it seems to involve partnering with them, even. Maybe it’s more a culture, to outdo ourselves, in the race to the stars.
Which brings me back to Mars. I can really only speak from personal experience as I’ve rarely heard anyone else express this out loud, but I think it rings true with many of us: I used to believe that since God had designed Earth to sustain life, earth was where life God intended it to stay. In other words, since God commanded humankind in Genesis to multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, it was wrong to extend ourselves outside Earth’s sphere. And there may be some truth to that, but my beliefs have changed on that.
Anyone who had seen the, yes very expensive, but admittedly successful mission we call the International Space Station which is, barely still inside Earth’s domain. We are no longer bound to the surface of Terra Firma as we used to be. Planes routinely outdistance the birds in the sky, and orbiting satellites have been and continue to be a vital part of the lifeblood of technological society. It seems God continues to bless our efforts to reach for the stars.
Will it stay this way? That is a very good question.
But let me back up. I told my Mom this morning that my views on living on an alien planet like Mars had changed recently – just slowly changed as I saw all the progress we have been making to reach foreign planets with Space X and Elon’s insatiable dream to colonize the red planet. But as I’ve noticed SpaceX continue to prosper I have, in the past, really wondered about the rate at which Elon was expending money, and resources (and people) to reach a rock which it may be hard to find large numbers of people to colonize.
Is he being wise? Or impulsive? Musk is known for his radically different leadership and business style, famously once taking the majority of the money he had earned from PayPal at that time and sinking it into SpaceX, and splitting the rest between Tesla and Solar City – leaving him with very little personal spending money. It paid off for him that time, because he was able to overcome the technical challenges they were experiencing at SpaceX, but things were dicey for awhile.
Musk is currently building a new Starfactory building to build and maintain up to 24 Starship rockets at one time. He hopes to achieve production of one Starship per day. Beyond just churning out new hardware, the Starfactory serves as the practical hub for SpaceX’s reusability goal. It’s the site where flight-proven boosters and ships are returned, refurbished, and prepped for their next journey—a necessary step if the goal is to eventually make space travel as routine as a commercial flight.
And there’s a lot more to establishing a colony on mars than just building rockets.
I’ve told my Mom a couple times this week that my views on spaceflight had changed, and that I might even now think of myself as the kind of person who would go to mars, to live there. What? Am I serious? Perhaps I’m not that serious as an individual, but it has made me think Elon’s dream may have a chance of changing my mind.
One question remains: would God approve of my mission? I also told my Mom today, that really, the deciding factor on whether I went to Mars was what the Holy Spirit had to say about it. And while that’s not the only factor, I know that God had put an adventurous spirit in the heart of every man and woman who has ever been born. And maybe in some it burns bright enough to precipitate interstellar travel.
But the real choice is actually a very hard one. I have been on 3 week trips by boat to Alaska up the Inside Passage a few times and know what its like to sleep 5 people to a small “camper”. Eventually, you just feel like you have to stretch your legs eventually. But in order to do that on Mars you would need a suit, and oxygen, and your time would be limited because of radiation exposure.
But maybe it would be worth it. Maybe Elon’s dream can become a reality. Maybe the technical problems can be overcome. Maybe humankind can stop waging war on each other long enough to touch the sky.
I wish I could be part of that grand adventure.
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