Article Posted on : - Jan 06, 2009

File photo of SpaceX Falcon 1 Flight 4 being erected on the launch pad at Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll. SpaceX image

LONDON (PTI): Imagine retiring to Mars. Well, your imagination could someday turn into reality, for rocket scientists are planning the next generation of space vehicles which they claim will put life on the Red Planet.

"The goal is to make it affordable enough and reliable enough to move life from Earth to other planets," according to Elon Musk of rocket company SpaceX that's mulling a supersonic spacecraft to ferry people to Mars.

Musk, who prefers to distance himself from tycoon Sir Richard Branson's space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic, has his own plans for humanity's future beyond the atmosphere. His scientists are now working hard to make his "utopian road map" to space a success.

"We're looking at the commercialisation of space and the realisation of a permanent presence up there. If we could lower the cost of moving to Mars below a certain threshold say USD two million, I could see that being a huge business.

"It's not like a lot of people would have to go, just 10,000 to 20,000 people out of the six billion on Earth. People could save up all their lives and instead of buying a big house -- or moving to Florida -- they could go to Mars," he told 'The Sunday Times'.

Last year, SpaceX had won USD 3.5 billion in contracts from NASA to begin delivering cargo to the International Space Station by next year.

"There are science modules on the space station that can't be used because the three people currently on board just spend all their time repairing stuff. If you can get six people up there, you can start to do real science," Musk said.

But, that's not to say that SpaceX is content merely to be NASA's chauffeur. "Nasa will continue to be our biggest customer for a while but, with a recession looming, I think we're going to see some limits on its funding.”

"(Barack) Obama's position on commercial space flight is very strong, even stronger than George W. Bush's. We're not going to see governments stop doing space altogether but many private companies will account for the majority of space activity, probably within ten years," Musk said.