Elon Musk and Neil de Grasse Tyson have clashed once again with the latter claiming that the billionaire will not be able to fund his quest to set up civilisation on Mars. Speaking to American talk show host, Bill Maher, Mr Tyson commented on the feasibility of travelling to Mars, adding that the investors would never agree to the idea as it had no return on investment. For a long time, Mr Musk has posited that Mars colonisation is the only way for humanity to survive while Mr Tyson wants humankind to focus on immediate challenges present on Earth instead of expending resources in outer space.
During the interview, Mr Maher asked Mr Tyson how long would it take for the SpaceX boss to "realistically send humans to Mars".
"How badly would we have to rat f**k Earth before it's worse than a place that's 200 below zero with no air and no water with six months to reach it?!" quizzed Mr Maher.
To which, Mr Tyson, who hosted the TV series Cosmos, developed by Carl Sagan, replied: "My read of the history of space exploration is such that we do big, expensive things only when it's geopolitically expedient, such as we feel threatened by an enemy."
"And so for him to just say, let's go to Mars because it's the next thing to do. What is that venture capitalist meeting look like? 'So, Elon, what do you want to do?' 'I want to go to Mars?' 'How much will it cost?' '$1 trillion.' 'Is it safe?' 'No. People will probably die.' 'What's the return on the investment?' 'Nothing.' That's a five-minute meeting. And it doesn't happen," he added.
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Musk responds
After the video of Mr Tyson's monologue went viral, the Tesla CEO took to X (formerly Twitter) and issued a response.
"Wow, they really don't get it. Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness. Also, I'm not going to ask any venture capitalists for money. I realise that it makes no sense as an investment. That's why I'm gathering resources," wrote Mr Musk, adding the 'slapping forehead in disbelief' emoji.
In a separate post, Mr Musk added even if he failed at creating a Mars colony that can grow without continuous support from Earth, "the absurdly ambitious nature of the goal nonetheless results in the creation of alien-level technology that is crushingly better than competitors who merely aim for Earth orbit".
Mr Musk's SpaceX is hoping to use the Starship's reusability factor to build a colony on Mars. In September, the company announced that it would be launching its first uncrewed mission to Mars in the next two years.
