Elon Musk's Mars city vision: Ambitious plan for 2054 takes shape

Colonizing Mars has shifted from the realm of science fiction literature to a real possibility. Thanks to the efforts of companies like SpaceX, ICON, and NASA, technologies that enable the creation of self-sustaining settlements on Mars are becoming increasingly tangible. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has set the goal of creating a city on the Red Planet that could accommodate a million people. However, for this to succeed, advanced rockets will not suffice; innovative technologies for producing oxygen, food, and even homes will also be necessary.

Musk's ambitious plan assumes that the main means of transportation to Mars will be Starship—a reusable rocket developed by SpaceX. It is capable of carrying large amounts of materials and people, making it the foundation of the planned colonization. Musk plans to create a fleet of up to a thousand ships, which will launch during transfer windows every 26 months when Mars and Earth are closest to each other.

Starships will serve as transportation and construction tools. Upon landing on Mars, the ships will be dismantled, and their parts will be used to build the first structures on the planet. SpaceX also foresees fuel production directly on Mars from local resources, using the Sabatier process to produce methane and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water.

One of the key challenges on Mars is oxygen production. The planet's atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, making breathing impossible. However, NASA has already tested the MOXIE technology (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), which has proven that oxygen can be generated from Martian carbon dioxide. In the future, MOXIE could be scaled up to supply oxygen for both humans and rocket fuel production.

Another challenge is the construction of safe and durable habitats on Mars. ICON and AI SpaceFactory are working on 3D printing technologies that utilize local resources to build homes on the Red Planet. ICON, known for printing houses on Earth, is now developing a project that will allow for the construction of Martian structures from materials available on-site, such as regolith. AI SpaceFactory won NASA’s competition by printing a prototype of a Martian base named MARSHA.

Ensuring access to water and food is crucial for survival on Mars. Interstellar Lab is developing bioregenerative systems supporting plant cultivation in extreme conditions. This technology is being tested on Earth in closed, controlled environments that simulate conditions on Mars. Water can be sourced from Martian ice, and Interstellar Lab is working on closed-loop systems that maximize the use of available resources.

Colonizing Mars is no longer just a dream. Thanks to the efforts of companies like SpaceX, ICON, NASA, and many others, the technologies necessary to settle on the Red Planet are in testing and development stages. While the challenges are enormous, advances in oxygen production, habitat construction, and ensuring water and food offer hope that Elon Musk's plans for establishing a city on Mars could be realized. In the coming decades, humanity may stand on the threshold of a new era—the era of interplanetary life.