Elon Musk Says: "Time to Retire ISS and Focus on Mars"

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Elon Musk has once again called for the International Space Station (ISS) to be deorbited, indicating that the emphasis should be shifted to missions to Mars. Musk suggests shifting funds to private endeavors and Mars exploration, citing the ISS's waning usefulness and the high expenses of prolonging its lifespan.

Elon Musk has called for the International Space Station (ISS) to be deorbited once more. "It's time to retire the Space Station and focus on Mars," the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla wrote in a post on the microblogging site X, which was formerly Twitter. Musk's remarks followed a post that cited another post regarding the Big Beautiful Bill's funding plans for space initiatives.

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Since its 1998 launch, the ISS has housed more than 3,000 experiments. Musk's push for Mars is supported by a 2021 study published in Nature Communications that suggests its microgravity research may be approaching redundancy. According to a 2022 NASA report, extending its lifespan would cost $3–4 billion, with funds going to private firms like Axiom Space for new stations and Mars missions.

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Musk has previously advocated for the ISS to be deorbited. He wrote on X in February of this year: "The time has come to start getting ready to deorbit the @Space_Station. It has fulfilled its function. The incremental utility is negligible. Let's visit Mars.

He then stated in a subsequent post that he intended to suggest to President Donald Trump that the station be shut down "as soon as possible."

The tech billionaire has frequently posted on X about his Mars mission, making him a vocal voice. Motivated by the need to protect civilization from Earth's existential threats, he imagines humanity's future on Mars. In fact, he has frequently shared the name of the first city on the red planet along with a timeline.

Musk acknowledged that 2031 is a more realistic target date, but his timeline suggests that if these robotic landings are successful, human missions to Mars could start as early as 2029. "Human landings could begin as early as 2029 if those landings go well, but 2031 is more likely," he continued.

He has previously proposed ‘Terminus’ as the name for the first Martian city.

#Elon Musk #Tesla #USA #Donald Trump

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