SpaceX Mars Mission News: Does Elon Musk Have New Partner In Colonizing Mars?

First Posted: Dec 07, 2016 03:08 AM EST
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SapceX CEO Elon Musk may have just found a new team on his planned Mars mission. Moon Express Founder will work with him.

Moon Express founder Naveen Jain said that he is willing to work with Elon Musk. The Moon Express is the first private company that has been permitted by the U.S. government to explore the Moon for resources. In 2017, the company is planning to take a robotic rover to the Moon.

In Cape Canveral, which is the base of Moon Express, Jain said that the company has two neighbors. It is the space company Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

In a report by CNBC, Jain was asked if he was willing to work with Musk. He replied, " Absolutely." Jain added that "It's very complimentary as a matter of fact, Elon Musk will build the rocket and we do the rover. Essentially, he lays the cables and we do the last mile."

Thus, Moon Express' primary goal is to focus on getting to the Moon. But, Mars is also seen to be the next step, according to Yahoo.

Naveen Jain added that "Mars is absolutely the right place to be ultimate. But (the) moon is the first training ground and the first stepping stone. At the end of the day, we would rather me a lunatic three days away than being a Martian six months away." So he really believes the problems living on the Moon are similar -- vast temperature difference, the high radiation -- and if they can solve that problem on the Moon, they can easily go on living on Mars afterward.

Furthermore, Jain added that the Moon travel will eventually be cheaper. "On a mission that initially cost us to go to the moon about $25 billion, our mission to the moon next year is going to be $7 million, and the year after it's going to go down to millions. And in the next ten years, the cost of going to the moon is going to be $10,000. And in fact, even the time to go to the moon we'll be able to go to the moon in 4 hours. That's faster than going from New York to London."

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