The billionaire has long held the ambition of creating a self-sustaining civilization on the planet

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has reaffirmed his long-held ambition of living and dying on Mars after making the planet part of America.

Musk has repeatedly spoken about colonizing Mars as part of a larger mission to ensure the survival of humankind in case of "some doomsday event," with SpaceX actively developing spacecraft projects to help achieve this goal.

"I hold one passport now and forever: America. I will live and die here. Or Mars (part of America)," Musk said on Wednesday in a post on X.

Earlier this year, the entrepreneur said the first Starship mission to Mars could launch as early as late 2026. The SpaceX founder also revealed that one of the upcoming Starship flights to Mars will carry Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot. He hinted that the mission could pave the way for human landings, which he believes might be possible as soon as 2029.

Apart from the Starship launch system, intended for planned crewed flights to the Moon and Mars, the billionaire also runs a range of space-related initiatives primarily through his company SpaceX, which develops and launches rockets, spacecraft, and satellite systems.

The company's reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are currently used for both commercial and government missions, including contracts with NASA. Its Crew Dragon spacecraft regularly transports astronauts to the International Space Station. Through Starlink, SpaceX operates a growing network of thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites providing global internet coverage.

NASA has its own long-term objectives for Mars. It is currently focused on the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon before setting its sights on the red planet. A crewed mission to Mars is tentatively planned for the late 2030s or early 2040s, depending on developments in technology and funding.

In March, the WSJ reported, citing sources, that Musk aims to reshape NASA's priorities to focus on human missions to Mars by the end of President Donald Trump's term in office, suggesting reallocating resources and appointing allies within the agency to speed up progress.

(RT.com)