After winning the American presidency, and a good place in the world diplomatic order, Donald Trump is looking to the stars. Relying on the old concept of “manifest destiny”, according to which the United States would have a natural right to territorial expansion, the Republican ghost promised in his inauguration speech, Monday January 20, to ” send astronauts to plant (the American flag) on the planet Mars.” If no details were given, these statements are enough to make America’s other strong man, Elon Musk, smile.
On October 5, 2024, it was flanked by his “Occupy Mars” t-shirt that the billionaire joined Donald Trump on stage, whose electoral campaign was then in full swing. Already CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, the South African entrepreneur has just put on another hat: that of supporter and banker of Donald Trump. After having injected more than 110 million dollars into his son’s ambitions, he now finds himself responsible for government efficiency. Whispering in the ear of the new tenant of the White House, Elon Musk intends to make the conquest of Mars a priority on the presidential agenda. “Elon Musk wants to offer the presidency to Donald Trump. Trump wants to offer the universe to Musk”, summarized the American media before the election The Atlantic.
For around twenty years, the richest man in the world has been obsessed with the red planet, which he would like to be the first to colonize. Convinced that there is no future on Earth, the businessman likens the rush to Mars to “life insurance on life”. To achieve his goals, Elon Musk founded the space company SpaceX in 2002, now valued at 350 billion dollars (336 billion euros), according to our colleagues at Future.”I’m going to colonize Mars. My mission in life is to make humanity a multi-planetary civilization” he promised in 2001. At the time, he spoke with former colleagues at Paypal who did not believe him. But when Ebay bought Paypal – including Elon Musk contributed to the development – he pockets $250 million, according to Les Echos. And injects them into SpaceX.
Elon Musk obsessed with Mars
The one who now weighs 270 billion dollars has a precise agenda: he would like to send a manned mission to the red planet from 2029, after a robotic mission launched in 2027. According to the New York Times, Elon Musk expects “a million people will live on Mars in about 20 years.” However, many industry experts consider this timetable too ambitious. “Could there be a manned mission to Mars by the end of Trump’s term? No,” Scott Pace, who headed space policy during Donald Trump’s first term, told Reuters. The specialist adds: “You have to learn to walk before you run.”
Not enough to dampen Elon Musk’s ardor. He wants “NASA to abandon its plan to return to the Moon and head directly to Mars”, reports the American site Politico. However, Donald Trump’s victory could bring him closer to his ambitions. Concretely? NASA’s Artemis program, whose goal is to use SpaceX’s Starship rocket to send humans to the Moon, could instead focus in the coming years on sending unmanned ships to the Red Planet , according to four people familiar with Trump’s space policy agenda. Information confirmed by Reuters. In fact, in his inauguration speech, the Republican did not mention the planned return of American astronauts to the Moon.
The former real estate tycoon has repeatedly insisted on the importance of American supremacy in space exploration. Already in 2019, Donald Trump, who was then the 45th president of the United States, wrote on Twitter: “With all the money we spend, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon – we did it 50 years ago.” Before adding: “They should focus on the much more important things we do, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!” One thing is certain: Elon Musk and Donald Trump do not want to leave anything out of their control.