With his tenure at the Department of Government Efficiency winding down, Elon Musk is now looking to the stars for his next great move.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” this Monday, Musk revealed that his next goal is to colonize Mars to save humanity.
Listen:
(Video Credit: Fox News)
“Mars is life insurance for life collectively,” he said. “So eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun. The sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multi-planet civilization because Earth will be incinerated.”
“The fundamental fork in the road of destiny [is] that Mars is sufficiently self-sustaining and can grow by itself if the resupply ships from Earth stop coming for any reason, whether that is because civilization died with a bang or a whimper,” he added.
“If the resupply ships are necessary for Mars to survive, then we have not created life insurance.” We’ve not created life insurance for life collectively. So that’s the key point in the future where [the] destiny of life, as we know it, will forever be affected, is when Mars becomes self-sustaining,” he concluded.
His remarks come about two months after he announced that SpaceX’s reusable Starship rocket will take off for Mars with the Tesla Optimus robot on board at the end of 2026:
Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus.
If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely. https://t.co/JRBB95sgNN
— gorklon rust (@elonmusk) March 15, 2025
Starship is reportedly the largest and most powerful rocket in existence, measuring 123 meters high. This is an estimated 30 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty.
However, SpaceX faces serious challenges that must first be overcome before Starship can be sent on its way to Mars, including investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Just days before Musk posted the tweet seen above, reports emerged that the FAA had begun investigating SpaceX over a then-recent Starship explosion that had disrupted air traffic.
“A mishap investigation is designed to enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again,” the FAA said in a statement. “The FAA will be involved in every step of the SpaceX-led mishap investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions.”
The explosion occurred when, as Starship was following its planned trajectory, an “energetic event” caused it to lose several of its engines. Communication with Starship was lost soon afterward.
“Starship flew within a designated launch corridor to safeguard the public both on the ground, on water, and in the air,” SpaceX said in a statement. “Following the anomaly, SpaceX teams immediately began coordination with the FAA, ATO (air traffic control), and other safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.”
Starship test flight 8 appeared to have suffered an anomaly. Video taken from a cruise ship in the FL straits pic.twitter.com/RjalYtWMUF
— Andrew Colantoni (@acolan1006) March 6, 2025
As noted earlier, Musk’s tenure at DOGE is approaching an end.
Musk is classified as a “special government employee,” or SGE. And unfortunately, SGEs are term-limited to 130 days.
President Donald Trump himself hinted in remarks made last month that Musk might indeed be gone once his 130 days are up.
“At some point, he’s going to be going back … I’ll keep him as long as I can keep him, he’s a very talented guy,” the president said. “I love very smart people, and he’s very smart, and he’s done a good job … I like high-IQ people. At some point, Elon’s going to want to go back to his company.”
President Trump on Elon Musk & DOGE:
“I think Elon is amazing but I also think he got a big company to run, so at some point he’s going to be going back. He’s a very talented guy. He’s very smart and has done a good job. DOGE found numbers that nobody can even believe like… pic.twitter.com/0qd2vFaR7R
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) March 31, 2025
Musk himself acknowledged the 130-day limit while speaking in late March with Fox News host Bret Baier.
“I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame,” he said regarding the May 30th deadline.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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