Musk shares terrifying reason why he's desperate to sustain life on Mars

Elon Musk has revealed the terrifying reason he wants to colonise Mars as he issues a warning about the future of life on Earth.

Billionaire Musk has made clear his vision to sustain human life on the Red Planet, with his space exploration company, SpaceX, actively building technology that it hopes will make travelling there a possibility.

Speaking to Fox News, Musk explained why so much of his resources are going into reaching Mars.

“Mars is life insurance for life collectively,” Musk claimed.

“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.”

Far beyond just visiting Mars, Musk says he wants to colonise the planet and make sure humans can live there, securing the “survival of civilization”.

Elon Musk shares vision for 'self-sustaining city' on Mars Fox News

“We have a long way to go because it's not just about landing on Mars and doing flags and footprints,” he explained.

In a phenomenon that scientists predict will begin in around five billion years’ time, NASA says the sun will eventually run out of energy.

When this occurs, it’s thought that it will expand into a giant red star that may become so big that it engulfs Mercury, Venus and possibly planet Earth.

While none of us will be around to see it, Musk wants to prepare humanity to be “sufficiently self-sustaining” on Mars.

Musk said he wants his mission on Mars to be able to one day “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 continued: “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.”

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