The world’s richest man could be set to become even wealthier, but he’ll first need to pull off one mission that would change the entire world.
This comes after it was revealed that the SpaceX board of directors have approved a new pay package for Elon Musk if he is able to do something that has never been achieved before.
It would grant Musk a whopping 200 million super-voting restricted shares of stock - But there's certain conditions he needs to meet to qualify, alongside this life-changing assignment of course.
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If you didn't guess it already, this task will see the tech mogul attempt to establish a human-run colony on Mars.
This is no small feat - especially considering that humans have never even attempted to visit the Red Planet, let alone colonize it.
But this is something that Musk has had his sights on for many years, often seen wearing an ‘Occupy Mars’ shift when making public appearances.
If he is successful in his mission, the pay package approved by his space company could mean that Musk would receive a whopping 60.4 million shares.
So, what is SpaceX’s plan for Mars? On its website, the firm said: “Establishing a self-sufficient city on Mars will require upwards of one million people and millions of tonnes of cargo to be delivered to the Red Planet. By launching more than 10 times per day to maximize transfer windows that open up every approximately 26 months, several thousand Starships will ultimately transfer crew and equipment to build a lasting presence on another world.”
Explaining why it is focusing on Mars in particular, instead of other planets, SpaceX continued: “At an average distance of 140 million miles, Mars is one of Earth's closest habitable neighbors. Mars is about half again as far from the Sun as Earth is, so it still has decent sunlight. It is a little cold, but we can warm it up. Its atmosphere is primarily CO2 with some nitrogen and argon and a few other trace elements, which means that we can grow plants on Mars just by compressing the atmosphere. Gravity on Mars is about 38% of that of Earth, so you would be able to lift heavy things and bound around. Furthermore, the day is remarkably close to that of Earth.”
The company added: “SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket - collectively referred to as Starship - represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.”