Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that no matter how financially successful SpaceX may be, the company will have failed in his eyes if the primary objective – the colonization of Mars – is not achieved. Musk’s biographer Walter Isaacson quotes him as saying: “The lens of getting to Mars has motivated every SpaceX decision.” One example of this is that Musk chose methane as the fuel for Starship. He chose methane because it can be extracted on Mars. This will significantly reduce the amount of fuel that Starship needs to carry as it will not need fuel for both the outbound and return trips. Musk is planning to send an unmanned rocket to Mars, which will generate methane fuel on site.
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