SpaceX Mars Colonization Program

SpaceX Mars colonization program (also referred to as Occupy Mars colloquially) is an ambition of the company SpaceX and particularly of its founder Elon Musk to colonize Mars. The main element of this ambition is the plan to establish a self-sustained large scale settlement and colony on Mars, claiming self-determination under direct democracy.^[1] The main motivation behind this is the belief that the colonization of Mars allows humanity to become multiplanetary and therefore secures the long-term survival of the human species in case of Earth being rid of human life.^[2]

Colonization is to be achieved via the development and use of reusable and mass-produced super heavy-lift launch vehicles called Starship. Starship has been referred to as the "holy grail of rocketry" for extraplanetary colonization.^[3]

These plans for colonization have garnered both popularity and professional criticism. Being supported for people dreaming to go to Mars and aiming to make the human species survive independently of Earth, while the latter, that very assumption and focus is at the same time being refuted as not necessary nor constructive, on top of being criticised for perpetuating colonialism, and being questioned regarding its execution, livability and legality.