Humanity will not be able to fly to Mars in the coming years. This opinion was expressed by the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2021). In his opinion, the head of the American company SpaceX, Elon Musk, simply captivates ordinary people with his stories about the imminent landing of people on Mars, but behind such predictions there is nothing but marketing.
Rogozin reacted to Musk's words at the session “Innovations as a Driver of International Cooperation in the Space Sphere”, which was broadcast by the YouTube channel of “Roscosmos”.
According to Rogozin, it is possible to launch a rocket to Mars only at a certain time – in the so-called launch window, which “opens” only once every two years. Then the flight can take up to nine months.
“Technical people understand that this is an absolute absurdity … How to stuff 100 people like sprats in a bank, without the ability to move for nine months, into a spaceship? Then they will fly there. For two years they have been waiting for the next launch window to open in order to dump it back to Earth from there, ”said the head of Roscosmos.
He added that people who dream of space since childhood and look at the starry sky in the evenings often believe in the fantasies of various businessmen. According to the head of Roscosmos, the latter are trying in this way to find themselves “potential contributors to some space projects.”
“People like it. The wow effect. In fact, there is nothing behind it other than a marketer's coup. And there are quite a few such people who tell such tales, ”Rogozin said.
The head of Roscosmos considered Elon Musk to be one of the “excellent marketers”. At the same time, he noted that the American entrepreneur created some things that “make you want to analyze.” When asked whether the founder of SpaceX is an irritant for Roscosmos, Rogozin replied in the negative.
“He is an irritant for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, those American giants who are clearly losing to him in the fight for NASA orders. For us, he is not a competitor, but an important element for analyzing trends in the development of astronautics of the future, ”explained Rogozin.
Earlier, Musk has repeatedly announced his plans to colonize Mars. Now for these purposes a special spacecraft is being developed – Starship. According to the estimates of the American billionaire, a person will be able to set foot on the surface of the Red Planet in six years or even earlier. At the same time, he warned: during the conquest of Mars there will be many victims.
“It’s going to be awkward, you probably don’t have good food and everything. To be honest, a bunch of people will probably die in the beginning. However, it is still a glorious adventure and an incredible experience, ”Musk said.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum takes place from 2 to 5 June at the Expoforum Exhibition Center. The event has been held annually since 1997 and is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. Before the pandemic, the number of forum participants each year exceeded 10,000 people from 120 countries. In 2021, due to the pandemic, it was decided to halve the number of SPIEF participants, most of whom came from Russia.
Photo: frame from video / YouTube-channel Roscosmos Media
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