Wildest Private Deep-Space Mission Ideas: A Countdown

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SpaceX Mars Mission: People Mover

SpaceX

Private spaceflight firm SpaceX is looking farther afield than low-Earth orbit. Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and CEO of SpaceX, wants to establish a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people by ferrying explorers to the Red Planet for perhaps $500,000 a trip. A new reusable rocket may serve as the vehicle, rumored to bear the name MCT, for Mass Cargo Transport or Mars Colony Transport. [The Rockets and Spaceships of SpaceX (Photos)]

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Space.com Staff
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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor. 

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