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Elon Musk gets weird about Mars, rocket science during San Francisco keynote

Musk turned out the American Geophysical Union meeting on Tuesday.

Photo of Cynthia McKelvey

Cynthia McKelvey

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On Tuesday SpaceX CEO, Tesla Motors CEO, eccentric billionaire, and IRL comics protagonist Elon Musk gave the presidential forum at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. In a room of geologists and physicists, he talked about colonizing Mars and the importance of improving science education. 

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His commanding presence certainly carried the billing—the line to see him was astronomically long.

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Naturally, people were excited to see him take the stage.

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Though some were disappointed.

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He talked about a lot of things, perhaps the most interesting and contentious of which was becoming a “multi-planet species,” and colonizing other planets—namely Mars.

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But not everyone agreed with that sentiment.

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Others were concerned with the possibility of disturbing microbes that may live on the Red Planet.

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More concerns aired included producing fuel to get to and from Mars on the planet itself, as well as SpaceX’s challenge to create a reusable rocket.

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Musk also talked about the importance of science education and enrichment.

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He ended on a bit of a dire note: the need to get sustainable energy resources up and running, before it’s too late.

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And then it was over.

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One generous tweeter captured all of Musk’s musings in one convenient comic.

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We’ll see if he beats NASA to Mars. Until then, we’ll be eagerly anticipating the hyperloop.

Photo via Heisenberg Media/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

 
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