I am all for exploring Mars, thanks for posting.
But I don't believe Musk's seeming effort to get there will result in anything useful.
So far, he is absolutely old school, trying to use all the classic techniques of using capital to control armies of followers, to do what he believes is "right", from his privileged point of view.
But the knowledge and view of an individual, at least a human individual, or even a few individuals, especially priviliged individuals, can never compare with the potential knowledge, view, and potential power of humanity as a whole.
The system of profit, enabled by extracted energy was something maybe necessary to develop the basic survival technology needed to get us to the point where we could remove our dependence from the limited energy of Earth.
That old system, in order for it to eventually have this succesful outcome, of getting us to the technological capabilty of switching from the energy of Earth, to the energy of Earth's environment, the sun, had to be sustained by way of a continual pruning process, involving sacrifice of a significant portion of humans, which was necessary to stop the main population of humanity growing to a point where it would overcome the energy resources available to it.
It was generally led by a small number of the humans lucky enough, and ruthless enough to be leading all others.
That is the old world Musk still seems to be trying to live in, and even sustain, when it is no longer sustainable, since we started to make the switch.
In retrospect, we maybe notice it had a pre-determined timeline, more or less set by nature which has really been in control all along, and is now forcing us through the switch by way of inflation, which is being directly driven by nature, for the first time ever.
There is no way to stop this inflation other than by issuing money in response to the Joules being received by the "leaves" of humanity (solar farms), the same way as plants have to issue nutrients which flow to Earth, conducting to Earth the energy needed by all things on Earth.
So money is our human equivalent of nutrients in the plant, this is our energy carrier carrying out the same function as nutrients in the plant.
The plant used it firstly to draw the energy needed to grow itself to the point it formed leaves, doing the work of hauling energy upwards from Earth against gravity.
We've used it similarly to do the work of extraction necessary to grow our species to its current state.
In both cases, we built up an energy deficit with our mother Earth.
In both cases, that debt is to be paid back many times over, whilst growing ourselves to the size needed to most optimally do that, like the plant, many times its size as an infant, otherwise our species no longer has any use to nature, and we have to conclude this would be the end of us.
Imagine a plant, which failed to issue nutrients within itself in response to the Joules received on its leaves.
Does Elon know about this?
Evidently not, otherwise why does he apoear to be still trying to exercise old school rules?
By the new school, we can only guess a fully empowered, unleashed humanity as a whole will become immensely more powerful as a "Hive", than it ever could be, led by a few individuals, continually culling itself.
We will watch inflation removing the power to do all profit driven business in the meantime, destroying pretty much all old school longer term business aspirations, including Musk's claimed aspiration of going to Mars.
I am sure humanity will go to Mars.
But it won't be because we are trying to do it as a solution to the energy problem, because it isn't an answer to the energy problem.
There is only one answer to the energy problem, and we will descend into an ever deepening existential battle with nature until she wins, or until we give in, one way or another, either way nature wins.
Anyone interested to know more can find it by searching in Medium for "the missing sign"