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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claims his company could take humans to the moon by 2021 – three years ahead of Nasa’s plan to replicate the feat firs achieved by Apollo 11.
Speaking in an interview to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, Mr Musk said its Starship space craft could land astronauts on the moon within two years, despite doubts from Nasa engineers.
“This is gonna sound pretty crazy, but I think we could land on the moon in less than two years. Certainly with an uncrewed vehicle I believe we could land on the moon in two years,” he told Time.
“If it were to take longer to convince Nasa and the authorities that we can do it versus just doing it, then we might just do it. It may literally be easier to just land Starship on the moon than try to convince Nasa that we can.
“The sheer amount of effort required to convince a large number of skeptical engineers at Nasa that we can do it is very high… But the for sure way to end the skepticism is just do it.”
1/8 Flag waves but there is no wind on the moon
The theory goes that as the flag is waving in the wind, it must have been on earth as there is no wind on the moon. If it were on the moon it would simply droop. The truth is that it is not waving, rather it is being held in place by a telescopic pole running through the top of the flag and it is crumpled as it had been screwed up for days en route to the moon
NASA
2/8 Boot doesn’t match the boot print
It is suggested that this picture of a boot print on the moon is fake because it does not line up with the tread of this boot from Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit. That’s right, it doesn’t.
NASA
3/8 Boot doesn’t match the boot print
The print does however match that of the outer boots, the ones worn by the Apollo crew when walking on the moon. And while we’re at it: the print is from Buzz Aldrin not Armstrong.
NASA
4/8 No stars in outer space?
Why are there no stars in sight when this picture was taken on a rock in outer space that has no atmosphere? Answer: camera settings. In order to capture this photo in direct sunlight, the camera would have to have a very narrow aperture and the shutter would only stay open for a minuscule amount of time. This means that the camera will not take in the light of the distant stars, only that of the much nearer, brighter sun.
NASA
5/8 Astronauts couldn’t survive the radiation belts
The Van Allen belts are regions of extremely high energy charged particles are trapped in the earth’s magnetic field. The conspiracy theory goes that the astronauts could not possibly survive exposure to this level of radiation.
NASA
6/8 Astronauts couldn’t survive the radiation belts
Professor Anu Ojha of the National Space Centre answers: “Firewalking. If you’ve ever done firewalking, you’ll know the one thing you don’t do is linger around in the middle of the firepit. You cross as quickly as you can… as long as you walk across quite quickly, looking at the thermal conductivity of your feet, you are not going to have enough thermal energy going into the soles of your feet to burn you. You’re absolutely fine. Just don’t hang around in the middle!
In a similar way, the transit time through the Van Allen radiation belt right at the beginning of the Apollo voyages was incredibly short. Travelling through the Van Allen radiation belt if you are going fast enough – which you need to be if you’re going to the Moon – is no problem whatsoever”
AFP/Getty
7/8 Shadows aren’t parallel – must be a lighting set-up
These two shadows are pointing in separate directions, hence they must be lit by two separate lights in a studio set-up rather than the single-point source of the sun.
NASA
8/8 Shadows aren’t parallel – must be a lighting set-up
No, this is simply a matter of perspective. The moon’s surface is not flat and so the shadows are not projected perfectly parallel. This question would have never been asked if we could see the beginning of the shadows, which would all align with the same vanishing point.
NASA
1/8 Flag waves but there is no wind on the moon
The theory goes that as the flag is waving in the wind, it must have been on earth as there is no wind on the moon. If it were on the moon it would simply droop. The truth is that it is not waving, rather it is being held in place by a telescopic pole running through the top of the flag and it is crumpled as it had been screwed up for days en route to the moon
NASA
2/8 Boot doesn’t match the boot print
It is suggested that this picture of a boot print on the moon is fake because it does not line up with the tread of this boot from Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit. That’s right, it doesn’t.
NASA
3/8 Boot doesn’t match the boot print
The print does however match that of the outer boots, the ones worn by the Apollo crew when walking on the moon. And while we’re at it: the print is from Buzz Aldrin not Armstrong.
NASA
4/8 No stars in outer space?
Why are there no stars in sight when this picture was taken on a rock in outer space that has no atmosphere? Answer: camera settings. In order to capture this photo in direct sunlight, the camera would have to have a very narrow aperture and the shutter would only stay open for a minuscule amount of time. This means that the camera will not take in the light of the distant stars, only that of the much nearer, brighter sun.
NASA
5/8 Astronauts couldn’t survive the radiation belts
The Van Allen belts are regions of extremely high energy charged particles are trapped in the earth’s magnetic field. The conspiracy theory goes that the astronauts could not possibly survive exposure to this level of radiation.
NASA
6/8 Astronauts couldn’t survive the radiation belts
Professor Anu Ojha of the National Space Centre answers: “Firewalking. If you’ve ever done firewalking, you’ll know the one thing you don’t do is linger around in the middle of the firepit. You cross as quickly as you can… as long as you walk across quite quickly, looking at the thermal conductivity of your feet, you are not going to have enough thermal energy going into the soles of your feet to burn you. You’re absolutely fine. Just don’t hang around in the middle!
In a similar way, the transit time through the Van Allen radiation belt right at the beginning of the Apollo voyages was incredibly short. Travelling through the Van Allen radiation belt if you are going fast enough – which you need to be if you’re going to the Moon – is no problem whatsoever”
AFP/Getty
7/8 Shadows aren’t parallel – must be a lighting set-up
These two shadows are pointing in separate directions, hence they must be lit by two separate lights in a studio set-up rather than the single-point source of the sun.
NASA
8/8 Shadows aren’t parallel – must be a lighting set-up
No, this is simply a matter of perspective. The moon’s surface is not flat and so the shadows are not projected perfectly parallel. This question would have never been asked if we could see the beginning of the shadows, which would all align with the same vanishing point.
NASA
Mr Musk has often stated that when he started SpaceX he originally gave it a 10 per cent chance of being a successful venture.
Having been inspired by the original Apollo 11 moon landings, the entrepreneur decided to use some of the money he made from selling eBay to start a private space firm that would inspire a new generation of space travel enthusiasts.
“The way I actually started out was I was gonna do a philanthropic mission called ‘Mars Oasis’ to land a small greenhouse on the surface of Mars with seeds in dehydrated nutrient gel that would hydrate upon landing. And you’d have this incredible shot of green plants against a red background,” he said.
“My goal was simply to get the public excited, which would then get Congress excited so that they would appropriate more money and increase Nasa’s budget.”
With the increasing success of SpaceX, Mr Musk has since extended his ambitions for the firm. He believes that with innovations like reusable rockets, SpaceX can help humanity eventually become a multi-planet species, with the eventual goal of saving our species from extinction.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss is known for his overly-ambitious timelines, though has also made a habit of eventually delivering on promises.
Nasa’s own estimates for returning to the moon are also ambitious, though slightly more conservative. The US space agency aims to land a crew capsule on the south pole of the moon in 2024.
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