Elon Musk shares vision of Mars as "life insurance" for humanity amid threats to Earth from the Sun

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is turning his focus back to his long-term vision of colonising Mars, calling it "life insurance for life collectively," as his time with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) concludes.

In an interview with Fox News aired on May 6 on Jesse Watters Primetime, Musk discussed the DOGE team's work in addressing government waste, fraud, and abuse, while reiterating the existential importance of a self-sustaining human settlement on Mars.

"Mars is life insurance for life collectively. So, eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun. The sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multi-planet civilisation because Earth will be incinerated," Musk told Fox News host Jesse Watters.

According to a NASA fact sheet, the sun — a medium-sized star with a radius of about 435,000 miles — will eventually exhaust its nuclear fuel and expand into a red giant. This stellar transformation could engulf the inner planets, including Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth, although such an event is estimated to occur around 5 billion years from now.

Musk emphasized that his Martian vision goes far beyond symbolic milestones like flag planting or surface exploration.

"The fundamental fork in the road of destiny [is] that Mars is sufficiently self-sustaining and can grow by itself if the resupply ships from Earth stop coming for any reason, whether that is because civilization died with a bang or a whimper," Musk explained. "If the resupply ships are necessary for Mars to survive, then we have not created life insurance."

"We've not created life insurance for life collectively. So that's the key point in the future where [the] destiny of life, as we know it, will forever be affected, is when Mars becomes self-sustaining."

In a March post on his social media platform X, Musk revealed plans for a SpaceX Starship to launch to the red planet by the end of 2026. The mission will include Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, marking a significant step toward building infrastructure on Mars.

Musk suggested that if the missions proceed smoothly, human landings on Mars could begin as early as 2029, though he acknowledged that 2031 is a more realistic target.

With his tenure at DOGE behind him, Musk is doubling down on his long-standing belief that humanity’s future lies beyond Earth—and that the clock is already ticking.

By Khagan Isayev