Elon Musk wants humans to settle on Mars, and his rocket company SpaceX is spending billions of dollars on developing the spacecraft to take us there. The ‘Starship’ is being designed to take astronauts back to the moon, and eventually, on to the red planet. But why is Musk so obsessed with building a colony on Mars, and is he really the man to take us there? 

The FT’s space industry editor Peggy Hollinger speaks to space experts and Mars enthusiasts about the pull of the red planet, both for scientists and explorers, and how realistic Musk’s vision for humanity as an interplanetary species really is.

This episode of Tech Tonic is hosted by Peggy Hollinger and produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The senior producer is Edwin Lane and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Fact checking by Simon Greaves. Sound design is by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original Music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Special thanks to Tom Hannen.

Clips: SpaceX, AP, Joe Rogan Experience, SXSW, VideoFromSpace, WPLG Local 10, International Astronautical Foundation, BBC Archive, ABC, CGTN, Flagler Live, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, NasaSpaceFlight/Joshua Adank

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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