During a March event, former president Barack Obama slammed the plans of Silicon Valley "tycoons, many of whom are building spaceships" that could get humans to Mars," as quoted by Agence France-Presse.

"But when I hear some of the people talk about the plan to colonize Mars because the Earth environment may become so degraded that it becomes unliveable, I look at them like, what are you talking about?" he said at the time.

"Even after a nuclear war, Earth would be more livable than Mars, even if we didn't do anything about [climate change] it would still have oxygen " as far as we can tell, Mars does not," Obama added.

In short, is Mars really the best place to call our next home away from home?

To Musk, it's about the "excitement and adventure," as he said during a virtual Mars conference in 2020.

And those willing to turn a blind eye to his deeply twisted worldview will have to literally put their lives on the line to see his vision for a Mars colony through.

"Not for the faint of heart," he added at the time. "Good chance you'll die. And it's going to be tough, tough going, but it'll be pretty glorious if it works out."

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"All those willing to turn a blind eye to his deeply twisted worldview..."