Elon Musk may have (not) volunteered to donate his sperm to colonize Mars

Elon Musk wants to build a habitat on Mars, and envisions his offspring to be among the first inhabitants of a Martian city. Or so the New York Times says.

Zack and Kelly Weinersmith are probably the least surprised to hear about this Musk endeavor. The story was brought to light by New York Times journalists, based on the testimony of five people with knowledge of the matter.

The Weinersmiths are two space enthusiasts behind the cleverly written book “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through.”

Published half a year ago, their book comes to a conclusion that it is impossible to build a Mars settlement within our lifetimes – maybe our children, or, more likely, grandchildren or our children, will come a bit closer to the dream.

Let’s leave behind the fact that the environment on Mars is an impossible place to inhabit. The Weinersmiths also talk about the societal aspect of settling on Mars. They envisioned what they called a ‘Muscow’ – a city on Mars created solely by Elon Musk.

In the city, everyone would be reliant on their employer who would not only put bread on their table but also own everything from employee apartments to local amenities. There would be no escape – you can’t exactly just slam your door shut and post on LinkedIn you are open to work. Even your “graceful” exit wouldn't be yours.

Who would want to live in such a corporate city? Well, some might not get a say in what they want as Musk has a pretty decent idea of who could be the first inhabitants on Mars.

Here’s the deal, according to the New York Times:

“One team is drawing up plans for small dome habitats, including the materials that could be used to build them. Another is working on spacesuits to combat Mars’s hostile environment, while a medical team is researching whether humans can have children there. Mr. Musk has volunteered his sperm to help seed a colony, two people familiar with his comments said.”

Since we didn’t hear it from Musk himself, we can only speculate what this sperm donation would even mean. Maybe he’s about to build his own “The Umbrella Academy”, who knows, that’s a question for sci-fi writers and scientists.

For now, Mars remains pretty much unreachable for humans. Even if it were just a 15 minute flight away, there are some big issues the science community needs to figure out.

Just leaving Earth is hard on the human body, let alone living on Mars.

“When we put a human body outside of that, all sorts of things go wrong. Essentially, it amounts to accelerating aging. You become a virtual couch-potato, so all the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle affect you. Because you are floating around without feeling the effects of gravity, which is fun, your body loses the ability to maintain bone and muscle strength, ligament, all of that,” Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques once said.

Here’s some of the mind-boggling things about Mars colonization, as put by The Weinersmiths:

• Mars gravity is only a third of Earth's. For humans, it would mean decreasing bone mass, and deteriorating sight, among other numerous side effects.
• Conceiving and raising a child in space is impossible. Sex would be all fifty shades of gray minus the pleasure
• A space settlement without regular contact and trade with Earth is hard to imagine. From food supply and medical care, construction to recycling – the Martian community would heavily rely on its trade partner planet for nearly everything.
• To manage such a settlement, the city would need to achieve autarky close to Cuba’s or North Korea’s. And given even these two countries have some sort of contact (even if it involves simply stealing resources as opposed to legal trade) with someone outside their regimes.

Musk didn’t respond to the New York Times – which claimed to have interviewed over 20 people close to Musk – directly. However, after the article was published, he denied saying he had volunteered his sperm.

“I have not fwiw “volunteered my sperm.” No one at SpaceX has been directed to work on a Mars city. When people have asked to do so, I’ve said we need to focus on getting there first.”