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Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by zamalek on Friday June 16, 2017 @01:24PM (#14570854)
The real problem is the intersection of people who can afford it and people who want to go. Mars will need more people than that intersection to be successful.

The human race needs a loss-leader.

Re:Elon Musk Publishes Plans for Colonizing Mars by LeifCarrotson on Friday June 16, 2017 @01:32PM (#14570951)
As Musk's plans describe, the problem is that today that intersection is nonexistent. It's perhaps on the order of $10 billion dollars per person, with a minimum flight of 10-20 people all paying that.

But it doesn't need to be a loss leader. If that cost was reduced by some 5 orders of magnitude, more people could afford it, and that intersection could grow enough to be viable.