“Critically on the [International Space Station], humans are there to help and fix the robot when it inevitably falters,” Hubicki said. “On Mars, there are no humans to rescue it, and replacement parts are a nightmare to ship in.”

Musk will likely stay committed to the Mars-settlement goal over the long haul, as it has long been a driving force for him and SpaceX. Indeed, Musk has stressed that he founded the company in 2002 primarily to help humanity expand its footprint beyond Earth.

Elon Musk says he will rocket Optimus bots on Space X's first Starships sent to Mars, but a leading robotics scholar predicts their space odyssey will be short-lived.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have spent two decades and large portions of their exorbitant wealth creating new space technologies. Their plan is to reshape how humans live.

There’s something profoundly sad about the fact that the man who builds rockets to reach Mars can’t reach his own child on Earth.

Elon Musk could collect more than $50 billion by hitting a handful of the board’s easier goals that won’t necessarily revolutionize Tesla’s products or business, a Reuters review found.