Elon Musk has hit back at astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson after the latter's comments about SpaceX.
The online feud between the two scientific behemoths began after Tyson claimed that SpaceX had not done anything "that NASA hasn't already done" in a video shared on social media in September this year.
"What Elon is pioneering is not what is impossible in space exploration but what was unrealistic in terms of price," Tyson said in the video, taken from around the 17-minute mark of an episode of the podcast Moonshots with Peter Diamandis.
"The engineering is getting a workover, but consider that he hasn't done anything that NASA hasn't already done. The actual space frontier is still held by NASA.
"It remains to be shown if his new ventures have commercial support, commercial value. Because, if they don't, then it's a one-off, and it's a spectacle…we'll all applaud it but then he goes onto his other projects."
Musk responded to the clip being shared on social media, writing on X: "Well, then I think Neil will be pleasantly surprised by what SpaceX does in the future."
SpaceX's Starship is hoped to one day carry humans and cargo to Mars. Musk envisions an initial settlement where early settlers would live and begin building infrastructure. Early missions would focus on transporting equipment to produce water, oxygen, and fuel, and the first crewed mission could happen in the early 2030s, depending on the success of uncrewed missions and technological readiness.
Musk has previously posted to X stating: "Starship will make life multiplanetary, preserving life as know [sic] from extinction events on Earth, so long as it is not smothered by bureaucracy."
Also in the Moonshot interview, Tyson says that he agrees that engineering frontiers are being breached, but not space frontiers.
"When people say 'Oh, now Elon is leading us in space'—no, he's not. He is making everything we used to do cheaper," Tyson said.
In a video on his StarTalk channel in October, Tyson later clarified that he thinks SpaceX has made some major steps forward, and that he simply means that SpaceX has not yet exceeded the achievements of NASA.
"What private enterprises have been doing, they've been going back into orbit, where NASA has been since 1962," he said in the video.
"No one has ever sent a rocket to Mars that could have carried people, that would be advancing a space frontier," he said. "Good luck, SpaceX. Godspeed to you!"
However, months later in Friday night's episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Tyson further commented on Musk and SpaceX, saying that SpaceX's plans to get to Mars were farfetched, and may never come to fruition.
"My read of the history of space exploration is such that we do big, expensive things only when it's geopolitically expedient, such as we feel threatened by an enemy," Tyson said in a conversation with guests Donna Brazile and Andrew Young.
"So for him to just say, let's go to Mars because it's the next thing to do—what does that venture capitalist meeting look like Elon, what do you want to do? I want to go to Mars. How much will it cost? A trillion dollars. Is it safe? No, people will probably die. What's the return on the investment? Nothing. That's a five-minute meeting and it doesn't happen."
Tyson noted that he's "got nothing against Mars", but doesn't think that we will be going there anytime soon without a geopolitical impetus.
"Here's how we get to Mars—China leaks a memo, it doesn't even have to be true, that they want to put military bases on Mars," Tyson said.
"NASA doesn't have a spacecraft but Elon does. Here's my spacecraft to Mars. We end up paying him to use his spaceship to get to Mars. So I don't see it happening until governments judge that it's geopolitically in our interest. Otherwise, I don't see it as just exploration."
Brazile pointed out that President-elect Trump has expressed interest in a mission to Mars.
"At some point somebody has to pay for it," Tyson responded. "Just being interested in something is not the same thing as paying for it."
Musk has long discussed his goal of establishing a self-sustaining human civilization on Mars, claiming that creating a backup for Earth's population is essential to ensure humanity's survival in the face of existential threats such as natural disasters, climate change, or potential global conflicts.
"If that's Earth plan B, what did you do to Earth that now you've got to go to Mars?" Tyson said. "If you've messed up Earth but you're good enough to turn Mars into Earth, then you can turn Earth back into Earth and never have to go in the first place".
Terraforming Mars—the process of altering its environment to make it habitable for humans—faces enormous scientific and technological challenges. Terraforming would aim to create a thicker, oxygen-rich atmosphere, warmer temperatures, and liquid water, as the Red Planet currently has an average temperature of about -80 degrees F and has an atmosphere made up of 95 percent carbon dioxide, with only about 1 percent of Earth's atmospheric pressure.
Wow, they really don’t get it.
Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness.
Also, I’m not going to ask any venture capitalists for money. I realize that it makes no sense as an investment. That’s why I’m gathering resources. https://t.co/XVCpHKlusD
Musk responded to these comments, writing on X: "Wow, they really don't get it. Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness. Also, I'm not going to ask any venture capitalists for money. I realise that it makes no sense as an investment. That's why I'm gathering resources."
In another post, he made a personal comment against Tyson.
"The real problem is that Neil decided to grovel to the woke far left when he got hit with a #MeToo," he wrote on X. "You can avoid being cancelled if you beg for forgiveness and push their nonsense ideology. The truth hurts."
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