Neil deGrasse Tyson dismisses Musk's Mars dreams. Musk and techbros butthurt

[misanthrope]

25. The 500-lb gorilla in the room

Mars once had liquid water and other things that we might think of as being integral for life. What happened to it? It was all stripped away by the solar winds because (lean in kids) MARS HAS NO MAGNETOSPHERE. Well, not one strong and widespread enough to protect it like the one here on Earth.

With current technology, we aren't even close to being able to colonize Mars. It is still a pipe dream more suited for fiction.

More urgent matters for science and engineering resources right now are:
-mitigating the effects of climate change.
-developing new energy sources that don't exacerbate greenhouse gas accumulation.
-Countering the spread of microplastics throughout the biosphere.
-discovering and charting all Near Earth Objects as well as other solar system flotsam that might collide with Earth.
-developing contingency plans for possible strikes by large objects from space.