Is Elon Musk Serious About Nuking Mars? Tesla, SpaceX Founder Has Made Wacky Comments About Living On The Red Planet

Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk, in his latest attention-seeking act, has taken to Twitter this week to post "Nuke Mars!" and even unveiled T-shirts of the red planet with the slogan, which can be purchased on the SpaceX website.

The comments made by Musk could be more than just a trendy slogan, as Musk has commented in the past that he actually wants Mars to be an inhabitable place for humans. Musk has suggested that if Mars were hit with nuclear weapons, the planet's ice caps could melt, which would raise the air temperature and pressure on the planet, making it more inhabitable for humans.

In a 2015 interview with late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert, Musk called Mars a "fixer-upper of a planet." He said human beings would first have to live in transparent domes "but eventually you could transform it into an earthlike planet."

Musk noted in the interview that the key to making the planet more inhabitable would be to "warm it up," with the fastest way to do so being dropping nuclear weapons "over the poles," referring to the north and south poles of the planet.

NASA scientists have also agreed with Musk that Mars colonization could happen in the future. NASA Chief Scientist told USA Today in 2018 that humans could "absolutely" live on Mars, and that it would offer a "brand new life with brand new vistas."

There have been some arguments made against colonizing the red planet. Humans could contaminate the planet, harming any forms of life there, while others believe that humans should focus on preserving Earth first.

"If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing on Mars," Cosmos host Carl Sagan said. "Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes… the preservation of that life, must, I think, supersede any other possible use of Mars."