- Unlike fellow billionaire Elon Musk, Bill Gates does not think it’s that important to go to Mars.
- Gates said he did not “think rockets are the solution” on Kara Swisher’s “Sway” podcast.
- He would rather spend funds to address climate and health crises on earth.
- Visit the Insider Affairs section for more stories.
Technician Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have poured billions into private space travel – with high goals of settling vibrant colonies outside Earth’s atmosphere – but Bill Gates is more concerned about problems closer to home.
The co-founder of Microsoft explained why he did not get involved in Bezos and Musk’s space race during an appearance on Kara Swisher’s “Sway” podcast.
“No, I’m not a Mars person. I know a lot of Mars people,” he said. “I do not think rockets are the solution. But I may be missing something there.”
Gates, who appeared on the podcast to promote his new book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster”, said he was interested in using his wealth and foundations to directly address the greatest challenges facing humanity. He told Swisher he also did not want to buy a ticket to the space.
“I’m not going to pay a lot of money because my foundation can buy measles vaccines and save a life for $ 1,000,” Gates said. “Everything I do, I always think, ‘OK, I can spend the $ 1000 on measles vaccine.’
Gates said people should pay more attention to industries that are difficult to make greener, such as steel, meat and cement, when it comes to climate change and limiting long-term emissions. But companies like Tesla have made great strides with the easy stuff, like passenger vehicles, he admitted.
“It’s important to say that what Elon did with Tesla is one of the biggest contributions to climate change anyone has ever made,” Gates said. “It’s not a good idea to underestimate Elon.”
Musk’s interplanetary ambitions center around the use of rockets built by SpaceX, the space exploration company he founded in 2002, to transport 1 million people to Mars by 2050. Musk said he wants to establish a self-sustaining city on the Red Planet so that humanity can survive. a future apocalypse on earth.
Meanwhile, the founder and outgoing head of Amazon wants his firm, Blue Origin, to put together a base on the moon with space colonies that can house up to 1 trillion people. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing reusable rockets that will drastically reduce the cost of a trip to space.