Could (and should) SpaceX sell the rights to be first to set foot on Mars?

[Yggdrasill]

The thought occurred to me that if SpaceX is in a position to land people on Mars in say 2026, they would be in a position to decide who would be the first to set foot on Mars, and the person to first set foot on Mars could easily get a quite significant place in the history books, along with Neil Armstrong. (Buzz Aldrin is in the shadow of Neil Armstrong, to an extent.)

I'm sure many would like to see the first to set foot on Mars be a NASA astronaut, but should SpaceX give them that honor for free? And should they consider giving the honor to the highest bidder?

What if the highest bidder isn't NASA, but is China, Russia, Japan, Canada, or say Red Bull? I assume China just couldn't work, but maybe Russia, Japan or Canada could. And Red Bull should work - they could just get a US citizen to carry a huge Red Bull flag out and plant it, while saying "Red Bull gives you wings!".

This seems quite awful, but at the same time, it would be an opportunity for SpaceX to raise money for further missions to Mars. And that's important, right?

[JWarner]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

[Cheapchips]

No.  Seems like a crass thing to do. 

The Starship lift should be big enough at least a couple of people can step off together. 

I'm sure they'd on going analysis claiming one or the other persons' foot hit the ground first. 

[eric z]

 Here's a radical idea- let the crew decide! For true exploration I would send out the ship's cat first, appropriately suited of course.

[50_Caliber]

They could do this like they did in the National Geographic Mars series, have a platform lowered and they all step off at the same time.

[Hyperborealis]

Bet they follow Apollo 11/Neil Armstrong precedent: captain first. Especially since doing it the way Apollo did finesses the questions of who are you going to privilege with being the first human to set foot on another planet. Not looking forward to the inevitable magazine and newspaper opinion pieces on this. So ugh.

[Coastal Ron]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

No such contract exists, and going to Mars is a SpaceX funded effort, so while the U.S. Government could offer to pay to send people, it would be up to SpaceX as to whether they wanted to do that.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

SpaceX exists because Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars, so Elon Musk will do what is best for the Mars colonization effort.

As to what that is, we already know that Elon Musk is OK with taking money from billionaires to do space stunts, and Musk has said that colonizing Mars will take a LOT of money - more than he will ever have. So it would not be unthinkable that someone would pay a LARGE sum to be the first.

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

[Zed_Noir]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

No such contract exists, and going to Mars is a SpaceX funded effort, so while the U.S. Government could offer to pay to send people, it would be up to SpaceX as to whether they wanted to do that.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

SpaceX exists because Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars, so Elon Musk will do what is best for the Mars colonization effort.

As to what that is, we already know that Elon Musk is OK with taking money from billionaires to do space stunts, and Musk has said that colonizing Mars will take a LOT of money - more than he will ever have. So it would not be unthinkable that someone would pay a LARGE sum to be the first.

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

Other than a paying customer. Does that mean Garrett Reisman have a shot being the captain of the "Heart of Gold" and also the first Barsoom walker. 

[Barley]

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

Women and children first, captain last.

[Todd Martin]

To take a shot at answering this seriously, certainly there is no legal restriction that would prohibit SpaceX.  Nor is there any NASA contract at present to preclude it.  The practicality as I see it devolves down to liability, public relations, and crew technical requirements.  Let's say for sake of argument that Yusaku Maezawa (Dear Moon Billionaire) is willing to plump down half his net worth, or 1 Billion dollars to do this.  SpaceX would be carrying a Billionaire on their first manned flight to Mars which will be a 2 year mission.  The risk of his death is substantial and so the ROI (Return on Investment) calculation has to subtract that risk in the calculation - similar to the cost of an insurance policy on his safe return.  I do not believe a simple waiver on risks signed by Yusaku would negate this calculation as Negligence or Wrongful Death suits often go forward even after such statements are signed when things go wrong.  As a ball park, I would guess this liability concern could eat up 30% to 50% of the ticket price.  By itself, I don't think Liability would stop such a sale but would reduce the financial incentive considerably.  From a public relations point of view, I think it would seriously damage the ability of SpaceX to recruit as public perception of the mission would revolve around catering to Billionaires instead of the noble efforts of protecting humanity from extinction.  A marketing professional could assess this loss of branding in dollars, but a negative public perception of the effort would also move the political calculations in Washington which can affect NASA & DOD contracts.  The PR fallout, IMHO would preclude SpaceX from auctioning this to the highest bidder.  More likely, SpaceX would gift it as a positive PR stunt to someone the public could get behind.  Lastly, the first manned flight is likely to have a small crew complement and it would improve the odds of mission success if everyone on the crew was technically proficient in the various tasks needed.  A winning bidder is unlikely to have those skillsets.  The most likely person selected, in my opinion, would be a former (or current) NASA astronaut.

[whitelancer64]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

[Coastal Ron]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

[1]

Could they? Sure. Should they? I don't think so; and not because it offends some sense of interplanetary morality. I think it's a bad idea for the big picture. I suspect any monetary gain from such a sale would not be appreciable compared to the total anticipated costs of successful Martian colonization. Public national and global support is what I suspect Elon will really be after.

I fully expect NASA will be invited to participate, though perhaps in a 'mission specialist' sense rather than in a command role. I also expect that invitation to be extended to every other space agency in the world, including China's, because having half the worlds TV cameras pointing at you (with you controlling the narrative!) is an amount of PR that no auction could ever hope to match. Even if their respective *-nauts don't take the first step, taking the second through tenth is better than not being there to take a step at all. And, of course, that also plays well into the whole narrative of "make Humanity a multi-planetary species" rather than "make America a multi-planetary nation".

Getting the rest of humanity on board is critical to Elon's vision; thus I don't anticipate him turning the 'first step' into a contest with one winner and a lot of losers. If Elon himself is not the first person to step foot on Mars, I fully expect it to be someone chosen specifically by Elon to take that first step. I would guess someone affiliated with SpaceX and placed in overall command of the mission. But I expect the step itself to be downplayed with the greater vision for the future being the main mission focus.

[AstroDave]

Bolding is mine

Bet they follow Apollo 11/Neil Armstrong precedent: captain first. Especially since doing it the way Apollo did finesses the questions of who are you going to privilege with being the first human to set foot on another planet. Not looking forward to the inevitable magazine and newspaper opinion pieces on this. So ugh.

Could be replaced with "who are you going to curse"

[Yggdrasill]

Could they? Sure. Should they? I don't think so; and not because it offends some sense of interplanetary morality. I think it's a bad idea for the big picture. I suspect any monetary gain from such a sale would not be appreciable compared to the total anticipated costs of successful Martian colonization. Public national and global support is what I suspect Elon will really be after.

I fully expect NASA will be invited to participate, though perhaps in a 'mission specialist' sense rather than in a command role. I also expect that invitation to be extended to every other space agency in the world, including China's, because having half the worlds TV cameras pointing at you (with you controlling the narrative!) is an amount of PR that no auction could ever hope to match. Even if their respective *-nauts don't take the first step, taking the second through tenth is better than not being there to take a step at all. And, of course, that also plays well into the whole narrative of "make Humanity a multi-planetary species" rather than "make America a multi-planetary nation".

Getting the rest of humanity on board is critical to Elon's vision; thus I don't anticipate him turning the 'first step' into a contest with one winner and a lot of losers. If Elon himself is not the first person to step foot on Mars, I fully expect it to be someone chosen specifically by Elon to take that first step. I would guess someone affiliated with SpaceX and placed in overall command of the mission. But I expect the step itself to be downplayed with the greater vision for the future being the main mission focus.

I love your idea and hope you are right. I definitely see the value in inspiring as many people as possible. Once landing crew on Mars is proven to be achievable, you would hope that as many governments, companies and individuals want to buy in.

But I am a little skeptical when it comes to the feasibility in inviting taikonauts onto Starship. Though, maybe one could settle for a chinese-american astronaut.

In the spirit of Inspiration 4, maybe they could even have a lottery for one or more seats. Obviously you would need to vet the winner before giving them the green light. (Maybe ten candidates from around the world, and then one actually gets to go?) And it would be fitting if the winner actually was the first to set foot on Mars.

If the Mars lander Starship has a crew of ten or twenty, it wouldn't make much difference if one crew member is not super-qualified.

[savantu]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

It's easier to land on Mars than to convince Nasa you can land on Mars. Same he said regarding the Moon.

[JohnFornaro]

Interesting idea.

Christopher Columbus financed his mission in much the same fashion.

[su27k]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

It's easier to land on Mars than to convince Nasa you can land on Mars. Same he said regarding the Moon.

Yeah but to NASA's credit, they didn't wait until SpaceX lands on the Moon to be convinced, they picked SpaceX years before the latter is capable of landing on the Moon. So I'm super bullish about NASA/SpaceX cooperation over Mars missions.

[whitelancer64]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

SpaceX would certainly welcome the income. NASA would be providing equipment and experiments at the very least, they'd be utterly foolish not to do so. And since they are already doing that, when SpaceX is ready to send people, then there's no real reason to not send astronauts as well.

[whitelancer64]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

It's easier to land on Mars than to convince Nasa you can land on Mars. Same he said regarding the Moon.

SpaceX has said they will launch at least two Starships to Mars for precursor missions. That may be demonstration enough, if they are successful. And I'd fully expect NASA equipment / experiments to ride along on those demonstration missions as well.