“Mars is the only place  in the solar system where it’s possible for life to become multi-planetarian. We could make Mars like Earth… it’s more than our life raft, it’s like backing up the biosphere.”

“In his vision of colonizing Mars, musk isn’t looking to send highly trained astronauts to perform science and return to Earth. He’s looking to send people like you and me, at a price a corporation could subsidize.”

“I think it would be the most difficult thing that humanity has ever tried to do. The Earth has been around for four billion years and in all that time, it’s been confined to one planet. That’s a long time… And now for the first time in almost four billion years, it’s been possible — very difficult, but possible — for life to extend to another planet. If we can take advantage of that opportunity, who knows how long that window will be open?”

(Gorgeous) Image by Daein Ballard:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TerraformedMarsGlobeRealistic.jpg