A MILLION people on Mars within 100 years. This is the brave vision   of Elon Musk, the founder of the space technology company SpaceX. "We need to be laser-focused   on becoming a multi-planet civilization. That's the next step," he said in a recent interview with Aeon magazine. Musk expects to see about 80,000 people living on Mars by 2040. It's all about protecting the human race from extinction, according to Musk. The Earth has always been a ticking   time bomb. As the sun begins to die, it will grow bigger, becoming what is known as a Red Giant. In 500 million years, the sun will have become large enough to kill off any plant and animal life on Earth, according to US scientist Edward Guinan. In a billion years, the Earth will have become a hot planet with little or no water. The brave dream of getting the human race to Mars is not only Musk's; others have made plans, too. A Dutch entrepreneur set up the Mars One foundation in 2011, hoping to be the first project to put humans on Mars. It received over 200,000 applications to become part of the first group of astronauts to go there. According to Mars One, "human settlement on Mars is possible with existing technologies." Water, food, energy, and oxygen are needed for life anywhere. According to Mars One, water that was still in the Martian soil would be boiled and taken out. By using a process called "electrolysis", astronauts could split   water into hydrogen   and oxygen for breathing. Astronauts on the International Space Station have already done similar things. Food can also be grown in space. Certain plants such as lettuce and onions can be grown using LED light for different color spectrums   and much less heat. NASA has been researching this to prepare for visiting Mars. But how will people get there? The Mars One project plans to use SpaceX's Dragon capsule as part of its mission. But it is rumored   that Musk already has a design in mind for a giant spaceship. He calls it the Mars Colonial Transporter. Mars One is a program that focuses on   _  .
finding the source of water on Mars setting up the first human settlement on Mars developing spaceships to send people to Mars growing plants for food in space