Musk promises Yusaku Maezawa a trip to Moon in exchange for a huge sum of money.

Elon Musk is incredibly passionate about exploring space and some of his missions clearly reflect that. For instance, the idea of launching a Tesla into space never crossed anyone’s mind until he actually did that at the beginning of this year. Similarly, his will to colonize the red planet (Mars) of our solar system is unparalleled. Recently, he announced that he will send Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese multi-billionaire, and some artists into the orbit of our celestial neighbor. According to reports, a Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) of SpaceX will be used for this journey which is likely to take place in 2023. Although Maezawa will spend a massive amount of fortune for this ride, the tourists will not able to land onto the surface of the Moon.

Launching humans into lunar orbit is an extremely difficult task in itself but landing is a whole lot more complicated than that. That’s the reason why, only 12 men have been able to achieve this feat, ever. The most effective way to explain the difficulty of this task is to take help from the ‘Apollo Landings’ that took place in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It was clearly shown in them that the ship (Command Module) which carried astronauts to and from lunar orbit never actually landed on the moon. Although it was part of the initial planning of the Apollo Mission, the engineers at NASA were forced to shift to the Lunar Module (LM) due to the technical constraints.

The Apollo Landings showed that two astronauts had to clamber into the LM in order to ride it down to the lunar surface. Meanwhile, one of their companions waited for them in the Command Module. Once the astronauts had completed their exploration of the Moon, they would travel back to space by making use of the LM and the astronaut aboard the Command Module would pick them up for the ride back home (Earth).

Given the stature of Musk’s accomplishments, the claims made by the SpaceX do carry some weight but there are a lot of technical hindrances to overcome. Firstly, the company needs a powerful rocket which could take Maezawa and his crew into the lunar orbit. According to reports, the BFR of SpaceX is slightly more powerful than the Saturn V rocket (used for the Apollo Landings) and it can make the journey to the Moon. Even if these calculations are up to the mark, a massive amount of investment is needed to finance the construction of a lunar lander.

Thomas Kelly, the Lead Engineer of the Apollo Mission estimated that a hefty sum of $17 billion will be needed for developing a lander for such a journey. In addition to that, the complexity of the safety measures will make it difficult for SpaceX to offer lunar landing to its passengers. The fact that SpaceX is launching common passengers, who can’t work as space pilots despite the training they would get before the journey, makes it virtually impossible for them to hit the lunar surface.

It would simply be insane to try such a venture with the people who are worth nothing as far as the technical aspects are concerned. Therefore, it is in the best interest of everyone that the company offers a ride of space where the passengers could view the Moon from distance. Automated systems and astronauts from Earth will handle all the technicalities while the passengers enjoy the ride of their lives. You can also have a look at the promotional video of BFR which shows a simulated landing of the rocket on the Moon.