Buzz Aldrin’s Mars ‘Master Plan’ Has Earthlings Living On The Red Planet By 2040

At 85 years old, Buzz Aldrin shows no sign of slowing his explorations of the cosmos, and has in fact announced an aggressive timeline toward the human colonization of Mars that will likely challenge, and require the best, from all involved, including Aldrin’s far younger colleagues.

Having joined the Florida Institute of Technology, Buzz Aldrin is now immersed in creating a “master plan” that will allow humans to begin colonizing the red planet in 25 years, reports FOX News.

Unlike some other reported plans for missions to Mars and people ultimately colonizing the fourth rock from the sun, Buzz Aldrin’s “master plan” won’t be designed to be a one-way trip for astronauts to Mars, Aldrin saying he doesn’t like the “one-way” label and envisions a Martian astronaut’s “tour of duty” lasting about 10 years.

At the same time, Aldrin’s plan isn’t just to get people to Mars and then have them turn around and go home, but to genuinely colonize and become Martian residents.

“The Pilgrims on the Mayflower came here to live and stay. They didn’t wait around Plymouth Rock for the return trip, and neither will people building up a population and a settlement (on Mars).”

Buzz Aldrin, who joined Neil Armstrong on the surface of the Moon in July, 1969, was at the Florida Institute of Technology for a signing ceremony Thursday to celebrate the University’s Buzz Aldrin Space Institute which is scheduled to open this fall, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Aldrin’s duties at his Buzz Aldrin Space Institute will include being a research professor for aeronautics, and serving as a senior faculty adviser. As for his own schooling, Buzz Aldrin earned his doctorate in science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As Aldrin outlines his master plan of traveling to Mars and colonizing the long-mysterious earthly cousin, he hopes it receives support from both NASA and the public.

For their part, NASA is well into designing a Mars-going spaceship and the rockets that will be required to propel the craft, its cargo, and human astronauts through the void to Mars. Part of Buzz Aldrin’s plan includes hopscotching the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, as the mission proceeds toward the ultimate goal, and Aldrin is hoping for a settlement on Mars by 2040.

At the same time, the space veteran would actually prefer 2039 for rolling out a new Martian neighborhood, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of his 1969 visit to the moon. But Buzz Aldrin does say the schedule for colonizing Mars is “adjustable.”

[Images via Wikipedia, and NASA Getty Images]