The Heinlein Prize honors the memory of Robert A. Heinlein, a renowned American author. The purpose of the Heinlein Prize is to encourage and reward progress in commercial space activities that advances Robert and his wife Virginia’s dream of humanity’s future in space. Efforts include: the Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities, the Microgravity Research Competition, the  Heinlein Commercial Space Activity Prize, the “Flight Into the Future” international contests, the Have Spacesuit — Will Travel educational program, and the online Heinlein Archives.

The Heinlein Prize Trust Announces:

A Million People on Mars?

A million people on Mars? Someday, certainly. But starting in just the next ten to twenty years, and at a budget price? That is the goal of Heinlein Prize winner, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX.

In an interview with NewScientist, Elon Musk updated the statement he made in his Heinlein Prize acceptance speech in which he says he wants 10,000 people on Mars. “Ultimately we don’t really want 10,000 people on Mars,” he told NewScientist. “We want millions.” He also estimated he could put the first human on Mars for as little as five billion dollars, possibly even as little as two billion dollars, which should be compared to the cost of the International Space Station currently at one hundred billion dollars.



The NewScientist interviewer’s attention was drawn to the sword–the Lady Vivamus–displayed in Elon Musk’s office. The sword was part of the Heinlein Prize, which included a $250,000 cash award, presented to Mr. Musk June 29, 2011. Explaining why the sword was included in the Heinlein Prize, Trustee Art Dula explained, “Because not everything is money, and not everything is even the spiritual adventure of space exploration. There’s something to be said for having a quality of life and doing interesting and strange things well,” this being the subject of Heinlein’s book,  Glory Road.  “It sure beats your average trophy,” Elon Musk told NewScientist.

The Heinlein Prize was awarded to Elon Musk for his Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities, an endeavor supported by author Robert A. Heinlein, and his wife Ginny Heinlein, who created the Heinlein Prize Trust for this very reason.

Read more on Elon Musk’s Heinlein Prize award and watch video of the event, including Mr. Musk’s acceptance speech on The Heinlein Prize Trust YouTube page.