Elon Musk wants to put a MILLION people on Mars by 2100

Space agencies are gearing up to send humans to Mars by 2030.

But this isn't enough for SpaceX chief, Elon Musk. Instead of a small crew, he wants to send a million people to the red planet by the end of the century.

The Tesla-founder believes that shuttling humans to Mars will be the only way to save humanity from extinction.

'I think there is a strong humanitarian argument for making life multi-planetary,' Musk said in a recent interview with Ross Andersen at digital magazine Aeon.

'Excluding organic growth, if you could take 100 people at a time, you would need 10,000 trips to get to a million people,' Musk added.

'But you would also need a lot of cargo to support those people. In fact, your cargo to person ratio is going to be quite high.'  However, Musk believes the feat is feasible. 

'It would probably be 10 cargo trips for every human trip, so more like 100,000 trips. And we're talking 100,000 trips of a giant spaceship.'

Last year at the AllThingsD conference, Musk said that he believes humans need to either colonise other planets or risk going extinct – a fate he describes as 'inevitable' if we stay on Earth.

His views were recently echoed by Brian Cox who claims 'humanity stupidity' will spell the end for mankind. Cox claims climate change, asteroids and crop disease are our biggest threats.

Musk told Aeon that the absence of any noticeable life on other planets may suggest that the days of humans populating Earth are numbered. 

'If you look at our current technology level, something strange has to happen to civilisations, and I mean strange in a bad way,' he added.

'And it could be that there are a whole lot of dead, one-planet civilisations.'

Mars, he believes, could provide a solution to helping mankind survive in a hostile universe.

The first group of settlers, he says, will need to pay their own way. He likens the trip to when people moved to the early American colonies.

Earlier this year, Musk announced his SpaceX firm was making 'progress' towards establishing a smaller colony on the red planet by 2020.

Elon Musk has previously said he created SpaceX for the sole reason of developing rocket technology to get people to Mars. He expects to sell tickets for $500,000 (£296,900) a trip.