Elon Musk's Mars colonial work has been predicted since 1952?

The connection between "Elon" and "Mars" has been mentioned long before SpaceX was born.

The original South African business billionaire, engineer Elon Musk is one of the world's leading astronauts. His company SpaceX creates spacecraft at affordable prices and saves energy. Most likely, these spacecraft will bring the first humans to Mars in the next decade. And if SpaceX succeeds, the name "Elon" will be permanently attached to "Mars".

But that is not the first time "Elon" and "Mars" are linked together.

Wernher von Braun is a German aviation engineer responsible for developing one of the most advanced weapons of Nazi Germany: the V-2 rocket . Nicknamed the "vengeance weapon", the V-2 is the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile.

First commissioned in late 1944, by the end of the war, more than 3,000 V-2 missiles were launched by the German army, killing about 9,000 civilians and soldiers. In addition, more than 12,000 forced laborers and prisoners at concentration camps died after being forced to participate in the production of this deadly weapon.

From left: General, Dr. Walter Dornberger (half-hidden), General Friedrich Olbricht (wearing the Cross of the Knight), Colonel Heinz Brandt, and Wernher von Braun (civil costume) at Peenemunde, May 3/1941.

Von Braun is an ambitious astronomer, with an intense passion for rockets from an early age. In 1934, he obtained a doctorate in aeronautical engineering at the University of Berlin. His doctoral dissertation entitled "Construction, Theory, and Experimental Solution to the issue of liquid fuel rocket boosters" has been classified as a top secret by the army and has not been awarded any merit. Dad until 1960.

He was immediately recruited into the German Army and began developing missile weapons. Von Braun is stationed at a military research site in Peenemunde village on the Baltic Sea, where he oversees takeoff tests of liquid-fuel rocket engines and jets. Also in Peenemunde, von Braun developed the Wasserfall supersonic air defense missile and A-4 ballistic missiles - later renamed V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2).

A V-2 rocket launch in the summer of 1943.

Although von Braun knew that the V-2 missile production line used forced labor and cruel treatment of workers, he "unintentionally" did not realize the true nature of the concentration camps of Nazis. It is said that von Braun visited the V-2 factory only once and was very pleased with the treatment of the workers there. In fact, forced labor was often beaten and not fed, many of them died of illness, execution and were terrified of working conditions here.

In 1944, von Braun was accused of collaborating secretly with the Communists and was arrested by SS forces. His crimes against Nazi Germany could never be proved, so he was released conditionally and continued to develop ballistic missiles. However, at that time, he planned to escape to America. He successfully escaped to Austria and surrendered to the US Army in the spring of 1945, just as the Soviet Army attacked the research facility at Peenemunde.

Von Braun - with his arm broken by a car accident - surrendered to the US Army before the photo was taken in May 1945.

Von Braun is one of 1,500 German scientists secretly brought to the United States. As a pioneer scientist expressing his indignation towards the Nazis and their horrifying genocide policy, he was quickly recruited into the US Army and began studying ballistic missiles here.

Although he spent the first half of his life developing weapons, von Braun's real passion was space travel. He was very interested in developing jet propulsion systems that could be used to bring missiles to the Moon and Mars. In 1957, he finally had the opportunity to pursue his life's dream, but before that, he also published a lot of fictional writings about the colonization of Mars and the construction of space stations. Earth orbit.

Von Braun.

His article on building a space station inspired the 2001 film: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. Von Braun's The Mars Project, published in 1952, sounds paranoid, but also a strange prophecy. This book describes a human mission on Mars, colonizing this planet and establishing an autonomous government here.

The mission consists of a fleet of 10 giant spacecraft, containing 70 astronauts and 9 vehicles. Braun detailed all aviation and technical parameters of this mission, and although his great plan attracted the attention of many "giants" interested in exploring the universe at the time (including Walt Disney), it is still purely theoretical by the technological limitations of the 1950s.

Von Braun and Walt Disney.

The "prophetic" part of von Braun's work refers to the autonomous government on Mars, in which instead of the President, he stated the idea of ​​this colonial ruler having the title "Elon": " The Mars government is led by 10 people, the head of this group is elected by voting within 5 years and has the title "Elon." The two Houses of Congress will enact laws to be administered. by Elon and his team, the Senate is called the Elder Council, with members limited to 60 people, each of whom is appointed to life by Elon and only retires after his death. "

Von Braun and President John F. Kennedy.

In the 1950s, the title "Elon" had no special meaning. Most likely, this name is taken from the Hebrew name "Elon" - meaning "oak tree" and refers to great knowledge and wisdom.

For the time being, with the news regarding Elon Musk's plan, people began to wonder if this was just a coincidence? There is no relationship between von Braun and Musk, who was born in 1971 in Pretoria, the son of a Canadian and a South African. Elon Musk teaches computer programming at the age of 12, and holds an undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School of Business.

Von Braun with the F-1 engine of the 1st Saturn V rocket at the US Space and Missile Center.

Although von Braun was never able to pursue the dream of colonizing Mars, he became a pioneer in American space travel. In particular, he was the one behind the Saturn V rocket, a missile that could destroy liquid fuel operations, used from 1968 to 1972.

The missile is the only vehicle in the history of successfully launching manned spacecraft beyond the Earth's low orbit. Saturn V was used in every Apollo mission, and although he once followed the Nazis, Wernher von Braun will always be remembered as a person who revolutionized space travel and helped bring people to the Moon. .