--- title: Bull Aldrin Wants to Colonize Mars Before 2040 description: By 2039 humans will be calling Mars home, if things go according to Buzz Aldrin’s plan. canonical: https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-28T15:53:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:31:49.109Z article:section: Science og:title: Buzz Aldrin Wants to Colonize Mars Before 2040 og:description: To Phobos and beyond og:url: https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0115b09474a3917c/6988615dab6d77896e6a5f0c/buzz-aldrin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4215 og:image:height: 2371 og:image:alt: buzz aldrin space institute og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Buzz Aldrin Wants to Colonize Mars Before 2040 twitter:description: To Phobos and beyond twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0115b09474a3917c/6988615dab6d77896e6a5f0c/buzz-aldrin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Buzz Aldrin Wants to Colonize Mars Before 2040 > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a5653cc7-664b-4813-b838-ce6456ec4c1a&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Buzz Aldrin Has A Plan To Help Us Get To Mars [Watch (HLS stream): Buzz Aldrin Has A Plan To Help Us Get To Mars](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/i8VDrF6x.m3u8) (2:13)  _Published 2015-08-28. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin has joined Florida Institute of Technology faculty to research the process of getting to Mars._ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Aug 28, 2015 3:53 PM UTC Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin has joined Florida Institute of Technology faculty to research the process of getting to Mars. by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Aug 28, 2015 3:53 PM UTC By 2039 humans will be calling Mars home, if things go according to Buzz Aldrin’s plan. The second man on the moon is teaming up with the Florida Institute of Technology to develop a master plan to colonize the red planet in less than 25 years. Aldrin chose 2039 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which first allowed man to walk on the moon. Aldrin’s plan involves using Mars’ moons as pit-stops for astronauts on the way to the planet. People who arrive on Mars would stay there for at least a decade. He is seeking input from NASA on the plan, though the space agency already has its own initiative to put astronauts on Mars in the mid-2030s. At the Florida Institute of Technology, Aldrin will be a faculty adviser and research professor for aeronautics. He will also lead the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute, set to open this fall. \[[_The Guardian_\]](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/27/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-within-25-years) ### PHOTOS: 20 Breathtaking Images of Earth From Space  Aleppo, Syria, May 26, 2013 – The Citadel of Aleppo – medieval fortified palace DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov. 3, 2013 – “Wish,” a large-scale art work DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Utah, USA, April 22, 2013 – Colorado River DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Cuanza River, Angola, April 28, 2013 – Cambambe Dam DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Doha, Qatar, March 4, 2013 – Artificial island spanning nearly four million sq meters. DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Dunalley, Australia, Jan. 6, 2013 – fires, false color image (red = healthy vegetation) DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Australia, April 22, 2013 – Great Barrier Reef DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Gwadar coast, Pakistan Sept. 29, 2013 – new island created by earthquake in Pakistan DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Croatia, Feb. 16, 2013 – Galešnjak (Island of Love) DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Hong Kong, China May 9, 2013 – giant rubber duck DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, March 22, 2013 – Manam Volcano DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Namib Desert, Namibia, May 13, 2013 – Sossusvlie area DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Naples, Italy, Feb. 19 2013 – Mount Vesuvius DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Niger, Feb. 13, 2013 – Arlit Uranium Mine DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Schooner Cays, Bahamas, May 26, 2013 DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Sochi, Russia, March 17, 2013 – Site of 2014 winter Olympics DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Near the city of Sur, Oman, Feb. 13, 2013 – massive “green tide” DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Valencia, Spain, July 19, 2013 – Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Gulliver Park with an enormous fiberglass model of Lemuel Gulliver trapped DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Versailles, France, Aug. 20, 2013 – Palace of Versailles DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Xi'an, China, Sept. 24, 2013 – Shiyuan Park DigitalGlobe—Getty Images ## Transcript [00:00] Some people go to Florida to retire. Buzz Aldrin is there to [00:03] figure out how to get to another planet. Aldrin has joined [00:07] the Florida Institute of Technology to spearhead its Mars [00:10] settlement research efforts. He's faculty now. A research [00:14] professor of aeronautics. His qualifications include a [00:17] Doctorate of Science from MIT and, you know, being the [00:20] second person to walk on the moon. FIT's new Buzz Aldrin [00:24] Space Institute will focus on a concept Aldrin calls cycling [00:27] pathways to occupy Mars. It outlines a step- by- step [00:31] mission chain to get humans to the red planet. The [00:34] proposed architecture establishes pathways of progressive [00:37] missions to cis- lunar space, asteroids, Phobos, and [00:41] eventually to the surface of Mars. And I expect that this [00:45] space institute will, I hope, feed [00:50] it's inputs into NASA through the NASA. Missouri [00:54] Council. In other words, Aldrin isn't proposing FIT start up [00:58] its own space program but throw its resources behind [01:01] existing ones. That's for the best because getting to Mars [01:04] will take an enormous amount of resources and Capital. [01:08] Remember how the non- profit Mars One proposed a [01:10] permanent human colony on Mars by 2027? Independent [01:14] analysis by researches at MIT showed it's plans came up [01:18] many billions of dollars short, and relied on technology that [01:22] haven't even been developed yet. SpaceX has eyes on [01:25] Mars too. Or Elon Musk at least sees it as a necessity. He [01:29] envisions humans on Mars within 10 to 12 years. But the [01:32] thing that really matters in the long term is to have a self [01:35] sustaining city on mars to make life multiplanetary. [01:39] But exactly how and how much that might cost SpaceX still [01:43] hasn't said. In January Musk said his company would lay [01:47] out plans for its Mars Colonial Transporter some time this [01:50] year. NASA, meanwhile, has arguably the best shot at [01:53] actually making it work. Space News reports its plans look [01:57] a lot like those Aldridge Has laid out. Before it sends [02:00] astronauts to the Martian surface, NASA will run proof of [02:03] concept test between earth and the moon and Mars' orbit. [02:07] If they go according to place, NASA says human could land [02:10] on Mars by the mid 2030's. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/"},"headline":"Buzz Aldrin Wants to Colonize Mars Before 2040","datePublished":"2015-08-28T15:53:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:31:49.109Z","description":"To Phobos and beyond","url":"https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/","keywords":["Space","Mars","A Year In Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0115b09474a3917c/6988615dab6d77896e6a5f0c/buzz-aldrin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0115b09474a3917c/6988615dab6d77896e6a5f0c/buzz-aldrin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"buzz aldrin space institute","caption":"buzz aldrin space institute","creditText":"Craig Rubadoux—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/","name":"Buzz Aldrin Wants to Colonize Mars Before 2040"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Buzz Aldrin Has A Plan To Help Us Get To Mars","description":"Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin has joined Florida Institute of Technology faculty to research the process of getting to Mars.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/i8VDrF6x/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-28T14:52:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/i8VDrF6x.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/","duration":"PT2M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4014856/buzz-aldrin-colonize-mars-2040/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```