7 Ways SpaceX Will Get Us To Mars By 2018

3. They're Making Space Cheaper For Businesses

Remember what we said about the decidedly old school spacecraft interiors? The same goes for plenty of the satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Due to the cost and the risk of failure associated with firing a satellite into space, most companies are unwilling to try their luck with new, untested technology. This means that, by sticking with the old faithfuls, much of the tech currently flying about above our heads could date back to the 70s, and was already old when the original Back To The Future hit cinemas.

Elon Musk and the gang want to change all this by setting a precedent for launching cutting edge, cost-effective satellites into orbit for everything from super accurate GPS to providing high-speed, global satellite internet coverage (which would mean an end to costly data tariffs from the big companies for one thing and global coverage for another).

So what does this have to do with Mars? Well, the idea is that if we make the move away from cables and start to get our technology a bit more space based, it makes the transition to the red planet that much smoother. Setting up communications networks in Mars will be much easier if we drop things into orbit around the planet, as opposed to sending some worker drones ahead to set up a bunch a telegraph poles.