7 Ways SpaceX Will Get Us To Mars By 2018

2. And More Importantly, Cheaper For The Rest Of Us

We've talked a bit about SpaceX's obsession with bringing the costs of space travel down, but its importance really can't be stressed enough.

Everything they do is designed to make their products as innovative and cost effective as possible. The company is structured so that everything is produced "in house", as opposed to Space Shuttle which was built by a number of contractors and subcontractors.

This all seems pretty yawnful, until you realise that their meticulous penny pinching not only delivers some of the most groundbreaking technology on the market, but also has the potential to bring the cost of getting yourself a round trip to Mars with all of your supplies included down to a measly $500,000 or so.

This also means that, when the time comes to set up a colony, you could go and live on Mars for the same price as this studio apartment in New York - and that's if the price doesn't come down even further.