SpaceX IPO Not Coming Anytime Soon, Focusing On Mars Colonization

There have been rumors flying around that the private space company SpaceX was thinking about filing for an initial public offering. However, in usual Elon Musk fashion, the company's CEO took to Twitter to dispel those rumors by saying that SpaceX has "no near term plans" for an IPO, and are focusing on colonizing Mars at the moment.

A few major news outlets, including BusinessWeek and CNN, have mentioned the possibility of SpaceX filing for an IPO this year. Musk has reportedly mentioned that he's been pondering the idea to IPO in 2013, but it seems he has backed out entirely, now saying that we won't see a Space IPO anytime soon, or at least not until Mars in colonized.

Musk said that an IPO is "only possible in [the] very long term when Mars Colonial Transporter is flying regularly." That raises the question of when exactly Mars will begin to colonize. We've heard dates as far ahead as 2023, which isn't too far away, but ten years is certainly a long time, which means Musk and company won't be filing for an IPO for a long while.

Of course, SpaceX has other projects on its plate right now as well, including creating a reusable rocket, which we've seen in testing plenty of times. The goal here is to create a rocket than can launch into space and return back to Earth on land, rather than just splash down in the water like most rockets currently do.

Musk has talked plenty about colonizing Mars, and addressing the many concerns that deals with putting people on the red planet, including planting trees and other plants to create oxygen on the planet and form greenhouse gases in order to heat up Mars. It certainly makes sense on paper, but we'll see what happens when we put all these ideas into effect.

VIA: The Next Web

IMAGE CREDIT: Steve Jurvetson