As his role with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) winds down, Elon Musk is shifting focus back to his lifelong ambition—establishing a human colony on Mars. In a new interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Musk made clear he sees interplanetary expansion not as science fiction, but as a necessity for the future of life itself.

“Mars is life insurance for life collectively,” Musk said during the interview, emphasizing the long-term threat posed by our own sun. “Eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun. The sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multi-planet civilization because Earth will be incinerated.”

While scientists estimate the sun will remain stable for another 5 billion years before becoming a red giant and potentially consuming Earth, Musk argues that building a self-sustaining colony on Mars must begin now to avoid depending on future generations to act under duress.

His vision, he explained, isn’t about planting a flag and leaving. It’s about building a functional, growing society that can survive without continuous support from Earth.

“The fundamental fork in the road of destiny [is] that Mars is sufficiently self-sustaining and can grow by itself if the resupply ships from Earth stop coming for any reason, whether that is because civilization died with a bang or a whimper,” Musk told Watters. “If the resupply ships are necessary for Mars to survive, then we have not created life insurance.”

This concept—of Mars as a backup drive for civilization—has long been central to Musk’s aspirations with SpaceX. But with his temporary role in Washington drawing to a close, the billionaire entrepreneur appears to be accelerating the timeline. In a March post on X, Musk revealed that a SpaceX Starship mission to Mars could launch by the end of 2026, carrying Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus to begin preliminary work on the red planet.

If things go smoothly, Musk believes the first human landings could happen as early as 2029, although he acknowledged that 2031 is a more realistic estimate. Once humans arrive, the challenge will be to transition from exploration to sustainability.

“We’ve not created life insurance for life collectively until Mars can sustain itself. That’s the key point in the future where [the] destiny of life, as we know it, will forever be affected,” he said.

NASA, for its part, confirms that the sun will eventually reach a phase in its lifecycle that could endanger Earth. As it runs out of fuel, it will expand into a red giant, potentially engulfing Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Though this is far off, Musk argues that waiting until it’s imminent is the wrong approach.

His comments come at a pivotal moment, as he prepares to exit his government watchdog role at DOGE—a role in which he helped expose billions in waste and bloated bureaucracy. Musk has been a frequent target of progressive critics, but his moonshot thinking continues to drive conversations at the highest levels of government and industry.

As Watters concluded the interview, the message was clear: Elon Musk may be leaving DOGE, but his eyes are already fixed on the stars.