A colony on Mars? Sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie, right? Wrong. Humanity could have an outpost on Mars just a decade from now according to Elon Musk.

One of Musk’s companies, SpaceX, is currently attempting to build a huge, reusable rocket-spaceship duo to help our species explore and settle Earth’s moon, Mars and other worlds throughout the solar system.

“Musk’s plans to go to Mars is amazing. He is such an amazing scientist who has proven time and time again he can do what needs to be done,” sophomore Seth Chaplin said.

The billionaire entrepreneur’s long-term vision involves the establishment of a million-person city on the Red Planet in the next 50 to 100 years, but with the founding infrastructure  — an outpost Musk calls Mars Base Alpha — up and running much sooner than that, he said, according to an article from Space.com.

“If we could colonize Mars by 2028 we could have a planet to fall back on. Musk is such a smart man, I trust him to push this mission forward,” sophomore Grant McDaniel said.

“Probably 2028 for a base to be built,” Musk said on Twitter on September 21, in response to a question about when Mars Base Alpha could graduate from artistic rendering to reality.

“What we should really be focused on is being able to sustain life there. We might be able to live there for a little bit, but can we make this a new home for us,” junior Maurice Weakley said.

Musk founded SpaceX because he was frustrated NASA was not getting us to Mars fast enough, and was left worried there was no second chance for humanity. He was worried Earth will run out of resources, and that by the time we realize we need the infrastructure to get off-planet it will  be too late to build it. He has spent his personal fortune on BlueOrigin, which will begin commercial spaceflight next year.