"I'd like to die on Mars,"
Elon Musk opined,
"but not on impact."
He founded SpaceX
and builds reusable rockets
only half of which have crashed.
$200,000 will buy you
a one-way ticket to Mars
forsaking gas bills,
wedding ring, aged parrot,
Christmas, tax returns,
and unanswered emails.
Musk is planning infrastructure:
loos that recycle
to feed hydroponic orchards;
vats of genetically modified coliforms
that make steak and vegetables;
a birthing bay;
a euthanasia chair.
He seeks to plant DNA,
stocks of fine deep-frozen ova,
sperm, even blastocysts,
gifts of diverse donors
drawn from Donegal to Dubbo.
But should an error happen
Musk has a plan:
still vague, we understand
it involves a prison
built entirely of Mars bars.
