Why would Elon Musk suggest bombing Mars?

The well-known businessman has recently floated another ambitious idea: in his opinion, humankind should transform the Red planet by dropping nuclear bombs to melt the ice caps there.

There is frozen water on Mars, which means that theoretically there can be life on the planet. But it is in a frozen state, and the climatic conditions of Mars are quite severe. Mr. Musk hopes to transform the planet into a more livable one if dozens of nuclear charges get dropped on Mars’ poles.

But does this idea hold water? There is indeed water trapped in the Martian ice caps, but its amount is very limited, and it is much more rarified than the Earth's. Thus, even if mankind does manage to melt the ice caps, the efforts will yield too little Martian water.

 There is another issue - humanity does not have a powerful enough energy source. Mathematician Robert Walker maintains that in order to melt the ice caps, we will have to detonate 3.5 thousand megaton bombs every day for 7 weeks. If such a project does get implemented, the radiation levels on Mars will increase so much that no life will survive there. Therefore, Elon Musk’s proposal is akin to a fantasy, but not a serious plan.