Manifest Destiny or Science Fiction? Elon Musk’s Mars Colonization Plans and the New Nexus of Religion
by Peggy Reeder
“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” President Donald Trump stated in his inauguration speech on the 20th of January 2025 (FOX 13 Seattle 2025). Specifically, Trump aims to facilitate tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Mars colonization plans during his presidency and invokes the historical concept of a ‘manifest destiny’ that has served as religious reference frame and as an established rhetoric to legitimize US expansion into the West of the American continent and into space (cf. Swanson 2020). Coined by journalist John Louis O’Sullivan in 1845 during the annexation of Texas and dispute about the boundaries of Oregon, manifest destiny describes the notion that the geographical expansion of the US is predestined and a divine mission. It is based on the assumption that the US is superior, exceptionally suitable and destined by God to further human progress (cf. Johannsen 1997). Beyond this, the plans of exploring and settling on Mars are part of a more diverse and entangled interrelation of religion, technology, and outer space predominantly researched by scholars of religion: Religion and outer space are inextricably linked in discourse about the cosmos, for example in popular astronomy. In his book The Varieties of Scientific Experience, astronomer Carl Sagan, maybe best known for his influential tv series Cosmos, presents astronomical findings as one possible path to answer religious questions about the universe (Sagan 2006). The proximity between the seemingly distant fields of science, religion, and science-fiction is increasing and convictions and practices surrounding technology more generally are moving into the arena of religion. The already porous dichotomy of science and religion is further strained in an era of commercialized spaceflight in which the technological possibilities are catching up with what had previously been fictional conceptions of outer space. The overarching dynamics of continued technologization, and their entanglements with religion, lay the groundwork for the ensuing dynamics.
Sacrality and Alternative Understandings of Outer Space
Mars colonization plans and other space projects are part of a wider ongoing negotiation of cosmologies, most prominently indigenous understandings of the universe and humans’ place in it. In late March, comedian Alessandra Basher divided users on social media with her song “We Thank You, Elon Musk,” singing on a Tesla Cybertruck and endorsing Musk’s Mars occupation plans (cf. Lubin 2025; Alessandra Basher 2025). The video resulted in vivid debates online about whether or not the video and the extent of her support for Musk are satire. In research that strongly criticizes Musk for historical and political reasons, the adoption of pantheistic cosmologies (cf. Rubenstein 2022) or indigenous worldviews (cf. Mitchell et al. 2020) is proposed as an alternative to Mars colonization because these conceptions recognize a value in protecting outer space environments. Direct confrontations between indigenous actors and those who plan, organize and conduct space-related operations mostly occur when local communities are affected. The erection of a telescope on the Hawai’ian mountain Mauna Kea, for example, led to protests by Native Hawaiian communities in 2015 (cf. Brown 2016). However, likely because of the colonially induced power imbalance, indigenous opposition to spaceflight is platformed mostly in academic contributions. For instance, one contribution in The Routledge Handbook of Social Studies of Outer Space features an explanation of the ritual of singing a songspiral to interact with entities in outer space. A QR code appears at the end of the article and leads to a recording of the song (cf. Bawaka Country et al. 2023). Endeavors related to space are interwoven with religion, its history and dynamics, especially since cosmological and anthropological questions are a central part of many religions. Astronomical, commercial, and colonial plans for outer space challenge existing conceptions of who humans are (different from other forms of life and intelligence?), where we are (only on Earth?), and when we are (which timeline are we on?). The interrelations range from astrotheology – as a deliberate effort to join theology and astrophysical research on the origin of the universe or extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) – (cf. Peters, Moritz, and Russell 2018) to considerations about the impact of extraterrestrial intelligence on Christian theology and eschatology (cf. Kreiner 2011). Notions of sacrality and religious heritage play a central role in opposition to plans of exploring celestial bodies and settling on Mars.
In 1987, professor of American Studies M. Jane Young contrasted Navajo cosmologies with those of the US space program to highlight alternative understandings of outer space. She implicitly questions the assumptions of an uninhabited and separated cosmos that made the Moon missions appealing (cf. Young 1987). In current edited volumes of social scientific research on outer space and space culture, indigenous cosmologies are leveraged or platformed through co-authorship of indigenous contributors (cf. Bawaka Country et al. 2023; Noon et al. 2023). The authors scrutinize the historical and ongoing power imbalances and systemic social orders that are grounded in the history of US expansionism, colonialism, and the violent disregard of the effects on indigenous inhabitants (cf. Treviño 2023: 226). Critical space theorist Natalie B. Treviño, for example, understands coloniality as a core structuring principle of US society. She opposes the idea that the cosmos should be understood as a sphere separate from Earth (cf. Treviño 2023). However, her argument is not contextualized within the more widely received social scientific discourse on “planetarity.” Scholars, including Gayatri Spivak, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Bruno Latour, discuss how to best categorize and capture planets and the limitations of conceptualizing planets as “places” (cf. Messeri 2016). The responsibility for outer space may be perceived as smaller if it is understood as a separate place from the human realm (cf. Chakrabarty 2021). In light of the climate crisis, this question is becoming more pressing.
Others, such as Noon et al., use the indigenous terminology ‘Sky Country’ instead of ‘outer space.’ This alternative term challenges how we capture space and time and the hierarchy of our understandings of outer space (Noon et al. 2023: 245). Their comparison of future space colonization plans with indigenous land rights and the violation of “sacred sites” on Earth illustrates how prominent indigenous voices are in negotiations about outer space (Noon et al. 2023: 244). In wider discourse, book titles such as When The Heavens Went On Sale (Vance 2023) play with the perceived sacrality of outer space and the impurity cast upon it by selling and commodifying it. As these examples show, religious themes, histories, and dynamics remain prominent argumentative forces in disputes about how to treat outer space although the term ‘religion’ itself rarely occurs. Setting apart certain places as sacred is only a recent example of the dimension and place that religion takes in disputes about Mars colonization plans. Outer space and religion are inherently discursively entangled.
Renegotiating the Boundaries of Science, Fiction and Religion
Simultaneously, established boundaries between science, fiction, and religion are being renegotiated. Beyond institutionalized religion, according to religious studies scholar S. Brent Plate, religions manifest as “a network of worldmaking technologies” (Plate 2021: 193). They create a sense of community and belonging and “enchanting worlds” can be experienced through the senses (ibid.). Religions and other worldviews, including those established in science and science-fiction, shape and respond to each other and are thereby interwoven. Spaceflight activities and AI technology are mediums for imagining futures in outer space. At the ESA Space for Inspiration Conference 2024 in Luxembourg, for example, ESA and private companies from the European space sector addressed the technological possibilities and potentials of long-distance space travel, including the use of microgravity for medical research and the establishment of a sustained presence on the Moon. An AI-generated image of an astronaut in a Mars landscape served as the continuous visual backdrop for panels (ESA 2024). Fantasies about discovering other worlds, imaginings of possible (extraterrestrial) life in space, and alleged UFO sightings elucidate the allure of outer space.
The boundaries between locating this in science fiction, in astrophysics and in religion are increasingly becoming blurry, e.g. when Elon Musk presents the exploration of Mars as a source of hope and motivation for the future, something “inspiring” (The Australian 2025). Endeavors that had hitherto been part of science fiction are now being considered more seriously, partly because of the rapid speed of commercial developments and space tech innovation. This includes bodily enhancements to survive and withstand travel to Mars (cf. Szocik 2019) and using lunar regolith to 3D-print structures on the Moon (cf. Ellery et al. 2022). The limits and boundaries of fact and fiction in worldviews regarding outer space are changing in light of rapid technological innovation. This is framed by the financial lucrativeness, the promise of scientific discovery, and the assumed benefit of technological progress. The enchanting worlds of outer space, previously only accessible through fictitious and religious worldbuilding, are now becoming more accessible. This not only leads to reactions by religious actors but also to communities forming around the pursuits to further expand into outer space.
Musk and the Religious Dimensions of Technology
Additionally, Mars missions require an unprecedented level of technologization and resources. Bodies have to be modified to survive the long journey and persevere in the harsh living conditions on Mars. The huge amounts of data necessary for such a long-term space endeavor have to be processed with AI. This adds a new dimension to this already religiously imbued and contentious vision. To realize Mars missions, affirmative convictions about innovative technologies, their potential, and realizability are a prerequisite. Technology, including AI, is part of the arena of religion and worldviews. Actors demarcate themselves from institutionalized religion, found new religions around AI, and rely on religious imaginaries to present their view of technology (cf. Singler 2024). Greg Epstein goes so far as so speak of the ubiquitous convictions about and collective practices around technology as “the world’s most powerful religion” (cf. Epstein 2024). It comes as no surprise that such religiously imbued visions of technology are also present in visions of space exploration. Musk embodies technological and entrepreneurial innovation. This has led to a large following, especially among men (cf. Buchter, Nezik, and Nienhaus 2022), and to a global, digital mass of supporters for his plans (cf. McFarland Taylor 2024).
His endeavors resemble “religion” to such an extent that scholars and journalists use it as a semantic frame to capture the associated qualities: Religious studies scholar Sarah McFarland Taylor compares him to a “saint” (McFarland Taylor 2024) and journalist Robert Gast confronts readers with the possibility of Elon Musk being “a modern Jesus” whose community might resemble “a cult” (Gast 2025). He is the embodied epitome of the wider dynamics of technology that have spread globally from Silicon Valley in the 21st century. To successfully execute and justify the Mars exploration plans, such convictions may be equally as efficacious as the socio-religious notion of a ‘manifest destiny’ or indigenous cosmologies. It is hard to imagine the Mars colonization plans taking such a prominent place in the inaugural speech without the many facets of religion at play. New appearances and dynamics of religion are taking shape in light of technological innovation, as the developments around Musk, technology, and the presidency of Donald Trump show.
Religion was a vehicle to both oppose and support Trump’s second presidential campaign. The new religion Creation was founded, initially intended as a defiant reaction to Trump’s campaign for reelection but turning into a lived religion, appreciated by its members (@deborahkellyartist, April 14, 2025; cf. Kelly 2021). Simultaneously, Christian speedpainting artist Vanessa Horabuena painted portraits of Donald Trump on stages of services and rallies (@vanessahorabuena, February 20, 2023; Ol Red 2023). Historically religious themes and concepts, such as manifest destiny, are interwoven with traditional and emergent shapes of religion, resulting in novel religious constellations to consider.
Musk’s latest plans to colonize Mars and Trump’s endorsements of them are only the tip of an iceberg of entanglements of outer space and religion. Commercial interactions with the cosmos, as an object of religious worldmaking, have been causing religious responses that are extending into academic discourse. Online reactions to the recent Mars plans, perceptions of technology, and contestation about Trump’s presidency are steeped in religious themes, language, and practices. In light of the novel dimensions of technological possibilities, traditional and emerging religious dynamics bounce off of each other, presenting us with a nexus of cross-references and manifestations of religion to untangle.
This article originally appeared on the website of the Institute for Religious Studies (IRW) of the University of Heidelberg on January 8, 2025, under the title “To Plant the Stars and Stripes on the Planet Mars”—Trump, Musk and New Religious Entanglements”. It has been edited for clarity. The original article can be found here: https://www.irw.uni-heidelberg.de/en/transfer/blog-religion-technologies-and-artificial-intelligence/to-plant-the-stars-and-stripes-on-the-planet-mars-trump-musk-and-new-religious-entanglements
Author Bio
Peggy Reeder, M.A., is a research assistant at the Institute for Religious Studies, Heidelberg. In her doctoral thesis she analyzes the intersections of the commercialization of spaceflight and religion in the European New Space sector.
You can get in touch via e-mail (peggy.reeder@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de) or LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-reeder-4b387a168)
Check out her website: https://www.irw.uni-heidelberg.de/en/node/325/peggy-reeder-ma
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Header Image: Freepik.com, “Astronaut on Mars Collage”, online: https://t1p.de/qibdo (accessed April 23, 2025).
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
The Editors (April 23, 2025). Manifest Destiny or Science Fiction? Elon Musk’s Mars Colonization Plans and the New Nexus of Religion. HCA Graduate Blog. Retrieved June 11, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/13sp0
