Elon Musk – aka Lex Luthor in spirit — is on social media yapping about nuking Mars again. He’s not trolling; he’s not acting as a provocateur; he really wants to bombard the surface of our planetary neighbor with actual nuclear weapons. Nuke Mars! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 16, 2019 Here’s why: he thinks it’ll kick-start the planet and make it habitable by releasing trapped carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.