Elon Musk has said that astronauts could land on Mars within just four years, as NASA faces pressure over its delayed plans to land on the moon.
Space X will launch its first uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens – which is the point at which Earth and Mars are closest – to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars.
If these tests are successful, Space X, which Mr Musk founded in 2002, will launch crewed flights to Mars in four years.
Mr Musk posted on X on Saturday: ‘The first Starships to Mars will launch in two years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens.
‘These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in four years.
Space X founder Elon Musk (pictured) claimed astronauts could land on Mars within just four years
The billionaire tweeted on X that Space X will launch its first uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens
The billionaire said in April that the first uncrewed starship to land on Mars would be within five years, with the first people landing on Mars within seven years. (Pictured, a stock photo of Mars)
‘Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years.’
He added that being multiplanetary will ‘vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness’ as we will no longer have our ‘eggs’ on one planet.
The billionaire said in April that the first uncrewed starship to land on Mars would be within five years, with the first people landing on Mars within seven years.
It comes after it was announced in January that NASA’s planned manned trip to the moon, Artemis II, would be delayed until September 2025.
Meanwhile, the eagerly anticipated follow-up, Artemis III, won’t take place until September 2026.
NASA cited safety concerns as the reason for the delays to its Artemis programme – the successor to the Apollo programme of the 1960s and 1970s.
Artemis II will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home, while Artemis III will actually land humans on the lunar surface.
If all goes to plan, Artemis III will mark the first time humans have walked on the moon since the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972.
Mr Musk said being multiplanetary will ‘vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness’. (A picture of a Falcon 9 rocket launching on August 28, 2024)
NASA is relying heavily on private companies for its Artemis moon-landing program, including Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. (Pictured, stock photo a Falcon 9 rocket is prepared for launch of Polaris Dawn)
NASA’s moon-landing effort has been delayed repeatedly over the past decade, adding billions of dollars to the cost.
Government audits project the total programme costs at $93billion (£73billion) through 2025.
Giving a reason for the new delays, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said safety was a ‘top priority’ for the next stage of the programme.
However, NASA is still pressing on with its mission and has recently given Intuitive Machines a $116.9 million deal to carry six agency science instruments to the lunar south pole in 2027.
Chris Culbert, manager of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said: ‘The instruments on this newly awarded flight will help us achieve multiple scientific objectives and strengthen our understanding of the moon’s environment.
‘For example, they’ll help answer key questions about where volatiles — such as water, ice, or gas — are found on the lunar surface and measure radiation in the South Pole region, which could advance our exploration efforts on the moon and help us with continued exploration of Mars.’
Earlier this year, the Houston-based company successfully pulled off the first-ever private lunar landing.
In February, a solar-powered craft called Odysseus touched down near the moon’s south pole and operated for seven Earth days.
This artist’s depiction shows the Orion spacecraft – containing crew – while in lunar orbit during Artemis II
Pictured, the crew of Artemis II, which was supposed to take place in 2024. Victor Glover (second from left) is the first person of colour selected for a moon trip, while Christina Koch (second from right) is the first woman. They have been chosen alongside Reid Wiseman (left) from Baltimore, Maryland and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen (right)
A second trip is expected later this year atop Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket to carry a NASA payload called PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1) to hunt for water ice.
Intuitive Machines plans to launch the IM-3 moon mission next year and the new contract will support the company’s fourth lunar effort.
All of these missions are an initiative that seeks to gather a wealth of moon data ahead of the planned arrival of astronauts later this decade via the Artemis programme.
NASA is relying heavily on private companies for its Artemis moon-landing program, including Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.
For Artemis III, SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket will be needed to get the first moonwalkers from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up.
In June, a Starship rocket survived a fiery, hypersonic return from space and achieved a breakthrough landing demonstration in the Indian Ocean, completing a full test mission around the globe on the rocket’s fourth try.
Musk is counting on Starship to fulfil his goal of producing a large, multipurpose next-generation spacecraft capable of sending people and cargo to the moon later this decade, and ultimately flying to Mars.
