Elon Musk’s SpaceX to send uncrewed Starships to Mars in 2 years | Mint

SpaceX plans to launch its first uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years, aligning with the next Earth-Mars transfer window, CEO Elon Musk’s informed on Saturday. Musk explained that these missions will be used to assess the reliability of landing safely on Mars. If successful, the first crewed flights could take place in four years.

Taking to X, Elon Musk stated, “The first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 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 4 years. Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years. Being multiplanetary will vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet,” he added.

Musk, in another post, stated that SpaceX created the first fully reusable rocket stage and made the reuse economically viable.

“SpaceX created the first fully reusable rocket stage and, much more importantly, made the reuse economically viable. Making life multiplanetary is fundamentally a cost per ton to Mars problem,” Musk posted on X.

“It currently costs about a billion dollars per ton of useful payload to the surface of Mars. That needs to be improved to USD 100k/ton to build a self-sustaining city there, so the technology needs to be 10,000 times better. Extremely difficult, but not impossible,” he added.

SpaceX’s successful launch of starship

In June of this year, SpaceX successfully launched its Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, achieving several key objectives during its fourth test flight, according to a report from CNN. The launch took place on June 6 at 8:50 a.m. ET from SpaceX’s private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, with the company providing live coverage via X.

The Starship launch system consists of two main components: the upper Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster. During the launch, 32 of the booster’s 33 engines ignited, as mentioned in the SpaceX broadcast and reported by CNN.

Several milestones were reached during the test flight, including the successful reentry of the Starship capsule, which withstood peak heating as it passed through Earth’s atmosphere. Both the capsule and booster safely splashed down after the flight.

(With inputs from agencies and CNN)