Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, intends to send five unmanned Starship missions to Mars during the next two years. He announced on Sunday on the social media site X. These missions are part of his larger aim of someday sending humans to Mars.
Earlier in September, Musk stated that these uncrewed Starship flights will begin when the Earth and Mars are correctly aligned, which occurs every two years. The unmanned trips will act as a test to guarantee the spacecraft can land safely on Mars.
The date of the first crewed trips to Mars is dependent on how successfully the uncrewed missions proceed. If all goes well, Musk hopes to launch the first crewed flights four years from now. However, if the uncrewed missions encounter complications, the schedule may be pushed back by another two years.
Musk has a propensity for changing his timetables. Earlier this year, he proposed that an unmanned Starship may land on Mars in roughly five years, with people potentially visiting the planet in seven years.
In a good milestone for the Starship project, SpaceX safely landed a Starship rocket in the Indian Ocean in June after a difficult test mission around the planet. SpaceX’s collaboration with NASA is also underway, albeit there have been setbacks. NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which would use the Starship to deliver men to the Moon, has been pushed back to September 2026 from its initial date of late 2025.
Furthermore, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa canceled his private journey around the Moon, which was planned to use the Starship, due to delays in the rocket’s construction timeline.
Musk’s intention to fly unmanned Starship trips to Mars is a huge step toward his vision of mankind becoming a multi-planetary species. The success of these missions will decide when humans can arrive on the red planet. However, delays and technical difficulties may affect the timeframe.