Elon Musk, who is a director of SpaceX, has stated that there is a 50% chance that his Mars spacecraft will make its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet by the end of 2026, just two days after his company’s most recent test-flight setback.
In a video that his Los Angeles-based rocket company posted online on Thursday, Musk provided a detailed timeline for Starship development.
The billionaire and SpaceX owner from South Africa said it was dependent on the craft’s ability to perform a number of challenging technical tests, most notably a post-launch refuelling maneuver in Earth’s orbit.
Musk claimed that his Starbase industrial complex and Texas rocket launch facility were the “gateway to Mars” in a video posted on social media platform X, which he also owns.
In the first time in Earth’s four and a half billion years, he said, “it is where we are going to develop the technology necessary to transport humanity, civilisation, and life as we know it to another planet.”
A narrow window will open at the end of 2026, allowing travelers to travel between Earth and Mars at once every two years. It would take a spacecraft seven to nine months to travel this far.
A Tesla-built humanoid Optimus robot crew would be on the first mission to Mars. In the second or third landing, human crews would follow.
Musk claimed in the video that there was a 50/50 chance that SpaceX would meet the first mission’s deadline of 2026. He added that SpaceX would wait another two years before attempting again if Starship wasn’t ready by that point.
Following a turbulent few months in which his various businesses, including SpaceX and Tesla, have become increasingly strained, Musk announced his resignation from the presidency of US President Donald Trump the day before.
He has been subjected to intense criticism for overseeing what has been labeled as haphazard cuts to government programs because of Musk’s unofficial role in leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In response to falling stock prices and shareholder concerns, Musk announced this week that he would resign from his post in the government and concentrate on his private ventures.
deadlines that were missed
Musk stated in 2016 that he wanted to launch the first crewed mission to Mars in 2024 and that he wanted to launch an uncrewed SpaceX vehicle there as early as 2018.
However, the mercurial entrepreneur’s plans for interplanetary exploration have suffered from numerous setbacks in recent years.
Following a ninth Starship test flight that evening, Musk was scheduled to deliver a live webcast from the company’s Starbase in Texas on Tuesday.
However, the speech was postponed without notice after Starship sprang out of control and failed to fulfill some of its most crucial test objectives about 30 minutes after launch.
The mega-rocket returned to Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday after an uncontrollable spinning in space resulted from a fuel leak, according to the Reuters news agency.
Musk claimed that the test provided a lot of “good data to review” and that the launch “cadence” would be quicker for the next several attempts after the failed flight was posted on X.
In March, the craft blew up moments after liftoff, causing commercial jetliners to change directions, and there was a failed launch as well.
Musk, who has invested billions of dollars in the development of the Starship, claims that SpaceX intends to colonize Mars from there.
More than 50 years after astronauts last walked on the moon’s surface in 1972, the company is also working with US government agency NASA to bring people back to Earth in 2027 onboard Starship.
These efforts are a first step toward NASA’s 2030 mission to Mars.
Source: Aljazeera
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