SpaceX Starship Mars Mission Begins in 2026 with Uncrewed Flights, Elon Musk Reveals

Science

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company aims to start launching Starship missions to Mars in 2026. These initial missions will be uncrewed and designed to test the reliability of landing safely on Mars. If these test flights are successful, the first crewed missions could begin as early as four years later. The goal is to pave the way for creating a self-sustaining city on Mars within 20 years, which Musk believes is crucial for the long-term survival of human consciousness beyond Earth.

Starship: A Groundbreaking Rocket

The Starship rocket, made from stainless steel, consists of two parts: the Super Heavy first-stage booster and the 165-foot-tall upper-stage spacecraft, Starship. Together, the stacked rocket stands about 400 feet tall, making it the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It generates 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, nearly double that of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which is part of the Artemis moon program.

While SLS is designed for single use, Starship is intended to be fully reusable. SpaceX plans to land the Super Heavy booster back on the launch mount after each liftoff, enabling rapid inspection and turnaround for future flights. This reusability is seen as key to making Mars colonisation feasible and bringing Musk’s long-held vision of interplanetary settlement within reach.

Mars Mission Timeline

The first crewless missions in 2026 will mark an important step toward Musk’s ultimate goal of building a city on Mars. If all goes according to plan, SpaceX intends to significantly increase the rate of missions in the coming years. With each flight improving upon the last, the fifth test flight of Starship is already being prepared. SpaceX will attempt to land the Super Heavy booster back on the launch pad using the tower’s “chopstick” arms, promising an exciting next chapter for space exploration.

Articles You May Like

Robotaxis are here and the public is divided
Disfigured actor hoping new film changes how people see him and his condition
Compare the Market investor plots sale of stake in £4.5bn price comparison site
Rivian (RIVN) stock falls after cutting EV production plans, Q3 deliveries slip
Naming an All Blacks northern tour squad: Keep, dump or add