Starships could launch toward Mars in 2 years: SpaceX's Elon Musk

Elon Musk predicted Saturday that his SpaceX venture could launch the first Starships to Mars in two years and land astronauts on Mars within the next four, even as NASA continues to delay its plan to return to the moon.

SpaceX is planning its first unmanned Starships to Mars journey in two years when the Earth is closest to Mars in order to assess the logistics of landing on the neighboring planet. If all goes according to plan, SpaceX plans to send astronauts to Mars within the next two years after that.

Musk posted 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. Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years.”

Musk said that by extending humanity’s interest in space travel from the moon to Mars will “vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness” as “we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet.”

The entrepreneur, who also owns the X social media platform, has sped up his plans to travel to Mars since he first indicted in April that a manned fight would be seven years away, with an unmanned flight requiring another five years of preparation, the Daily Mail reported, noting that NASA has postponed its planned return to the moon with Artemis II, until at least September 2025 with Artemis III now scheduled for a year later in September 2026.

NASA is reluctant to launch another flight to the moon until it is certain of the project’s success. Artemis is the long-awaited next chapter of NASA’s moon exploration project that began with the Apollo program that landed the first man on the moon in 1969. NASA plans to orbit the moon with Artemis II and actually put astronauts on the moon’s surface with Artemis III. NASA last sent astronauts to walk on the moon in 1972, the Mail noted.

Musk’s SpaceX will also be rescuing two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station. The Boeing Starliner that was supposed to bring them back was not cleared to do so after safety concerns were raised.