SpaceX’s Starship rocket could be ready for a Mars test flight within the next four years. A test flight featuring the newest and largest SpaceX rocket to date could be ready to go to Mars by 2027, Elon Musk said in a teleconference, The New York Times reported.
“I think it’s possible to do an uncrewed test landing on Mars within the next four years,” Musk told International Astronautical Federation President Clay Mowry during the conference. Of course, it will not be a surprise that it will take longer for Starship to be ready for a test flight to Mars. However, even the fact that the giant rocket is ready for a long journey to Mars within the next decade means a great success.
Starship is currently the largest rocket SpaceX has built and has only completed a single test so far. In this test, the rocket exploded in the air and rocket parts rained down on the launch area. Still, Musk considered it a huge success, and the team at SpaceX is working to rebuild Starship’s system from scratch.
Starship is also expected to play a role in future Artemis missions; This includes serving as the landing system for NASA’s Artemis III, which will take humanity back to the Moon for the first time in 50 years. So all eyes are on SpaceX’s largest rocket ever.