Elon Musk gave a date for Mars: “In four years”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made statements about the future of the Starship rocket. Musk stated that Starship has a “good chance” of reaching orbit on its second test flight. However, the famous billionaire announced that SpaceX, together with Starship, aims to land on Mars in just a few years.

Starship is very important for SpaceX

Starship’s first test flight ended on April 20 with a manually triggered explosion at high altitude. Still, this test allowed SpaceX to collect a lot of data and make many improvements. Now the private space company is on the verge of launching the world’s most powerful rocket again, and Musk made statements about the future of Starship in his opening speech at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Baku on October 5.

SpaceX and Musk are hopeful about Starship’s second launch test, but this hope does not include high expectations. According to Musk, the first test that resulted in an explosion was also successful and was in line with the company’s “fail fast, learn fast” logic. On the other hand, NASA officials want to see that everything goes according to schedule in Starsip, because the agency plans to make a manned landing with Starship on the Moon surface with the Artemis 3 mission in 2025 or 2026. Currently, SpaceX is waiting for FAA approval for launch permission.

In his opening speech, Musk also touched upon some changes SpaceX made to Starship. He said it would be the first time SpaceX would attempt a hot staging separation, adding that it would be “the riskiest part of the flight.” Musk also announced that the rocket produces approximately twice the thrust of the Saturn V rocket used for NASA’s Apollo program. 20 million lbs of thrust will be reached after SpaceX’s future engine upgrades, providing approximately three times more thrust.

Starship’s journey to Mars

Musk also touched on Starship’s enormous size, stating that the goal is to build something that could create a permanent base on the Moon and a city on Mars. Musk said that’s why Starship is so big, otherwise they could have made it much smaller.

So when will Starship finally land on Mars? Musk said SpaceX is aiming for an uncrewed Mars mission that will land on the Martian surface “within the next four years.” However, it must be said that this history is extremely ambitious. SpaceX has never made it beyond orbit, and the journey to Mars is quite challenging. Musk said Starship should eventually “be able to land anywhere on a solid surface in the solar system.” If the ultimate goal of the Starship program is realized, humanity will finally have become a multi-planetary species.