SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday envisioned uncrewed Starships flying to Mars in about 2 years and crewed Starships going to the neighboring planet in about 4 years with the help of a reusable heat shield.
What Happened: “Uncrewed Starships landing on Mars in ~2 years, perhaps with crewed versions passing near Mars, and crewed Starships heading there in ~4 years are all possible,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X.
When an X user raised doubts about the reusability of the heat-shield tiles currently used to protect the vehicle during the process of reentry of Starship from space, Musk said that he is confident about the company developing a “fully reusable” heat shield next year.
“I am confident that we will figure out a fully reusable (technically, a high multi-flight reusable) heat shield in 2025,” Musk wrote.
Why It Matters: In September, Musk said the first Starships will head to Mars in two years once the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens.
The first launches to Mars in 2026, Musk then said, will not have a crew onboard and will be aimed at testing the flight’s ability to land intact on Mars.
“If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 years,” Musk wrote, pegging the first crewed Starship flights to the neighboring planet for 2028. A self-sustaining city, he said, should be ready in about 20 years.
Starship, however, is still under development and has undertaken six flight tests to date. However, the vehicle is yet to carry any payload to space.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
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