SpaceX founder Elon Musk has announced plans to send his Starship rocket to Mars by the end of 2026, even as the company investigates multiple recent test flight explosions.
According to Musk’s post on his social media platform X, human landings could begin as early as 2029 if initial missions succeed, though he acknowledged “2031 was more likely.”
Standing at 123m, Starship is the largest rocket ever built and represents a cornerstone of Musk’s vision to establish human colonies on Mars. However, the project has encountered significant setbacks, with two recent test flights ending in failure. Last week, one of the rockets exploded minutes after launching from Texas, following a similar “rapid unscheduled disassembly” in January.
SpaceX stated it would analyze data “to better understand [the] root cause” of the most recent explosion, noting it occurred after “several” engines failed. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has mandated that the company complete an investigation before conducting additional flights.
NASA hopes to utilize a modified version of the spaceship as a human lunar lander for its Artemis missions to return to the Moon.
The tech billionaire envisions the rocket system eventually transporting humans to both the Moon and Mars, making humanity “multi-planetary.” Musk has repeatedly set ambitious timelines for Mars missions over the years. In 2016, he planned to send his Dragon spacecraft as early as 2018. By 2020, he expressed confidence in landing humans on Mars by 2026. In 2024, he projected launching the first uncrewed Starships to Mars in 2026, with crewed flights following four years later.
Musk has stated that the upcoming Mars mission would carry the Tesla humanoid robot “Optimus,” which was publicly demonstrated last year. According to Musk, the robot would eventually perform everyday tasks and cost between $20,000 and $30,000.
Meanwhile, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, carrying a crew to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of an effort to return two stranded astronauts. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, originally scheduled for an eight-day ISS stay, have remained there for over nine months due to technical problems with their Boeing-built experimental spacecraft.
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