• Space/Science
  • GeekSpeak
  • Mysteries of
    the Multiverse
  • Science Fiction
  • The Comestible Zone
  • Off-Topic
  • Community
  • Flame
  • CurrentEvents

Recent posts

2025 Humans to the Moon & Mars Summit May 28 and 29 BuckGalaxy May 28, 2025 2:52 pm (Space/Science)

C'mon a little closer gonna do it to you BuckGalaxy May 27, 2025 9:46 pm (Off-Topic)

Watching SpaceX Starship flight 9, 7:30pm EST BuckGalaxy May 27, 2025 3:59 pm (Space/Science)

Same old song and dance BuckGalaxy May 26, 2025 10:02 pm (Flame)

Russia and China agree to build a nuclear power plant on the moon BuckGalaxy May 26, 2025 2:03 pm (Space/Science)

Dune books 2-7 BuckGalaxy May 26, 2025 12:46 pm (Science Fiction)

Highly recommended ER May 23, 2025 9:20 pm (Off-Topic)

At least they didn't waste a perfectly good bottle of champagne BuckGalaxy May 22, 2025 10:31 pm (Flame)

Re-writing history ER May 22, 2025 8:24 pm (CurrentEvents)

Taking a fresh look at terraforming Mars BuckGalaxy May 20, 2025 11:07 am (Space/Science)

the v and d correction ER May 19, 2025 9:49 am (GeekSpeak)

Clearly threatening language BuckGalaxy May 16, 2025 3:43 pm (Flame)

Home » Space/Science

SpaceX will start launching Starships to Mars in 2026, Elon Musk says September 8, 2024 6:50 pm BuckGalaxy

OK Musk is a douchebag, but this is pretty god damn exciting stuff!

SpaceX’s Starship megarocket will start flying Mars missions just two years from now, if all goes according to plan.

“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 4 years,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via X on Saturday evening (Sept. 7), in a post that announced the bold new target timelines. (Earth and Mars align properly for interplanetary missions once every 26 months.)

“Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years,” Musk added in the same post. “Being multiplanetary will vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet.”

The stainless-steel Starship consists of two elements: a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship.

A stacked Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. It stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall and generates 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — nearly twice that of the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket for NASA’s Artemis moon program.

SLS is expendable, but Starship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. Indeed, SpaceX plans to land Super Heavy back on the launch mount after each liftoff, enabling quick inspection, refurbishment and relaunch.

SpaceX believes that Starship’s combination of brawn and efficiency will finally bring Mars settlement — a long-held dream of Musk’s — within humanity’s grasp.

  • What would Musk name the first human settlement on Mars? by BuckGalaxy 2024-09-08 18:57:57

    Search

    The Control Panel

    • Log in
    • Register