SpaceX to launch first Starships to Mars in two years: Elon Musk

SpaceX will launch its first uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years when the next EarthMars transfer window opens Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced on SaturdayElon Musk stated that these will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars He added that if those landings go well then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in four yearsTaking to X Elon Musk stated The first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 years when the next EarthMars transfer window opens These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on MarsIf those landings go well then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 years Flight rates will grow exponentially from there with the goal of building a selfsustaining city in about 20 years 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 he addedIn another post on X Musk stated that SpaceX created the first fully reusable rocket stage and made the reuse economically viableSpaceX created the first fully reusable rocket stage and much more importantly made the reuse economically viable Making life multiplanetary is fundamentally a cost per ton to Mars problem Musk posted on XIt currently costs about a billion dollars per ton of useful payload to the surface of Mars That needs to be improved to USD 100kton to build a selfsustaining city there so the technology needs to be 10000 times better Extremely difficult but not impossible he addedIn June this year SpaceXs Starship the most powerful launch vehicle ever made launched and achieved key objectives planned for its fourth test flight that showcased the vehicles reusability reported ANIIt was launched from a private Starbase facility in Boca Chica Texas on June 6 at 850 am ET and the company streamed live coverage on XThe Starship launch system has the upper Starship spacecraft and a rocket booster known as the Super Heavy According to SpaceX broadcast of the rockets 33 engines 32 lit during the launch of the Starship reported ANIThe vehicle achieved multiple milestones during the test flight including the survival of the Starship capsule upon reentry during peak heating in Earths atmosphere and splashdown of both the capsule and boosterAfter separating from the spacecraft the Super Heavy booster for the first time executed a landing burn and had a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico after eight minutes of the launchMeanwhile the Starship capsule achieved orbital insertion Around 50 minutes following the launch the spacecraft started its controlled reentry journey and a colourful buildup of plasma could be witnessed around the vehicle as its heat shield faced the extreme temperatures of Earths atmosphere reported ANIThe Starlink satellites of the company helped in the livestream that was continuously available during reentry A flap near the camera view on Starship seemed to scorch during reentry and particulate matter blocked some of the views of the camera the report said In the end Starship was able to achieve its expected landing burn into the Indian OceanWith inputs from ANI