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Mars Space

Elon Musk Says SpaceX's First Mission to Mars Will Launch Next Year (bbc.co.uk) 73

Posted by EditorDavid from the 22-month-countdown dept.
"SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his Starship rocket will head to Mars by the end of next year," writes the BBC, "as the company investigates several recent explosions in flight tests." Human landings could begin as early as 2029 if initial missions go well, though "2031 was more likely", he added in a post on his social media platform X...

The billionaire said in 2020 that he remained confident that his company would land humans on Mars six years later. In 2024, he said he would launch the first Starships to Mars in 2026, with plans to send crewed flights in four years.

Musk has said that the coming Mars mission would carry the Tesla humanoid robot "Optimus", which was shown to the public last year.

Elon Musk Says SpaceX's First Mission to Mars Will Launch Next Year More | Reply

Elon Musk Says SpaceX's First Mission to Mars Will Launch Next Year

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  • Is that next earth year or next mars year?

  • Also, have SpaceX take over maintenance of Air Force One.

  • I wonder of Musk uses the same calendar as the rest of the world? Maybe that is why so few of Musk's predictions actually are delivered on the schedules originally announced?

  • Elon Musk is trying to do PR management (Score:5, Insightful)

    by beelsebob ( 529313 ) on Saturday March 15, 2025 @04:47PM (#65236337)

    Sounds like Elon Musk is trying to do PR management. If they are going to get on the way to Mars next year, thereâ(TM)s a *ton* of problems they have to solve first.

    - They need to not blow up on the way to orbit.
    - They need to stop the booster from damaging itself during its return to launch site (while theyâ(TM)ve caught them, the engines have always been too damaged to reuse more than one or two of the 33)
    - They need to solve the heat shield problems, and make Starship able to reliably reenter without dropping debris along its reentry path (which will need to be over land).
    - They need to catch the ship without damaging the heat shield.
    - They need to do in orbit refueling, between ships.
    - They need to design a version of the ship that can operate as a tanker in orbit and stop fuel boiling off while itâ(TM)s up there.
    - They need to design a version of the ship that can land on Mars (which is quite different from the lunar HLS variant which will have no heat shields, engines and legs not capable of supporting Martian gravity, solar systems not capable of providing enough power at Mars, fuel systems not capable of maintaining fuel unhooked for 6 months, etc)

    Thereâ(TM)s probably a whole bunch of things Iâ(TM)ve not thought to include in that list. The rate of progress they need to reach this goal is simply ludicrous, and I donâ(TM)t see any reason to say that youâ(TM)re going to do it beyond âoeoh shit, maybe destroying the government at the same time as my space company blows up a bunch of rockets, and I become so unpopular that my car dealerships need a constant police presence to stop them burning to the ground; time to engage PR mode and try to pretend to be iron man some more.â

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      They need to design a version of the ship that can land on Mars

      Well, technically, the stated claim was only to head for Mars, so arriving and landing may be only stretch goals.

    • That's because it isn't going to happen, and never was.
      "Starship" was designed as a bulk Pez dispenser for his private replacement internet.
      But Mars made for some PR in the past, so here comes the lies again.
      Is he playing Bowie again yet?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by caseih ( 160668 )

        And even that seems doubtful to be successful. Far cheaper to keep using Falcon 9 for starlink.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kisai ( 213879 )

      You know, 'Star Trek' (not nuTrek) ironically showed us exactly how to solve this.

      1. Build in orbit
      2. Don't try to land big ships

      What I'd propose is building much larger-than-necessary ship in orbit (might take 10 years or so, given how long the ISS has been in orbit), attach the engines to leave earth before fueling it, and then launch it when Mars is the closest to conserve time and fuel.

      But most importantly. DO NOT LAND THE SHIP. Use smaller landing craft that have basically a "tow-rope" from the ship to

      • 2. Don't try to land big ships

        I seem to recall the Enterprise "landing" in one of the movies, at least...

        • 2. Don't try to land big ships

          I seem to recall the Enterprise "landing" in one of the movies, at least...

          More seriously, and less catastrophically, Google says Voyager landed (and took off) 5 times.

          • Voyager was a much smaller ship and still had to "divert power to structural support"

            • You should tell Elon about that one neat trick.
              He could use it in next Musktown MarsX Village PR fantasy funding video.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by caseih ( 160668 )

            Star Trek always involved suspending disbelief, but some things require more suspension of belief than others. Landing and building starships on a planet were certainly less believable than building a ship in orbit and never landing on a planet.

            The scene in the star trek reboot where kirk sees the enterprise being built on earth was pretty cheesy. I think they were going for the Star Wars vibe where you see a massive star destroyer hanging in the air above a city. Looks cool, but not even close to believ

          • 2. Don't try to land big ships

            I seem to recall the Enterprise "landing" in one of the movies, at least...

            More seriously, and less catastrophically, Google says Voyager landed (and took off) 5 times.

            Fun fact: for TOS, Roddenberry and the show-developers couldn't figure out a way to land the Enterprise so they created the transporter to get around the problem.

            You are correct that Voyager could (and did) land.

      • You know, 'Star Trek' ironically showed us exactly how to solve this.

        1. Build in orbit

        2. Don't try to land big ships

        And is what Andy Weir's The Martian said NASA would actually be doing in the near future. Sure, the book was fiction (and the wind was a lie), but there was a lot of well researched science and technologies in the story (even if the wiliness of the country to commit to such a mission by the mid-2030's was aspirational).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      Carrying enough food for a round trip voyage to Mars seems to be at the top of that list as well.

      • Carrying enough food for a round trip voyage to Mars seems to be at the top of that list as well.

        I imagine you could re-supply en-route depending on orbits and fuel use, especially if you were willing to expend the supply ship ...

    • Re:Elon Musk is trying to do PR management (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Fons_de_spons ( 1311177 ) on Saturday March 15, 2025 @05:54PM (#65236495)
      Sounds to me like Elon is using a page from Trump's book. Divert attention by stirring up some controversy.

      Yawn...
      • Oh look, he just retweeted that Hitler was not responsible for the deaths of millions. The government employees executing his orders were. Sure Elon. It is all that simple. Go get some ketamine, it will wear off.

        There you go, he removed the tweet.
  • can we make an effort to not give this guy any more attention? he's dismantled the US government and sired many children that he wants nothing to do with. is it cool if we just assume this is another "robo-taxis are here!" moment, ignore, and move on?

    • Much as I'm opposed to Musk's current political actions, there is no one in the world who has proven more capable of building the spacecraft necessary to send people to Mars.
      I give it a 50-50 chance that he'll be able to send a Starship to Mars in 2026 (no people). The booster has already proven a spectacular success, catching (Catching!) 3 out of 4 attempts. The Starship isn't yet a success - yet has three successful flights with soft ocean landings, but is pretty danged close - and they expect to fly se

      • Much as I'm opposed to Musk's current political actions, there is no one in the world who has proven more capable of building the spacecraft necessary to send people to Mars.

        More specifically, no one proven more capable of building reusable ships to launch things into orbit. His track record on ships capable of going to Mars is dubious at the moment. He *is* on track for blowing up a lot of things, though. :-)

      • The only thing special about his ideas is that he started out rich enough to hire people to make his ideas a reality and not really care if it fails and he loses some of his fortune.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by heff_sf ( 663419 )

        I give it a 50-50 chance that he'll be able to send a Starship to Mars in 2026 (no people).

        Musk has been making fake predictions for over a decade with Tesla. In April 2019 he claimed Tesla would have over a million fully autonomous "robotaxis" on the road by mid-2020. It's 2025 and there isn't one autonomous Tesla robotaxi anywhere. I don't share your confidence for Musk sending the amazing exploding Starship to Mars in 21 months.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by caseih ( 160668 )

        And yet Musk did none of those things. His money definitely paid some very smart people to do them, and he personally has been pushing the teams to do it. And he does take credit for all of it. But he's not a rocket scientist nor an engineer, even though ketamine makes him think he is. He's just willing to push people to take bigger risks than the industry traditionally did. I'm no longer sure this is a good thing.

        It appears that his push to move fast and break things has led to a place where Starship

  • Oh goody more pump and dump (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday March 15, 2025 @04:53PM (#65236349)
    He's saying crazy shit again to try and boost his stocks. The market just doesn't buy it anymore. Too many people have been burned. I think even the densest investor out there are those that they will lose money during a musk brand pump and dump

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sinij ( 911942 )
      Alternatively, you can be happy that a set of people working on going to Mars is not zero, which would be the case without Musk.

      • Alternatively, you can be happy that a set of people working on going to Mars is not zero, which would be the case without Musk.

        NASA has been working on the various issues of travel to (and return from) Mars for decades. As NASA has never received direction/funding to actually accomplish such a mission, it has only been part of the various research activities that NASA performs (perhaps performed, it has been rumored that NASA's budget may end up being cut 25-50% going forward, which might force a curtailment in a number of programs).

      • Yeah, he might be a traitor, a fascist, a groomer, and an unhinged drug addict but at least we have someone working on going to Mars....

      • Found the guy who owns a Swastikar

    • Yup, trying to pump that old SpaceX stock. What's that symbol again? I'd like to go long on that....

    • a musk brand pump and dump

      In his case, otherwise known as "having children." :-)

  • No seriously, with the way Musk does things, whoever goes on the first flight to mars, is definitely ending up dead. Expect the first manned Mars craft to explode the second it touches Mar's atmosphere.

    • Maybe Elon is trying to turn the US into a big enough hell-hole that people will start to see dying on Mars as a step up?

    • No seriously, with the way Musk does things, whoever goes on the first flight to mars, is definitely ending up dead.

      Musk himself has stated there's a “good chance you’ll die” on the earliest SpaceX missions to Mars. He still expects that some will volunteer to be a part of such a (likely to be) one-way mission.

    • No seriously, with the way Musk does things, whoever goes on the first flight to mars, is definitely ending up dead. Expect the first manned Mars craft to explode the second it touches Mar's atmosphere.

      Fingers crossed it will be him. (As if he'd ever ride one of those things...)

  • Can he please be the first passenger?

  • This is so dumb.

    We can't even get a couple people out of orbit in 9 months, and we're 'going to Mars'.

    We know space fucks up humans.

    We know that if we can't even manage the climate on our own 'suitable for life' planet, it's a fools errand to think we can somehow manage the climate on another entire 'hostile to life' planet.

    This guy's mentality is stuck as at 12yr old. The robot is named after a fucking Transformer. And shit like "SpaceX".

    You should have to maintain a certain level of maturity to manage a b

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by rufey ( 683902 )

      Sigh. The two astronauts who traveled to the ISS back in June of 2024 have had the ability and means to return to Earth since September 2024, with no further launches from Earth required. The Dragon capsule that will bring them home next week has been docked at the ISS since September 2024.

      The delay on returning them to Earth is due to how long its taken to get a replacement crew up to the ISS. And apparently that is important because if Butch and Suni and the other two astronauts, all part of crew 9, ca

  • According to Musk SpaceX sent cargo ships to Mars in 2022 [cnbc.com]. I did not follow the latest news on Mars colonization, so is the cargo still there, or did colonists already eat it all up? Please don't tell me it is already expired...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rufey ( 683902 )

      According to Musk SpaceX sent cargo ships to Mars in 2022 [cnbc.com]. I did not follow the latest news on Mars colonization, so is the cargo still there, or did colonists already eat it all up? Please don't tell me it is already expired...

      That was all PR coming from Musk in March 2018 of what Musk wanted to do by 2022, not what actually happened in 2022. If there had been any such launches in 2022, it would have been all over the Internet. Given that its not, there were no SpaceX cargo launches towards Mars in 2022. The vehicle that will be used to do this just completed its not-so-successful 8th test flight last week. Hasn't even made it to Earth orbit yet, let alone a transit orbit to Mars.

  • SpaceX has already been to Mars, just like Tesla finished implementing FSD as promised over 5 years ago.

  • And f**k your self you human t**d.

    It used to be that what your companies did defined you. Now your support of MAGA trash republicans does.

    Your businesses donâ(TM)t matter anymore, when youâ(TM)re seemingly on the mission to destroy all democracies.

  • Is that before or after (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday March 15, 2025 @05:47PM (#65236477)

    FSD will make all Model 3s appreciate in value and pay themselves off being a taxi while you're at work?

    At this point who actually believes anything Elon says? Literally everything he has said has been either vapourware, or 5 years late to market. See you on Mars in 2031.

  • Will we go? Nope.
    It would be a pure money pit, with zero profit potential.
    (and don't say "mining", that's decades upon decades off.)
    There's absolutely no military advantage to be gained either,
    and those are the only two things that would drive the required funding.

    To maintain the survival of the species?
    Victory in the struggle of man against nature?
    Or "because it is hard"?

    We don't do that.

    • Will we go? Nope. It would be a pure money pit, with zero profit potential. (and don't say "mining", that's decades upon decades off.)

      The probably only good use of Mars for mining is as an orbital jumping off point for asteroid mining (using Phobos, or a Phobos like orbit, might be a good choice as a base).

  • Lots of conventional rockets have delivered payloads to Mars, so it wouldn't be very special for a Starship to get there and achieve orbit at least. Maybe they could investigate Phobos.

    I expect SpaceX will work out most of the bugs over the course of the next year and be able to deploy the big starlink satellites. Once they get that down it shouldn't be a stretch to get to the moon and then Mars.

  • Associated Press, 15 April 2031 -- MC-1, the Mars Colonizer mission launched by the Musk Aeronautics and Space Corporation, suffered a setback on Monday when it apparently collided with an object, causing a complete loss of telemetry from the spacecraft. On orders from the Trump Residence, the James Webb space telescope was re-oriented to scan the area of last contact. While MASC has issued no official statement, sources within MASC under condition of anonymity report that, based on initial images from JW

    • Associated Press, 15 October 2031 -
      Six months after the apparent loss of the MC-1 Mars Colonizer mission, an explosive investigation has revealed that the entire mission was faked using pre-rendered video and simulated telemetry data. President Elon Musk, rather than addressing the scandal, has instead announced that the billions in taxpayer funds allocated for the mission will be âoerepurposed for innovationââ"a move critics say amounts to pocketing the money.

      The deception unraveled after wh

  • Everything will happen next year for many years until it doesn't happen.

  • Please please please please.

  • Will he have a pre-made base, complete with resources capable of sustaining human length for any meaningful length of time? Will any work or research be performed? Or is it a publicity stunt, payed for the by the U.S. Taxpayers?
  • That Musk & Trump go to Mars as soon as possible, like this evening

  • If Musk really wants the budget, he should show Trump Mars Attacks.
    He would issue an EO to stop the invasion the next day.

    "Horrible tiny men!! Horrible tiny, weak, weak green men!!
    They're beheading the pets!!!"

  • will it have Full Self Driving?

  • See title. I'll bet you a dollar that it doesn't.

  • It's a great planet, full of happy, well-off people living in liberal democracies, getting global warming and the hateful woke under control, and preventing violent invasions of... ...ah. I see what you did there Elon.
    Very cunning :'-(

  • ....from a guy whose cars can't even pass the RoadRunner/Wily Coyote test. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

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