Moscow invites Musk to collaborate on Mars exploration
Russian sovereign wealth fund head Kirill Dmitriev has pitched a US-Russia partnership for Mars exploration to Elon Musk. In a post on X on Saturday, Dmitriev, who has also taken on the role of chief economic envoy in the US-Russia talks, noted the importance of space collaboration between the two countries 'for the glory of humanity.'
Dmitriev's remarks came in response to Musk's announcement of a planned 2026 Mars mission. The SpaceX founder stated that the company's Starship spacecraft is set to depart for Mars next year and will be carrying a Tesla humanoid bot called Optimus. Musk also suggested that human landings on Mars could begin as early as 2029.
'Shall 2029 be the year of a joint US-Russia mission to Mars, @elonmusk? Our minds & technology should serve the glory of humanity, not its destruction,' Dmitriev wrote. He also noted that 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first crewed international space mission carried out jointly by then-spaceflight rivals, the US and the Soviet Union, in July 1975.
Musk has not yet publicly responded to Dmitriev's proposal, but the idea has garnered a slew of positive reactions from X users.
https://t.co/f8WqJYKBhY
The proposal comes amid a thaw in relations between Moscow and Washington following years of tensions over the Ukraine conflict. Dmitriev was part of the Russian delegation at the high-level US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia last month, which marked the first direct diplomatic contact between the two states since 2022. The meeting ended with both sides signaling a readiness to restart economic and diplomatic cooperation and join forces in resolving the Ukraine conflict.
Despite the conflict and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow, space cooperation between the US and Russia has not been severed. For instance, NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos recently extended their agreement on cross-flights to the International Space Station through 2026.
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that domestic companies should collaborate with Musk once the billionaire shifts his focus back to science from government reform. Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has appointed Musk as an adviser leading the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) charged with cutting wasteful spending, bureaucracy, and corruption in US government.
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