Latest news with #Mars-bound
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's "Hubris and Arrogance" Are Ruining Our Chances of Actually Getting to Mars, Says Leading Expert
The founder of the Mars Society has accused SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of derailing existing plans to explore and visit the Red Planet. Robert Zubrin, who has coauthored hundreds of papers and laid out several blueprints as to how to settle on Mars, told Agence France-Presse in an interview that Musk is "absolutely instrumental in opening up this opportunity to get humans to Mars, both through the development of Starship and also the inspiration that has caused." But given the "hubris and arrogance" he has since bred — Zubrin went as far as to compare him to failed European dictator Napoleon Bonaparte — our future efforts to travel to the distant planet over 140 million miles away could be in peril. For our effort to send humans to Mars "to succeed, it has to go beyond these — this initiative cannot be seen as a Musk hobbyhorse or a Trump hobbyhorse — it must be seen, at a minimum, as America's program, or preferably the Free World's program," Zubrin told AFP. The publication of the interview comes in the wake of an incredibly messy divorce between Musk and president Donald Trump, though Zubrin made his comments before the relationship disintegrated. The two have been going at each other's throats and even threatening to cut off NASA's access to space. Musk's dreams of making humanity interplanetary by establishing a city on Mars appear to have slipped significantly on his list of priorities. The mercurial CEO was heavily criticized for abandoning his businesses in favor of overseeing a disastrous gutting of the US federal government, and is now racing to make Tesla investors happy as sales continue to plummet worldwide. SpaceX has also encountered major headwind in getting its Mars-bound Starship to not explode. The company's last three test flights ended in so-called "rapid unscheduled disassemblies," highlighting growing technical difficulties and the enormous degree of complexity involved in launching and landing the most powerful rocket in the world. While Musk has previously vowed to land Starships on Mars before the end of next year — he admitted it was a "50-50 chance" late last month — his characteristically ambitious timelines are once again looking unrealistic at best. "Progress is measured by the timeline to establishing a self-sustaining civilization on Mars," Musk said in a promotional video shared by SpaceX on May 29. "Each launch is about learning more and more about what's needed to make life multi-planetary and to improve Starship to the point where it can be taking, ultimately, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people to Mars." But all the turbulence Musk has generated, in addition to the Trump administration's brutal budget cut proposal to NASA, likely will only hamper our efforts to visit Mars, Zubrin argued. Complicating matters are fundamental disagreements about NASA's future direction. In a move largely seen as retribution, the Trump administration pulled its nomination for SpaceX space tourist and billionaire Jared Isaacman, who was hand-picked for the job by Musk. "This combination of Trump and Musk is not going to persist forever," Zubrin told AFP, foreshadowing Thursday's drama. "And if this program is identified as their deal, it will be crushed as soon as opposing forces have sufficient power." Most of all, Zubrin disagreed with Musk's stance that humanity will be saved by leaving the Earth behind and settling on Mars instead. "We're not going to Mars out of despair," he told AFP. "We're going to Mars out of hope... to establish new branches of human civilization which will add their creative capacity to that of humanity as a whole." "If we do the kind of program that I advocated... we will once again, as we did in Apollo, astonish the world with what free people can do," he added. "We'll make it clear that freedom, not authoritarianism, is the future of the human race." More on Mars: Trump Just Kicked Elon Musk's Hand-Picked NASA Head to the Curb
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk Privately Complaining That His Immense Donations to Trump Didn't Even Buy Him Control of NASA
Billionaire Elon Musk's breakup with president Donald Trump, a feud that's been many months in the making, has become almost indescribably messy. In public, the pair have mainly butted heads over Trump's tax bill, which is expected to add trillions of dollars to an already colossal mountain of debt. Musk has excoriated the bill as a "disgusting abomination," ominously calling for any Republican lawmakers willing to support it to be "fired" during next year's midterm elections. As a move that's widely been seen as retribution, the White House unexpectedly announced over the weekend that it's pulling Jared Isaacman's nomination — Musk's personal pick — for the role of NASA administrator. In a baffling statement at the time, the White House said Isaacman wasn't in "full alignment with" the Trump agenda. If the move was intended as an attack on Musk, it succeeded. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the move has "infuriated" the richest man in the world, who's been seething privately to his inner circle that the hundreds of millions of dollars he paid to get Trump elected didn't even buy him the privilege of picking the next NASA head. Looking past the astonishingly oligarchical thesis that a billionaire opening his checkbook should automatically allow him to pick key members of government, the episode also illustrates Musk's increasingly shaky sense of strategy. Trump has long been known for his pettiness, arrogance, and shifty sense of allegiance; absolutely nobody should be surprised, at this point, when an attempted alliance with the longtime reality TV star doesn't work out the way it was intended. Nobody knew this better than Trump's own staff at the White House. According to the WSJ, they were attempting to bury the hatchet before Musk made his departure, and part ways on good terms. But given Musk's latest comments, those efforts appear to have been in vain. Besides fuming over losing hand-pick to control NASA, Musk has plenty of other reasons to hop off the Trump train to refocus his efforts on his businesses. For one, he has done incredible damage to his carmaker Tesla, which is still reeling from plummeting sales worldwide. SpaceX is also seriously struggling to make progress on its enormous, Mars-bound Starship rocket. Meanwhile, the real motivation behind Isaacman's dismissal hasn't flown over the billionaire space tourist's head. "I had a pretty good idea, I don't think the timing was much of a coincidence," Isaacman told Ars Technica. "Obviously, there was more than one departure that was covered on that day," he added, likely referring to Musk. "There were some people who had some axes to grind, and I was a good, visible target," he added. More on Isaacman: Trump Just Kicked Elon Musk's Hand-Picked NASA Head to the Curb
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX to launch Starship in critical test of Elon Musk's 2026 Mars plan
SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship mega rocket on Tuesday, in what will be the first major test of Elon Musk's Mars-bound rocket since two explosions scuppered earlier flights in 2025. It will mark the ninth major flight of the world's biggest rocket, as SpaceX looks to accelerate testing to meet Mr Musk's goal of sending it to Mars by the end of 2026. 'Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying [Tesla's humanoid robot] Optimus,' the SpaceX boss wrote on X in March. 'If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely.' The most recent Starship test in March saw the 123-metre-tall rocket explode just 10 minutes into the mission, causing flight disruption over Florida and islands in the Caribbean. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) blamed the halted flights on 'falling space debris', leading to an extensive safety review of the incident. The regulator concluded its investigation last week and granted SpaceX permission to launch an improved version of Starship. 'With the Starship vehicle return to flight determination, Starship Flight 9 is authorised for launch,' an FAA spokesperson told The Independent. 'The FAA find SpaceX meets all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements.' Under the ruling, SpaceX is allowed to perform up to 25 Starship launches per year from the firm's Starbase facility in Texas. Starship and Super Heavy moved to the launch pad at Starbase for our ninth flight test — SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 25, 2025 SpaceX has made several updates to the latest Starship rocket, hoping to improve reliability and prevent another catastrophic failure. 'Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable,' SpaceX wrote in a blog post ahead of the latest launch attempt. 'But by putting hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we're able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle.' Starship is set to lift off from SpaceX's Starbase facility on Tuesday at 6:30 pm local time (12:30 am BST Wednesday). A live stream of the launch and flight will be available on SpaceX's website.
India Today
04-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
Big explosion rocks Elon Musk's Starship testing, launch postponed
While no injuries have been reported, the blast caused significant damage to the Starship prototype, forcing SpaceX to halt all preparations for the upcoming flight. SpaceX postpones Starship's ninth flight after explosion Explosion during static fire test caused significant damage No injuries reported, but preparations halted indefinitely SpaceX has postponed the much-anticipated ninth flight of its Starship rocket after a dramatic explosion rocked the company's Starbase facility in Texas during a static fire test. The setback marks the latest in a series of high-profile incidents for Elon Musk's ambitious Mars-bound launch system. WATCH STARSHIP EXPLOSION DURING TEST HERE: The explosion occurred during a routine static fire test, a critical step before any launch, where engines are ignited while the rocket remains anchored to the ground. While no injuries have been reported, the blast caused significant damage to the Starship prototype, forcing SpaceX to halt all preparations for the upcoming flight. SpaceX confirmed it is no longer targeting the third week of May for the Starship Flight 9 launch, with the timeline for future attempts now uncertain. This latest incident follows a string of explosive setbacks for Starship, including recent failures where the spacecraft lost control and broke apart minutes after liftoff, scattering debris over the Caribbean and prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to open investigations and temporarily close the US airspace. Each mishap has triggered thorough reviews and upgrades, but the repeated failures have raised questions about the programme's pace and safety protocols. Despite these challenges, SpaceX remains committed to its vision of making Starship the world's first fully reusable rocket, capable of carrying humans to the Moon and Mars. However, with the latest explosion, the path to that future faces renewed scrutiny and an indefinite delay as engineers work to identify and resolve the cause of the catastrophic failure. SpaceX has postponed the much-anticipated ninth flight of its Starship rocket after a dramatic explosion rocked the company's Starbase facility in Texas during a static fire test. The setback marks the latest in a series of high-profile incidents for Elon Musk's ambitious Mars-bound launch system. WATCH STARSHIP EXPLOSION DURING TEST HERE: The explosion occurred during a routine static fire test, a critical step before any launch, where engines are ignited while the rocket remains anchored to the ground. While no injuries have been reported, the blast caused significant damage to the Starship prototype, forcing SpaceX to halt all preparations for the upcoming flight. SpaceX confirmed it is no longer targeting the third week of May for the Starship Flight 9 launch, with the timeline for future attempts now uncertain. This latest incident follows a string of explosive setbacks for Starship, including recent failures where the spacecraft lost control and broke apart minutes after liftoff, scattering debris over the Caribbean and prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to open investigations and temporarily close the US airspace. Each mishap has triggered thorough reviews and upgrades, but the repeated failures have raised questions about the programme's pace and safety protocols. Despite these challenges, SpaceX remains committed to its vision of making Starship the world's first fully reusable rocket, capable of carrying humans to the Moon and Mars. However, with the latest explosion, the path to that future faces renewed scrutiny and an indefinite delay as engineers work to identify and resolve the cause of the catastrophic failure. Join our WhatsApp Channel
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX aborts Starship launch in setback to Elon Musk's Mars ambitions
SpaceX has aborted the latest launch of Starship in what was set to be a crucial test of the Mars-bound rocket. The lift off of the 123-metre-tall rocket, which is the biggest rocket ever built, was scrubbed just before 6pm local time (12am GMT) on Monday at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas. It was not immediately clear what caused the launch team to stand down, which took place with 40 seconds left on the countdown. 'Standing down from today's flight test attempt,' SpaceX posted to X. 'Starship team is determining the next best available opportunity to fly.' The setback comes just six weeks after the previous Starship test ended in an explosion over the Turks and Caicos Islands. The eighth test flight was meant to follow the same trajectory as previous Starship missions, though it included new objectives that had never before been achieved. This included the first ever deployment of a payload into orbit, with four dummy Starlink satellites set to be released during the 90-minute flight test. The huge payload capacity of Starship means that it will be charged with delivering SpaceX's next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit when operational, though the primary goal for the rocket is to conduct missions to Mars. SpaceX boss Elon Musk has said he hopes to establish a permanent human colony on the Red Planet by 2050, with plans to build a fleet of thousands of Starship rockets in order ferry crews and cargo throughout the Solar System. Watch Starship's eighth flight test → — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 2, 2025 An investigation into the failed flight test on 16 January remains ongoing, though the US Federal Aviation Administration has authorised SpaceX to continue performing Starship missions. 'After completing the required and comprehensive safety review, the FAA determined the SpaceX Starship vehicle can return to flight operations,' an FAA spokesperson told The Independent ahead of the latest Starship launch. 'The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight.'
