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ARN News Center
an hour ago
- Automotive
- ARN News Center
Musk aiming to send uncrewed Starship to Mars by end of 2026
Two days after the latest in a string of test-flight setbacks for his big new Mars spacecraft, Starship, Elon Musk said on Thursday he foresees the futuristic vehicle making its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of next year. Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company, SpaceX, a day after saying he was departing the administration of US President Donald Trump as head of a tumultuous campaign to slash government bureaucracy. The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla Inc. Musk acknowledged that his latest timeline for reaching Mars hinged on whether Starship can accomplish a number of challenging technical feats during its flight-test development, particularly a post-launch refueling maneuver in Earth orbit. The end of 2026 would coincide with a slim window that occurs once every two years when Mars and Earth align around the sun for the closest trip between the two planets, which would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft. Musk gave his company a 50-50 chance of meeting that deadline. If Starship were not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again, Musk suggested in the video. The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of one or more robots of the Tesla-built humanoid Optimus design, with the first human crews following in the second or third landings. Musk said he envisioned eventually launching 1,000 to 2,000 ships to Mars every two years to quickly establish a self-sustaining permanent human settlement. NASA is currently aiming to return humans to the surface of the moon aboard Starship as early as 2027 - more than 50 years after its last manned lunar landings of the Apollo era - as a stepping stone toward ultimately launching astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s. Musk, who has advocated for a more Mars-focused human spaceflight programme, has previously said he was aiming to send an unmanned SpaceX vehicle to the red planet as early as 2018 and was targeting 2024 to launch a first crewed mission there. The SpaceX founder was scheduled to deliver a livestream presentation billed as "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary" from the company's Starbase, Texas, launch site on Tuesday night, following a ninth test flight of Starship that evening. But the webcast was cancelled without notice after Starship spun out of control and disintegrated in a fireball about 30 minutes after launch and roughly halfway through its flight path without achieving some of its most important test goals. Two preceding test flights in January and March failed in more spectacular fashion, with the spacecraft blowing to pieces on ascent moments after liftoff, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and forcing scores of commercial jetliners to change course as a precaution. Musk shrugged off the latest mishap on Tuesday with a brief post on X, saying it produced a lot of "good data to review" and promising a faster launch "cadence" for the next several test flights.
Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Daily Maverick
Musk aiming to send uncrewed Starship to Mars by end of 2026
Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company, SpaceX, a day after saying he was departing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as head of a tumultuous campaign to slash government bureaucracy. The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O. Musk acknowledged that his latest timeline for reaching Mars hinged on whether Starship can accomplish a number of challenging technical feats during its flight-test development, particularly a post-launch refueling maneuver in Earth orbit. The end of 2026 would coincide with a slim window that occurs once every two years when Mars and Earth align around the sun for the closest trip between the two planets, which would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft. Musk gave his company a 50-50 chance of meeting that deadline. If Starship were not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again, Musk suggested in the video. The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of one or more robots of the Tesla-built humanoid Optimus design, with the first human crews following in the second or third landings. Musk said he envisioned eventually launching 1,000 to 2,000 ships to Mars every two years to quickly establish a self-sustaining permanent human settlement. NASA is currently aiming to return humans to the surface of the moon aboard Starship as early as 2027 – more than 50 years after its last manned lunar landings of the Apollo era – as a stepping stone toward ultimately launching astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s. Musk, who has advocated for a more Mars-focused human spaceflight program, has previously said he was aiming to send an unmanned SpaceX vehicle to the red planet as early as 2018 and was targeting 2024 to launch a first crewed mission there. The SpaceX founder was scheduled to deliver a livestream presentation billed as 'The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary' from the company's Starbase, Texas, launch site on Tuesday night, following a ninth test flight of Starship that evening. But the webcast was canceled without notice after Starship spun out of control and disintegrated in a fireball about 30 minutes after launch and roughly halfway through its flight path without achieving some of its most important test goals. Two preceding test flights in January and March failed in more spectacular fashion, with the spacecraft blowing to pieces on ascent moments after liftoff, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and forcing scores of commercial jetliners to change course as a precaution. Musk shrugged off the latest mishap on Tuesday with a brief post on X, saying it produced a lot of 'good data to review' and promising a faster launch 'cadence' for the next several test flights.
India Today
3 hours ago
- Science
- India Today
Elon Musk confirms plan to launch Starship to Mars in 2026
Two days after the latest in a series of test-flight failures for SpaceX's Starship, Elon Musk announced that he is aiming to send the massive spacecraft on its first uncrewed voyage to Mars by the end of 2026—a timeline he admits is ambitious and carries only a 50-50 chance of outlined an updated development roadmap in a video posted by SpaceX, just a day after he revealed his departure from the Trump administration, where he had led a controversial campaign to slash government said he is scaling back his government role to refocus on his private ventures, notably SpaceX and Tesla. The billionaire entrepreneur acknowledged that achieving the 2026 Mars target hinges on Starship's ability to master several demanding technical challenges during its ongoing flight among these is a complex in-orbit refuelling manoeuvre, essential for the long journey to the red planet. The end of 2026 coincides with a rare planetary alignment, offering the shortest possible transit—about seven to nine months—between Earth and Mars, an opportunity that arises only every two said that if Starship is not ready by then, SpaceX would wait until the next alignment window in 2028. The first mission would carry a simulated crew of Tesla-built Optimus humanoid robots, with human crews expected to follow on subsequent announcement comes on the heels of Starship's ninth test flight, which ended in failure when the spacecraft lost control and disintegrated roughly 30 minutes after launch, following a fuel leak that caused it to spin two previous test flights, in January and March, ended in explosions shortly after liftoff, scattering debris across the Caribbean and forcing commercial flights to reroute as a these setbacks, Musk remains undeterred, emphasising that each failure yields valuable data and promising a faster pace for upcoming tests. NASA, meanwhile, is counting on Starship for its Artemis program, aiming to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2027—a stepping stone for eventual human missions to Mars in the vision extends far beyond a single mission: he envisions launching up to 2,000 Starships every two years to rapidly establish a permanent, self-sustaining human settlement on Watch
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Musk says 50-50 chance of sending uncrewed Starship to Mars by late 2026
Elon Musk has said that he believes there is a 50 percent chance that his Mars spacecraft will make its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of 2026, just two days after the latest test-flight setback for his SpaceX firm. Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company on Thursday. The South African-born billionaire and SpaceX owner said his latest timeline for reaching Mars depended on whether the craft can complete several challenging technical feats during testing, specifically a post-launch refuelling manoeuvre in Earth's orbit. In a video on social media platform X, which he also owns, Musk said his Starbase industrial complex and rocket launch facility in Texas was the 'gateway to Mars'. 'It is where we are going to develop the technology necessary to take humanity and civilisation and life as we know it to another planet for the first time in the four and a half billion year history of Earth,' he said. The end of 2026 is when a slim window opens offering the closest trip between Earth and Mars, as the planets align around the sun once every two years. This shorter distance would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft. The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of Tesla-built humanoid Optimus robots. Human crews would then follow in the second or third landings. In the video, Musk said he believed there was a 50-50 chance SpaceX would meet the 2026 deadline for the first mission. He added that if Starship was not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again. Musk's announcement comes just a day after he confirmed his departure from the administration of United States President Donald Trump, following a tumultuous few months in which his various businesses – including SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla – have come under growing unofficial role leading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has placed him in the crosshairs, as he has faced intense criticism for overseeing what has been decried as haphazard cuts to government programmes. Faced with plunging stock prices and shareholder concern – most notably at Tesla – Musk said this week he would scale back his government role to focus on his private ventures. In 2016, Musk said he wanted to send an uncrewed SpaceX vehicle to Mars as early as 2018, while he was targeting 2024 to launch the first crewed mission there. But the mercurial entrepreneur's ambitions for interplanetary exploration have been beset by repeated setbacks over recent years. Most recently, on Tuesday, Musk was due to deliver a live webcast from the company's Starbase in Texas following a ninth test flight of Starship that evening. But the speech was cancelled without notice after Starship spun out of control and disintegrated about 30 minutes after launch, roughly halfway through its flight path, failing to achieve some of its most important test goals. The mega-rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere earlier than planned on Wednesday after a fuel leak triggered uncontrollable spinning in space, according to the Reuters news on X after the failed flight, Musk said the test produced a lot of 'good data to review' as he promised a faster launch 'cadence' for the next several attempts. There was also a failed launch in January – when the craft blew up moments after liftoff, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and forcing commercial jetliners to change course – as well as in March. Musk, who has spent billions of dollars on Starship's development, says the initiative is part of SpaceX's plan to colonise Mars. The firm is also working with US government agency NASA to return humans to the Moon in 2027 onboard Starship, more than half a century since astronauts last walked on the lunar surface in 1972. These efforts are a stepping stone towards launching NASA astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s.
Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- Indian Express
Musk aiming to send uncrewed Starship to Mars by end of 2026
Two days after the latest in a string of test-flight setbacks for his big new Mars spacecraft, Starship, Elon Musk said on Thursday he foresees the futuristic vehicle making its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of next year. Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company, SpaceX, a day after saying he was departing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as head of a tumultuous campaign to slash government bureaucracy. The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla Inc. Musk acknowledged that his latest timeline for reaching Mars hinged on whether Starship can accomplish a number of challenging technical feats during its flight-test development, particularly a post-launch refueling maneuver in Earth orbit. The end of 2026 would coincide with a slim window that occurs once every two years when Mars and Earth align around the sun for the closest trip between the two planets, which would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft. Musk gave his company a 50-50 chance of meeting that deadline. If Starship were not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again, Musk suggested in the video. The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of one or more robots of the Tesla-built humanoid Optimus design, with the first human crews following in the second or third landings. Musk said he envisioned eventually launching 1,000 to 2,000 ships to Mars every two years to quickly establish a self-sustaining permanent human settlement. NASA is currently aiming to return humans to the surface of the moon aboard Starship as early as 2027 – more than 50 years after its last manned lunar landings of the Apollo era – as a stepping stone toward ultimately launching astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s. Musk, who has advocated for a more Mars-focused human spaceflight program, has previously said he was aiming to send an unmanned SpaceX vehicle to the red planet as early as 2018 and was targeting 2024 to launch a first crewed mission there. The SpaceX founder was scheduled to deliver a livestream presentation billed as 'The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary' from the company's Starbase, Texas, launch site on Tuesday night, following a ninth test flight of Starship that evening. But the webcast was canceled without notice after Starship spun out of control and disintegrated in a fireball about 30 minutes after launch and roughly halfway through its flight path without achieving some of its most important test goals. Two preceding test flights in January and March failed in more spectacular fashion, with the spacecraft blowing to pieces on ascent moments after liftoff, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and forcing scores of commercial jetliners to change course as a precaution. Musk shrugged off the latest mishap on Tuesday with a brief post on X, saying it produced a lot of 'good data to review' and promising a faster launch 'cadence' for the next several test flights.
