Latest news with #TheRoadtoMakingLifeMultiplanetary
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Elon Musk gave an update on his plan for SpaceX Starship to reach Mars: 5 things to know
Could humanity be just a few short years away from its first cosmic pioneers stepping foot on Mars? If tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has anything to say about it, yes. Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, has for years dreamed of ushering in a "multiplanetary" era where humans would set out toward the stars to establish a sprawling civilization on the Red Planet. And to achieve this grandiose dream, Musk has aggressively sought for his commercial spaceflight company to develop its ambitious Starship spacecraft. The towering megarocket, composed of both an upper-stage vehicle and a lower-stage booster, has faced a series of setbacks in its three most recent flight tests. But that hasn't stopped Musk, the world's richest man, from making big promises for the future of Starship and its role in U.S. spaceflight ambitions. His latest bold predictions for Starship came in a video SpaceX posted online last week. In the video, which the company shared Thursday, May 29 on Musk's social media site X, the SpaceX founder offered a detailed timeline for Starship's first uncrewed trip to Mars, which would be followed by human missions. 'Progress is measured by the timeline to establishing a self-sustaining civilization on Mars,' Musk said during his talk, referring to Starship. '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.' Musk laid out his vision at a time when President Donald Trump has made clear his intentions to align NASA's spaceflight objectives with the goals of SpaceX. That latest indication came Friday, May 30 with the release of the White House's budget proposal, which would tap the private sector to help lay the groundwork for future Mars endeavors. Here are five things to know about Elon Musk's grand vision for colonizing Mars, and how Trump, his close ally, could help make it a reality. Musk's latest public comments on his Mars plans came after he departed the Trump administration following a controversial stint slashing federal spending. Now that the tech mogul is one again focusing his attention on his businesses, he delivered a talk to SpaceX employees reiterating his long-held desire to colonize Mars. Musk had been scheduled to deliver the remarks Tuesday, May 27 during a livestream presentation ahead of the ninth test flight for SpaceX's massive Starship. The event, billed as "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary," was later rescheduled for after the launch before it was canceled altogether without notice. SpaceX then shared video of Musk's talk two days later, which he made in front of employees from Starbase, the company's launch site 180 miles south of Corpus Christi that recently became its own Texas city. It's unclear when Musk gave the presentation. Musk described the goal of sending humans to Mars as essential 'for the long-term survival of civilization." Under his vision, humans would not just step on the planet before departing, but would remain to establish a settlement that could function independently if any cataclysmic event were to ever happen on Earth. "I think it would be the best adventure that one could possibly do, is to go and help build a new civilization on a new planet," Musk said to applause. Musk wants to send the first uncrewed Starship to Mars by the end of 2026 for a very critical reason: The timeline coincides with an orbital alignment around the sun that would shorten the journey between Earth and Mars. It's a slim window that occurs once about every two years, and if SpaceX misses it, Musk said they'd target another mission during the next alignment. If Starship were to blast off for the Red Planet by the end of 2026, the journey itself would take between seven to nine months. 'We'll try to make that opportunity, if we get lucky,' Musk said during his talk. 'I think we probably have a 50/50 chance right now.' While no humans would have a seat on the first flight to Mars, Starship won't be empty. Instead, the vehicle would carry one or more Optimus robots designed and built by Tesla, Musk's electric vehicle company. "That would be an epic picture – to see Optimus walking around on the surface of Mars," Musk said. SpaceX is still considering multiple potential landing sites on Mars for Starship, but the leading contender appears to be a region known as Arcadia. The volcanic plain is on Mars' northern hemisphere far from the planet's frigid poles with access to water sources in the form of shallow ice. Arcadia is also flat enough to make landings and takeoffs relatively safer, Musk said. Ultimately, Musk said he envisions eventually launching 1,000 to 2,000 Starships to Mars every two years so enough people and supplies can make it to the surface to quickly establish a city, of sorts. For Musk to make this dream a reality, SpaceX will have to race to develop its massive Starship spacecraft, designed specifically with a Martian destination in mind. The bad news? the vehicle, which has yet to reach orbit in any of its flight tests beginning in 2023, has faced a series of setbacks in its last three launches. The good news? Musk and SpaceX recently received key regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to ramp up testing to 25 flights a year. In its most recent demonstration May 27, Starship spun out of control roughly halfway through its flight and disintegrated in a fireball before achieving some of its most important objectives. Still, the distance the vehicle traveled far surpassed the previous 2025 flights in January and March, when Starship exploded within minutes. At more than 400 total feet in height, Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft, or capsule where crew and cargo would ride. And a future version of it will be even bigger. Version 3, Musk explained, should be around 408 feet tall when fully stacked and be upgraded so the upper portion is capable of refueling in Earth orbit, which is necessary for it to reach distant destinations like Mars. To meet Musk's high expectations, SpaceX is looking to expand operations to Florida in order to ramp up both Starship production and testing. Musk could also have some assistance from the White House, as President Trump has routinely voiced his support for SpaceX's Martian ambitions. While Trump's recently released 2026 budget proposal would cut NASAs funding by about 25% overall, it does call for allocating more than $1 billion for Mars exploration. That includes establishing a new NASA initiative called the Commercial Mars Payload Services Program (CMPS). The program would operate similarly to NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program by awarding contracts to private companies that would develop spacesuits, vehicles and other technology aimed at reaching the Red Planet. Contributing: Reuters Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Elon Musk says Starship can reach Mars for exploration by 2026
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Elon Musk Shows Up With Black Eye to Major Event
Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed up at an event with a visible black eye, sparking concern. However, Musk didn't hesitate to address the issue, telling reporters on May 30 who gave it to him. The exchange came after reporters brought up the viral video in which French President Emanuel Macron may have been struck by his wife while exiting a plane. That turned the conversation to Musk's own shiner, which is clearly visible in videos and photos. 'I've got a little shiner here,' Musk told reporters during the event with the White House press corps in the Oval Office, according to the New York Post. Musk told a joke about the French situation. 'I wasn't anywhere near France,' Musk added, according to the Post. 'I was just horsing around with Little X, and I said, 'Go ahead, punch me in the face,' and he did.' Musk previously announced that he is stepping back from his government work to focus on his companies, including his quest to reach Mars. 'Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face … ' Musk said, according to the Post, not completing the sentence. Musk also sports the black eye in a May 29, 2025, video that was posted to X by his company SpaceX. "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary: an update from @elonmusk on SpaceX's plan to reach Mars," the caption reads. Comment threads on X raged with speculation about Musk's black eye, despite his explanation. The black eye is clearly visible in photos of the event posted by Getty Musk Shows Up With Black Eye to Major Event first appeared on Men's Journal on May 30, 2025
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SpaceX's Starship spins out of control after flying past points of previous failures
By Joe Skipper and Joey Roulette STARBASE, Texas (Reuters) -SpaceX's Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday but spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important testing goals, bringing fresh engineering hurdles to CEO Elon Musk's increasingly turbulent Mars rocket program. The 400-foot tall (122 meter) Starship rocket system, the core of Musk's goal of sending humans to Mars, lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase, Texas, launch site, flying beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year that sent debris streaking over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to divert course. For the latest launch, the ninth full test mission of Starship since the first attempt in April 2023, the upper-stage cruise vessel was lofted to space atop a previously flown booster - a first such demonstration of the booster's reusability. But SpaceX lost contact with the 232-foot lower-stage booster during its descent before it plunged into the sea, rather than making the controlled splashdown the company had planned. Starship, meanwhile, continued into suborbital space but began to spin uncontrollably roughly 30 minutes into the mission. The errant spiraling came after SpaceX canceled a plan to deploy eight mock Starlink satellites into space - the rocket's "Pez" candy dispenser-like mechanism failed to work as designed. "Not looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today," SpaceX broadcaster Dan Huot said on a company livestream. Musk was scheduled to deliver an update on his space exploration ambitions in a speech from Starbase following the test flight, billed as a livestream presentation about "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary." Hours later, he had yet to give the speech and there was no sign that he intended to do so. In a post on X, Musk touted Starship's scheduled shutdown of an engine in space, a step previous test flights achieved last year. He said a leak on Starship's primary fuel tank led to its loss of control. "Lot of good data to review," he said. "Launch cadence for next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks." SpaceX has said the Starship models that have flown this year bear significant design upgrades from previous prototypes, as thousands of company employees work to build a multi-purpose rocket capable of putting massive batches of satellites in space, carrying humans back to the moon and ultimately ferrying astronauts to Mars. RISK-TOLERANT The recent setbacks indicate SpaceX is struggling to overcome a complicated chapter of Starship's multibillion-dollar development. But the company's engineering culture, widely considered more risk-tolerant than many of the aerospace industry's more established players, is built on a flight-testing strategy that pushes spacecraft to the point of failure, then fine-tunes improvements through frequent repetition. Starship's planned trajectory for Tuesday included a nearly full orbit around Earth for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean to test new designs of its heat shield tiles and revised flaps for steering its blazing re-entry and descent through Earth's atmosphere. But its early demise, appearing as a fireball streaking eastward through the night sky over southern Africa, puts another pause in Musk's speedy development goals for a rocket bound to play a central role in the U.S. space program. NASA plans to use the rocket to land humans on the moon in 2027, though that moon program faces turmoil amid Musk's Mars-focused influence over U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. MISHAP PROBE Federal regulators had granted SpaceX a license for Starship's latest flight attempt four days ago, capping a mishap investigation that had grounded Starship for nearly two months. The last two test flights - in January and March - were cut short moments after liftoff as the vehicles blew to pieces on ascent, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and disrupting scores of commercial airline flights in the region. The Federal Aviation Administration expanded debris hazard zones around the ascent path for Tuesday's launch. The previous back-to-back failures occurred in early test-flight phases that SpaceX had easily achieved before, in a striking setback to a program that Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who founded the rocket company in 2002, had sought to accelerate this year. Musk, the world's wealthiest individual and a key supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, was especially eager for a success after vowing in recent days to refocus his attention on his various business ventures, including SpaceX, following a tumultuous foray into national politics and his attempts at cutting government bureaucracy. Closer to home, Musk also sees Starship as eventually replacing the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as the workhorse in the company's commercial launch business, which already lofts most of the world's satellites and other payloads to low-Earth orbit.
NDTV
28-05-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Elon Musk Reveals What Led To SpaceX Starship Crash Over Indian Ocean
Washington: Billionaire Elon Musk's commercial space flight company, SpaceX, suffered another setback on Sunday after its ninth Starship test flight exploded over the Indian Ocean just 30 minutes after the uncrewed rocket was launched into space from Texas. The ambitious project is central to Musk's dream of colonising Mars, who hoped to release a series of mock satellites following liftoff, but that got nixed because the door of the rocket failed to open all the way. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Musk acknowledged that both the mission's progress and the technical issues that led to the failure, but noted the test was a "big improvement" and has given them "lots of good data to review". Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review. Launch cadence for… — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 28, 2025 "Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review," he wrote. Musk, however, vowed to pick up the pace. "Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster - approximately one every 3 to 4 weeks," he said, congratulating the SpaceX team for "great achievement. Great achievement by the @SpaceX team! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 28, 2025 The billionaire CEO was scheduled to deliver an update on his space exploration ambitions in a speech from Starbase following the test flight, billed as a livestream presentation about "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary." Hours later, he had yet to give the speech. Musk's Mars Mission The 400-foot tall (122 meter) Starship rocket system is the core of Musk's goal of sending humans to Mars. It is designed to eventually be fully reusable and launch at low cost, carrying the billionaire's hopes of making humanity a multi-planetary species. The rocket lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase in Texas and flew beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year. For the latest launch, the upper-stage cruise vessel was lofted to space atop a previously flown booster - a first such demonstration of the booster's reusability. But SpaceX lost contact with the 232-foot lower-stage booster during its descent before it plunged into the sea, rather than making the controlled splashdown the company had planned. Starship, meanwhile, continued into suborbital space but began to spin uncontrollably roughly 30 minutes into the mission. The errant spiralling came after SpaceX cancelled a plan to deploy eight mock Starlink satellites into space - the rocket's "Pez" candy dispenser-like mechanism failed to work as designed. Meanwhile, SpaceX has said the Starship models that have flown this year bear significant design upgrades from previous prototypes, as thousands of company employees work to build a multi-purpose rocket capable of putting massive batches of satellites in space, carrying humans back to the moon, and ultimately ferrying astronauts to Mars.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Why Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship exploded before splashdown in a third consecutive failure
On May 27, 2025, SpaceX's ninth Starship test flight ended in failure when the upper-stage Starship disintegrated during re-entry over the Indian Ocean. This marked the third consecutive test flight failure in 2025, following earlier unsuccessful attempts in January and March. The launch from Starbase, Texas, initially proceeded as planned, but critical issues during the descent phase led to the mission's total loss. Despite the setback, SpaceX views the test as a critical step in developing its fully reusable rocket system for future missions to the Moon and Mars. What went wrong before the explosion The test flight encountered a significant failure during the descent phase, one of the most challenging aspects of the Starship mission. The upper-stage Starship, designed to return through Earth's atmosphere, suffered from significant fuel leaks while in orbit. These leaks caused a rapid loss of internal pressure and attitude control, leading the vehicle to spin uncontrollably and disintegrate during re-entry. Additionally, the upper stage failed to deploy a dummy Starlink prototype payload due to a malfunctioning payload door, further compounding the mission's challenges. Elon Musk's vision for frequent missions Elon Musk remains committed to SpaceX's goal of making life multiplanetary, with Starship designed to carry cargo and humans to destinations like the Moon and Mars. Musk is expected to deliver a presentation titled 'The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary,' outlining SpaceX's plans to overcome recent failures and advance its ambitious objectives. The company aims to increase launch frequency in the future, supported by regulatory approvals, to accelerate development through iterative testing. Progress amid challenges Musk highlighted several technical successes despite the failure. The rocket achieved its scheduled engine cut-off during ascent, a key milestone indicating that some subsystems performed as intended. SpaceX's iterative development approach, which leverages data from both successes and failures, continues to drive progress. The company collected extensive data during the test, which will inform engineering improvements for future flights. FAA oversight and safety The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported no injuries or damage to public property following the incident, as the failure occurred over the Indian Ocean. The FAA is likely investigating the cause of the disintegration, consistent with its oversight of SpaceX launches, and is working closely with the company. Recently, the FAA granted SpaceX permission to conduct more than five launches per year, reflecting growing support for rapid testing despite safety concerns. Learning through failure SpaceX's philosophy of rapid prototyping and real-world testing contrasts with traditional aerospace methods, which prioritize slower, risk-averse development. Each test flight, whether successful or not, contributes to building a reliable, reusable rocket system. With continued FAA cooperation and government backing, SpaceX is poised to push the boundaries of commercial space exploration, even in the face of repeated setbacks.
