2024-09-11 02:30:37
Ambitious goal: Elon Musk wants to launch the first “Starship” flight to Mars in just two years. Further flights are already planned.
The time is set to come in 2026: Then a new transfer window will open and Elon Musk’s “Starship” spacecraft will fly to Mars for the first time. The multi-billionaire announced this on his short message service X.
According to Musk, the first “Starship” spacecraft will be unmanned “to test the reliability of an intact landing on Mars.” If these missions are successful, Musk’s space company SpaceX will then send the first manned flights to Mars – in four years, according to Musk.
“From then on, the flight rate will increase exponentially, with the goal of building a self-sufficient city in about 20 years,” the multi-billionaire continues.
With this, Musk deviates somewhat from the timeline for Mars flights he shared in the spring. He had written that “Starship” would fly to Mars within five years. Manned or unmanned? The SpaceX boss left that open at the time.
Transfer windows for trips to Mars open approximately every 26 months. This is due to the relative movement of the Earth and Mars around the sun. In order to enable an energy-efficient, i.e. fuel-poor journey, the Earth and Mars must be in a certain position relative to each other.
Since the last transfer window was in 2022, the next window now opens in September and the one after that in November 2026.
The “Starship” consists of the approximately 70-meter-long “Super Heavy” booster and the approximately 50-meter-long upper stage, also called “Starship.” The system is designed so that the spaceship and rocket can be reused after returning to Earth.
The system, which is around 120 meters long in total, will eventually be able to transport well over 100 tons of cargo. NASA wants to use the “Starship” to first take astronauts to the moon and then later to Mars.