Elon Musk announces that the first manned mission of SpaceX to Mars will be in 2024. The first mission to send humans to Mars may be really close. “If we are lucky, it will be in 2024,” Elon Musk said in an interview. The date coincides with what the CEO of SpaceX has been promising for years, who pointed out that within ten years we would manage to send people to the red planet.
- SpaceX Starship is ready for a 15 km high flight next week
- SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience successfully docks onto the ISS
- NASA contacts Voyager 2 for the first time since March
Elon Musk, considering some problems that may occur in the process, said that he is “highly confident” that SpaceX will launch people to Mars in 2026. “And then we want to try to send an uncrewed vehicle there in two years.” Because, as Space explains, Earth and Mars align favorably once every 26 months to perform these interplanetary launches.
According to NASA photographs, SpaceX has been studying possible landing sites for its Starship for several years. Whether it is in 2024 or 2026, the trip to Mars will not be exactly economical, although Musk himself predicted a year ago that the cost would be under $500,000.
The Starship is 50 meters high and will be launched on the Super Heavy system. The plan, as described by SpaceX on previous occasions, involves sending these reusable ships. For the moment, they have several prototypes, the last of them is the Starship SN8, which has three engines and will be tested soon (on December 4) with a flight of up to 15 kilometers.
Elon Musk announces that the first manned mission of SpaceX to Mars will be in 2024. Reaching the goal of 2024 will depend on how the prototypes and tests with the different Starships evolve. In September 2019, SpaceX explained that its prototype would reach the orbit of our planet in March this year.
