Musk says there is a 50-50 chance to send unsuccessful interstellar spacecraft to Mars by the end of 2026 | Space News
Despite SpaceX's several failed test releases in recent months, the billionaire's Mars mission requests have been put forward.
Elon Musk said he believes his Mars spacecraft has a 50% chance to travel to the Red Planet for the first time by the end of 2026, two days after his SpaceX company’s latest test flight setback.
Musk presented a detailed Starship development schedule in a video released online by the Los Angeles-area Rockets on Thursday.
The South African-born billionaire and SpaceX boss said his latest timeline arrives on Mars, depending on whether the process can accomplish several challenging technical feats during testing, especially after fueling out after Earth orbit.
Musk said in a video on the social media platform X, which he also owns, that his Star Industrial Complex and rocket launch facility in Texas is “a gateway to Mars.”
“Here we will develop the necessary technology here to enable humans, civilizations and life to learn about another planet for the first time in four billion years of Earth's history,” he said.
The end of 2026 is the sunshine every two years as a slender window opens the closest journey between Earth and Mars. This shorter distance will take between seven and nine months to pass through the spacecraft.
The first flight to Mars will carry a simulator crew of Tesla-made Humanoid robots. The human crew will then follow the second or third landing.
Musk said in the video that he believes there is a 50-50 chance SpaceX will meet the 2026 deadline. He added that if the Starship wasn't ready by then, SpaceX would wait for another two years before trying.
Musk's announcement comes the day after he confirmed his departure from the administration of President Donald Trump, after months after his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric vehicle maker Tesla, were under increasing pressure.
Musk's unofficial role in leading the Trump administration's Department of Efficiency (DOGE) put him on the crosshairs as he received strong criticism for overseeing layoffs condemned as a government plan.
Musk said that in the face of falling stock prices and shareholder attention – the most famous one is Tesla.
Missed deadline
In 2016, Musk said he wanted to send the unspiraled SpaceX vehicle to Mars as early as 2018, and he aimed for 2024 to launch the first crew mission there.
However, repeated setbacks in recent years have plagued entrepreneurs' ambitions for interplanetary exploration.
Recently, on Tuesday, Musk will be broadcast live from the company's constellation in Texas after his ninth test flight that night.
However, after Starship got out of control and split within about 30 minutes after launch, about half of its flight path, failed to achieve some of its most important test goals, the speech was cancelled without notice.
According to Reuters, the large anti-aircraft head re-enters the atmosphere of the earth after triggering an uncontrollable space spin, triggering a fuel leak planned on Wednesday.
Musk released on X after a failed flight, and the test produced a lot of “good data for review” as he promised to release the “paced” faster in the next few attempts.
The launch in January also failed – when the craft exploded after rising, raining debris in parts of the Caribbean and forcing commercial jets to change routes – and in March.
Musk spent billions on the development of Starships, which he said was part of SpaceX's plan to colonize Mars.
The company has also worked with NASA to return humans to the moon on a ship in 2027, more than half a century since astronauts last walked on the moon's surface in 1972.
These efforts are stepping stones to launch Mars to Mars sometime in the 2030s.