SpaceX Plans to Fly to Mars by the End of Next Year, Aims for Earliest Human Landing in 2029 | WPN World People News

Recently, Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, stated that the company’s Starship rocket will carry the humanoid robot Optimus to Mars by the end of 2026, while humans could land on Mars as early as 2029.

According to foreign media reports, Musk announced on social media that Starship will travel to Mars with Optimus by the end of next year. If the landing mission is successfully completed, the earliest plan for a human Mars landing could be in 2029, though a higher likelihood exists for 2031. However, a Mars landing mission is a deep-space endeavor that requires carrying humans, meaning the system must be tested for sufficient safety and the ability to conduct complex in-orbit refueling operations.

Starship stands at 123 meters tall, nearly 30 meters taller than the iconic Statue of Liberty in the United States, and is designed to be fully reusable. NASA also plans to use Starship for its Artemis lunar program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon within the next decade.

On the 6th of this month, SpaceX conducted the eighth test flight of Starship. While the Super Heavy booster was successfully recovered, Starship itself experienced apparent malfunctions, lost communication, and ultimately exploded and disintegrated in space, causing the planned deployment demonstration to fail. This marks the second consecutive Starship mission failure this year. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has mandated a thorough investigation before SpaceX can proceed with another test launch.