It’s been revealed that SpaceX is almost ready to start building a permanent human settlement on Mars with the massive Starship rocket.
The private spaceflight company is on track to launch the very first uncrewed mission to mars in about four years from now. This is what SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk just said during the past week.
“I think we have a fighting chance of making that second Mars transfer window,” Musk said in a discussion with Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin, the past Friday.
That window that he was referring to is a launch opportunity that arises every 26 months for missions to Mars. NASA, China and the United Arab Emirates all launched missions to Mars back in July this year.
The 2024 Mars launch opportunity
The next window will open in 2022 with Musk referring to the 2024 Mars launch opportunity.
The mission will launch to the red Planet on a SpaceX Starship vehicle, according to the latest info coming from Live Science.
It’s been reported that SpaceX also plans to use Starship for missions to the moon strtaing in 2022.
Musk said that humans need to establish a permanent and self-sustaining presence on Mars just to make sure that “the continuance of consciousness as we know it” – just in case out home planet is left uninhabitable by a something like a nuclear war or an asteroid strike.
“SpaceX is taking on the biggest single challenge, which is the transportation system. There’s all sorts of other systems that are going to be needed,” Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin stated.
“My personal hope is that we’re gonna see Starship in the stratosphere before this year’s out, and if Elon is right, reach orbit next year or the year after,” Zubrin added.
He also said: “This will change people’s minds as to what is possible. And then, you know, we’ll have NASA seeking to fund the remaining pieces of the puzzle or entrepreneurs stepping forward to develop remaining pieces of the puzzle.”
