Mars by 2026? The 4 key takeaways from Elon Musk's Starship update
SpaceX's billionaire founder Elon Musksays that despite Starshipsetbacks,关键字1 the space company hasn't taken its eyes off the ball — and that ball is big, red, and roughly 140 million miles away.
In a 42-minute video posted to X on Thursday evening, Musk laid out a plan to launch the mammoth spacecraft to Marsfor the first time as early as next year.
His ultimate vision has been to use a fleet of Starships to send 1 millionhumans to Mars by 2050. To be clear, he doesn't just want to visit the planet; he wants to establish a permanent, independent city there.
You May Also Like
The new timeline is hard to fathom, especially for those who watched another Starship prototype explodethis week. Though the ship reached space during the test, it failed to achieve many of its goals. Musk has earned a reputation for wildly underestimating schedules — he once aimed to send an uncrewed ship to Mars by 2018 — but that didn't stop him from presenting yet another ambitious timeline.
"If we have two planets, we keep going," he said. "We can be out there among the stars, making science fiction no longer fiction."
Here are the key takeaways from Musk’s latest Marsupdate:
SEE ALSO: Listen to the eerie sounds of Mars recorded by a NASA rover
1. A Mars landing in 2027
Musk is now targeting late 2026 for the first uncrewed Starship flight to Mars, taking advantage of an orbital alignmentthat would shorten the journey between planets. The ship would arrive seven to nine months later in 2027. Musk considers the odds of launching in that upcoming window to be about 50-50. If SpaceX misses it, the next opportunity wouldn't come for another two years.
In order to head to Mars that soon, SpaceX first has to master how to refuel a Starship in low-Earth orbit,after it has already blasted off the planet — something that, by the way, has never been done before.
2. First just robots, then humans
Though the first flight won't carry people, SpaceX still intends to put some butts in seats. The "crew" will consist of humanoid Optimus robots, built by Musk's electric car company, Tesla. During his talk, Musk presented some renderings of the sci-fi robots, including one meant as an homage to the famous Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo, with Optimuses (Optimi?) sitting together on a steel beam.
"That would be an epic picture to see Optimus walking around on the surface of Mars," he said.

3. The potential landing spot: Arcadia
SpaceX is looking at several potential areas on Mars where Starship could land, but the lead candidate so far is a region known as Arcadia, which also happens to be the name of one of Musk's children.
Related Stories
- NASA astronauts are proud bedwetters. They even practice.
- Listen to the eerie sounds of Mars recorded by a NASA rover
- The best telescopes for gazing at stars and solar eclipses in 2024
- Watch the moment SpaceX Starship crushed a major milestone in latest test
- A NASA Mars rover looked up at a moody sky. What it saw wasn't a star.
It's one of the few regions where lots of shallow ice exists relatively near the Martian equator, according to NASA. SpaceX will be prioritizing a location that isn't close to the poles, has ice as a source for water, and isn't too mountainous for the rockets, Musk said.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
4. A fleet of ships in the thousands
With each Mars alignment launch window, SpaceX wants to increase its cadence of flights. To do that, they'll need a lot more rockets and ships. Right now the SpaceX plant in Starbase, Texas — which residents just voted to make a city— can make a new Starship every two to three weeks, Musk said. The company will build two so-called "Giga Bay" facilities — one in Texas and another in Florida — to ramp that up to several per day.
He envisions 1,000 to 2,000 ships heading to the Red Planet every couple of years, with the ability to catch and reuse boosterswithin hours. The goal is to send enough people, infrastructure, and supplies so that if for some reason cargo shipments from Earth stop coming, the Martian city won't die.
"My guess is that's about a million tons, but it might be 10 million tons. I hope it's not 100 million tons," he said. "That'd be a lot."
-
晋升本身的技巧能力获得更多乐趣创业板指午后跌逾1% 下跌个股近4200只แกะผลสอบข้อเท็จจริง ใครช่วยอดีต สว.อุปกิต พ้นหมายจับคดีเอี่ยว ตุน มิน ลัตCryptoShot: Truth Social ยื่นขอตั้ง Bitcoin ETF !! : อินโฟเควสท์踏风行神通与器灵组合搭配教程6.9万人参与,分类正确率达85%,试点定时定点投放,平湖是如何做到的……IGN:Xbox Ally X可能会让整个PC掌机行业都受益《三国:谋定天下》一周年庆典将启:明星主播齐聚 豪礼福利加码!台湾台东县海域发生5.8级地震,震源深度20千米Atari 2600: The Atlantis of Game Consoles
- ·七旬退役老兵33载为雷锋塑像
- ·The Science of Keeping Your Chips Cool
- ·AMD FSR 4 vs Nvidia DLSS 4 at 4K
- ·英语作文300字(汇编10篇)
- ·移动智能核酸采样亭操作标准流程
- ·以下哪种蔬菜在烹炒之前最好先焯水?蚂蚁庄园9.20日答案
- ·比特币重回11万美元关口之上
- ·天问二号飞往小行星挖土,还要探测彗星,为何一次能干两件大事?
- ·合金装备全地图怎么通关
- ·“威慑中国”的两种日本新导弹,首次亮相
- ·《三国:谋定天下》一周年庆典将启:明星主播齐聚 豪礼福利加码!
- ·“威慑中国”的两种日本新导弹,首次亮相
- ·Knicks vs. Pacers 2025 livestream: Watch Game 5 of NBA playoffs for free
- ·Linical庆祝成立20周年
- ·Take a Soak, and Soak It In: The Best Natural Spas and Springs
- ·Save up to 50% on Amazon's best books of 2025
- ·四川成都深夜发生一起车祸致多车被撞,警方通报
- ·教你如何手动查杀iexplore.exe病毒
- ·Take a Soak, and Soak It In: The Best Natural Spas and Springs
- ·成功引领旗舰革命后,高通的底气明显更足了
- ·点亮南京西路“千亿商圈”灯光,点燃新年消费热情!静安区2024年跨年迎新购物季今晚启动
- ·成功引领旗舰革命后,高通的底气明显更足了
- ·提醒肺癌患者:手术后想要提升肺脏功能,术后4大护理要做好!
- ·The Hidden Wonders of Chattanooga
- ·“彩铃顶流”欢子复出 全新合唱《七十岁以后》温情发布
- ·创业板指午后跌逾1% 下跌个股近4200只
- ·我打造了仙秦多元宇宙帝国
- ·win 7系统自带的截图工具在哪里?怎么用?
- ·高二想象作文:勇立潮头求创新,乘风破浪正当时
- ·Small Fry
- ·นายกฯ ย้ำใช้เวที JBC แก้ปัญหาขัดแย้งกัมพูชา แนะลดขัดแย้งทางโซเชียล : อินโฟเควสท์
- ·Best gift card deal: Get a $100 DoorDash gift card for only $85 at Best Buy
- ·一颗荔枝,甜透百年!AI带你看不同年代荔枝盛宴
- ·适乐肤发布"2025年儿童皮肤屏障守护者公益计划"
- ·AMD Raven Ridge 8GB vs. 16GB Reserved Memory Benchmark & Explanation
- ·人教版七年级上册六单元作文:“外星人说”之我