A Martian Dream
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk envisions a self-sustaining human colony on Mars within two decades.
The Journey Ahead: Musk’s ambitions hinge on the Starship, a two-stage launch vehicle at the heart of his Martian vision. In a recent presentation at Starbase, Musk emphasized that Mars, in his words, is a “fixer-upper” requiring substantial effort, resources, and infrastructure.
Powerful Starship
Starship, standing tall at 121 meters and weighing around 5000 tonnes, is heralded as the world’s mightiest launch vehicle. The spacecraft has undergone three test flights to date.
During its most recent test on March 14, Starship faced challenges, losing contact and malfunctioning upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere rather than its intended splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The entire flight lasted approximately one hour.
Flight Forward
Musk aims for Starship’s upcoming flight to successfully navigate Earth’s atmosphere, enduring extreme heat with all systems operational. The fourth flight is slated for May 2024.
Goals of Reusability: The upcoming test will include an endeavor to land the booster on a virtual tower, with plans to progress to landing on a physical tower in subsequent flights. Musk estimates an 80-90% likelihood of capturing the booster with mechanical arms on the launch tower by year’s end.
Regarding the starship spacecraft, Musk mentioned that it will not return to the launch site until a specific design lands twice at a designated ocean location.
While landing the starship segment in a controlled ocean area is probable this year, the actual reusability may stretch into the following year due to concerns about debris in the U.S. or Mexico.
Future on Mars
Building a Settlement: Musk highlighted the need to transport vast materials to Mars whereby multiple ships would make daily trips. Establishing a self-sustaining Martian community will demand infrastructure for power generation, mining, construction, and more.
In Musk’s words, “When people ask me if we are developing these things, I say ‘not yet’ because this is the cart and we need the horse first. So the rocket is the horse and this is the cart.”
Explore Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage at the link above.
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