Elon Musk announces plan to launch 5 Starship missions to Mars within next 2 years followed by human missions

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, plans to launch five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars within the next two years. He announced this on social media platform X on Sunday. These missions are part of his bigger vision to eventually send people to Mars.

Earlier in September, Musk mentioned that these uncrewed Starship missions would begin when the Earth and Mars are properly aligned, a time frame that happens every two years. The uncrewed missions will serve as a test to ensure the spacecraft can safely land on Mars.

The timing for the first crewed missions to Mars depends on how well these uncrewed missions go. If everything works smoothly, Musk aims to launch the first crewed missions four years from now. However, if the uncrewed missions face problems, the timeline could be pushed back by another two years.

Musk has a reputation for adjusting his timelines. Earlier this year, he suggested that an uncrewed Starship could land on Mars in about five years, with humans possibly reaching the planet in seven years.

In a positive development for the Starship project, SpaceX successfully landed a Starship rocket in the Indian Ocean in June, following a challenging test flight around the Earth.

Musk’s goal with Starship is to create a spacecraft that can carry both people and cargo to the Moon, and eventually to Mars. He hopes to achieve this within the next decade.

SpaceX’s work with NASA is also progressing, but there have been delays. NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which will use the Starship to send astronauts to the Moon, has been postponed to September 2026, from its original target of late 2025.

Additionally, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa cancelled his private mission around the Moon, which was supposed to use the Starship, due to uncertainties in the rocket’s development schedule.

Musk's plan to launch uncrewed Starship missions to Mars is a significant step toward his vision of making humans a multiplanetary species. The success of these missions will determine when people might actually land on the red planet. However, delays and technical challenges could impact the timeline.