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SpaceX Mars colonization program
SpaceX Mars colonization program (also referred to as Occupy Mars as a joking reference to the Occupy movement) is the planned objective of the company SpaceX, and particularly of its founder Elon Musk, to send humans to live on Mars. The plan is to establish a self-sustaining, large scale settlement and directly democratic, self-governing colony. The motivation behind this is the belief that colonizing Mars will allow humanity to become multiplanetary, thereby ensuring the long-term survival of the human race if it becomes extinct on Earth. Colonization is to be achieved with reusable and mass-produced, super heavy-lift launch vehicles called Starship. They have been referred to as the "holy grail of rocketry" for extraplanetary colonization.
These plans for colonizing Mars have received both praise and criticism. They are supported by public interest in further human involvement beyond Earth and a desire to extend the lifetime of the human race, but doubts have been expressed about whether they will work, how it will be done, and whether humans from Earth could live on Mars.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has advocated colonization of Mars at the Mars Society since at least 2001. As early as 2007, Musk publicly stated a personal goal of eventually enabling humans to explore and settle on Mars. SpaceX has stated that its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species. Since the 2000s and early 2010s, SpaceX has proposed different methods for reaching Mars, including the use of space tugs.
Red Dragon was a 2011–2017 mission concept which would have used a modified Dragon 2 spacecraft as a low-cost Mars lander. The Dragon 2 would have been launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket, and would have landed by using its SuperDraco retro-propulsion thrusters. Equipping the craft with parachutes would not have been possible without significant modifications.
In 2011, SpaceX planned to use Red Dragon for Discovery Mission #13, which would have been launched in 2022, but the plan was not submitted to NASA. Red Dragon was proposed in 2014 as a low-cost way for NASA to obtain a Mars sample return by 2021. The Red Dragon capsule would have been equipped with a system for returning samples gathered on Mars to Earth. NASA did not fund this concept. In 2016, SpaceX planned to launch two Red Dragon vehicles to Mars in 2018, with NASA providing technical support instead of funding. In 2017 Red Dragon was cancelled in favor of the much larger Starship spacecraft.
The company's current plan was first formally proposed at the 2016 International Astronautical Congress alongside a fully-reusable launch vehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System. Since then, the launch vehicle has been renamed "Starship" and continues in development.
The development program reached several milestones in 2024. On its third test flight, Starship reached its desired trajectory for the first time and on its fourth flight test, both stages of the vehicle achieved controlled splashdown after launch for the first time.
On 7 September 2024, SpaceX announced that it would launch the first uncrewed Starship missions to Mars by 2026 to take advantage of the next Earth-Mars transfer window. It was planned to send five Starships, and Elon Musk stated on the social media platform X that these missions would focus on testing whether Starships could reliably land intact on Mars. If the missions were a success, the company would begin crewed flights to Mars within about four years.
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SpaceX Mars colonization program AI simulator
(@SpaceX Mars colonization program_simulator)
SpaceX Mars colonization program
SpaceX Mars colonization program (also referred to as Occupy Mars as a joking reference to the Occupy movement) is the planned objective of the company SpaceX, and particularly of its founder Elon Musk, to send humans to live on Mars. The plan is to establish a self-sustaining, large scale settlement and directly democratic, self-governing colony. The motivation behind this is the belief that colonizing Mars will allow humanity to become multiplanetary, thereby ensuring the long-term survival of the human race if it becomes extinct on Earth. Colonization is to be achieved with reusable and mass-produced, super heavy-lift launch vehicles called Starship. They have been referred to as the "holy grail of rocketry" for extraplanetary colonization.
These plans for colonizing Mars have received both praise and criticism. They are supported by public interest in further human involvement beyond Earth and a desire to extend the lifetime of the human race, but doubts have been expressed about whether they will work, how it will be done, and whether humans from Earth could live on Mars.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has advocated colonization of Mars at the Mars Society since at least 2001. As early as 2007, Musk publicly stated a personal goal of eventually enabling humans to explore and settle on Mars. SpaceX has stated that its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species. Since the 2000s and early 2010s, SpaceX has proposed different methods for reaching Mars, including the use of space tugs.
Red Dragon was a 2011–2017 mission concept which would have used a modified Dragon 2 spacecraft as a low-cost Mars lander. The Dragon 2 would have been launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket, and would have landed by using its SuperDraco retro-propulsion thrusters. Equipping the craft with parachutes would not have been possible without significant modifications.
In 2011, SpaceX planned to use Red Dragon for Discovery Mission #13, which would have been launched in 2022, but the plan was not submitted to NASA. Red Dragon was proposed in 2014 as a low-cost way for NASA to obtain a Mars sample return by 2021. The Red Dragon capsule would have been equipped with a system for returning samples gathered on Mars to Earth. NASA did not fund this concept. In 2016, SpaceX planned to launch two Red Dragon vehicles to Mars in 2018, with NASA providing technical support instead of funding. In 2017 Red Dragon was cancelled in favor of the much larger Starship spacecraft.
The company's current plan was first formally proposed at the 2016 International Astronautical Congress alongside a fully-reusable launch vehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System. Since then, the launch vehicle has been renamed "Starship" and continues in development.
The development program reached several milestones in 2024. On its third test flight, Starship reached its desired trajectory for the first time and on its fourth flight test, both stages of the vehicle achieved controlled splashdown after launch for the first time.
On 7 September 2024, SpaceX announced that it would launch the first uncrewed Starship missions to Mars by 2026 to take advantage of the next Earth-Mars transfer window. It was planned to send five Starships, and Elon Musk stated on the social media platform X that these missions would focus on testing whether Starships could reliably land intact on Mars. If the missions were a success, the company would begin crewed flights to Mars within about four years.