SpaceX Targets Five Uncrewed Mars Missions In Two Years: Elon Musk

Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, has outlined plans for about five uncrewed Starship flights to Mars over the next two years. In a recent post on the social networking platform X, Musk underlined that the first Starship launch to the Red Planet will coincide with the next Earth-Mars transfer window, which opens in two years. 

The success of these unmanned flights are supposed to have an impact on the schedule for crewed trips to Mars. Musk stated that if the maiden missions land successfully, crewed missions might begin four years from now. However, if any issues develop during the uncrewed missions, the schedule for delivering humans to Mars could be pushed back by another two years. 

Musk has been known for adjusting timelines regarding Starship's readiness. Earlier this year, he projected that the first uncrewed Starship would land on Mars within five years, with crewed landings potentially happening within seven years. In June, SpaceX achieved a milestone when a Starship rocket successfully completed a hypersonic return from space, demonstrating a breakthrough landing in the Indian Ocean on its fourth test flight.

Musk views Starship as a flexible spacecraft capable of transporting both people and cargo to the Moon later this decade, paving the path for future expeditions to Mars. Meanwhile, NASA has pushed back its Artemis 3 mission, which aspires to be the first crewed lunar landing in half a century, to September 2026, from its initial late 2025 schedule. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa also recently cancelled a planned private voyage around the Moon with Starship, citing delays in the rocket's construction timeframe.