The 10th test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket yesterday proved successful, marking a monumental next step in SpaceX’s mission to take humanity to Mars.
The launch in Starbase, Texas, saw the Starship upper stage perform a crucial mock satellite deployment and land as planned in the Indian Ocean.
When will Elon Musk’s SpaceX get to Mars?
In March, Elon Musk said that Starship would be ready to launch to the Red Planet by the end of 2026, with a test payload of Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus. This uncrewed mission is intended to gather critical data and prove the landing technology before any humans are on board. He has said that if the uncrewed missions go well, human landings could begin as soon as 2029
It is unclear if there are going to be any changes to this estimation at this moment in time.
The stainless-steel Starship consists of two elements: a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, measuring more than 120 metres tall when fully stacked.
Musk has said that this "alien-level technology" is aiming to achieve something that no other rocket has even attempted, with the ultimate goal of "extending consciousness beyond Earth."
The most significant technical challenge for the timeline remains the in-space refuelling process. For Starship to make the journey to Mars, it will need to be refuelled in Earth orbit by multiple tanker flights.
The road ahead is not without its hurdles, but yesterday's test flight has shown that SpaceX's iterative "build and launch" approach is yielding results.
Musk stated yesterday: “A future where we are a space-faring civilisation is infinitely more exciting than one where we are not.” As the company continues to develop and improve Starship, it seems the fantastical goal of a Martian colony inches may be inching closer to a reality. One small step for man, a giant leap for SpaceX.
