SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced on Friday that Starship is set to take off for Mars at the end of 2026, carrying the Tesla humanoid bot Optimus.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk said: “Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus. If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely.”
Musk informed investors on a conference call in April 2024 that he expected Optimus to be capable of performing a variety of tasks in the factory by the last quarter of 2024.
Citing sources, Reuters stated that in November Musk’s vision to colonise Mars would become a great national priority under U.S. President Donald Trump.
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It indicated significant advancements for NASA’s moon programme and an increase in funding for SpaceX.
Starship is essential to SpaceX’s future satellite liftoff business, an industry it currently dominates with its partially reusable Falcon 9, and Musk’s long-term vision to colonise Mars.
It's worth mentioning that NASA is also awaiting for an improved variant of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis programme, which to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.
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