Elon Musk halves timeline for landing first humans on Mars

Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX plans to launch its first uncrewed Starship spacecraft to Mars in two years, coinciding with the next transfer window from Earth to Mars.

"These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars," Musk wrote on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

If these landings are successful, the company aims to begin its first crewed Mars missions within four years.

"Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years," the billionaire added.

Earlier in April, Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, had projected that the first uncrewed spacecraft would land on Mars within five years and that humans would arrive within seven. However, the timeline has now been halved.

Reuters notes that in June, the Starship rocket completed a fiery hypersonic re-entry from space and achieved a breakthrough landing demonstration in the Indian Ocean, completing a full orbital test flight on its fourth attempt.

Musk hopes Starship will help achieve his goal of creating a large, next-generation spacecraft capable of sending people and cargo to the Moon within this decade and ultimately to Mars.

In August 2024, we reported that Musk's Neuralink successfully implanted its chip into the brain of a second patient.

While details are sparse, it is known that the first patient can use the chip to play video games, browse websites, write social media posts, and control a laptop cursor.