Africa-Press – Mauritius. Elon Musk announced SpaceX aims to launch its first uncrewed mission to Mars by late 2026, despite recent Starship test flight failures.
Musk acknowledged only a “50/50 chance” of meeting the deadline but emphasized the urgency to leverage a rare planetary alignment reducing transit time to seven to nine months.
The mission will deploy Tesla-built Optimus robots to simulate human operations, preceding crewed flights intended to establish a permanent Martian settlement. Musk envisions sending fleets of 1,000–2,000 Starships biennially for colonization.
This ambition contrasts sharply with Starship’s technical challenges. Tuesday’s test flight ended in an explosion mid-mission, marking the third major failure in 2024. Musk dismissed the setback as “good data,” pledging accelerated testing. NASA maintains separate timelines, planning to use Starship for its 2027 crewed lunar landing before Mars missions in the 2030s. Musk’s Mars deadlines have repeatedly slipped since initial targets of 2018 and 2024, though his objectives remain unchanged.
The 2026 launch window represents SpaceX’s most concrete Mars timeline to date, testing both engineering limits and stakeholder patience amid persistent developmental hurdles.
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