SpaceX will start launching Starships to Mars in 2026, Elon Musk says

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'These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 years.'

view from above of a giant silver rocket launching, generating a huge plume of dust
SpaceX's Starship rocket launches on its fourth fully integrated test flight, on June 6, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX's Starship megarocket will start flying Mars missions just two years from now, if all goes according to plan.

"These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 years," SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via X on Saturday evening (Sept. 7), in a post that announced the bold new target timelines. (Earth and Mars align properly for interplanetary missions once every 26 months.)

"Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years," Musk added in the same post. "Being multiplanetary will vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet."

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. 

A stacked Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. It stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall and generates 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — nearly twice that of the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket for NASA's Artemis moon program.

SLS is expendable, but Starship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. Indeed, SpaceX plans to land Super Heavy back on the launch mount after each liftoff, enabling quick inspection, refurbishment and relaunch.

SpaceX believes that Starship's combination of brawn and efficiency will finally bring Mars settlement — a long-held dream of Musk's — within humanity's grasp.

Related: SpaceX test-fires Super Heavy Starship booster ahead of 5th flight (video)

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Starship isn't fully up and running yet. It has flown four test missions to date — in April and November of 2023 and March and June of this year. The giant vehicle has performed better on each successive flight, notching all of its major objectives on the most recent mission.

SpaceX is currently gearing up for Starship's fifth flight, which could take place quite soon; the company has already performed test-fires with the Super Heavy and the Starship that will fly the mission.

Flight five will feature some new and dramatic action — the first attempt to land Super Heavy back on the launch mount, an operation that will involve the use of the launch tower's "chopstick" arms. As Musk often says about Starship flights, excitement is guaranteed.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

50 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Gibsense
    Wow, amazing. To me, this project by Musk justifies the existence of Billionaires. Well done Elon Musk America should be proud of you (I am sure they are). Imagination, ambition, execution and results - on our behalf (even us in the UK to celebrate a successful colony: The USA, lol) Like a reverse takeover how about adding a new state: UK (please, lol, anyone?)
    Reply
  • SDelMonte
    Shouldn't SpaceX's priority be building the moon lander it was contracted to build?
    Reply
  • Gibsense
    SDelMonte said:
    Shouldn't SpaceX's priority be building the moon lander it was contracted to build?
    Prioritisation is the biggest excuse. Linear development. If the resources are available do both, do it all. get the cross-benefits.
    Reply
  • BulldogPunch
    SDelMonte said:
    Shouldn't SpaceX's priority be building the moon lander it was contracted to build?
    Right? I would bet everything I own this man doesn't launch anything to Mars in 2026. He's well known to break his promises. He's been promising "Full Self Driving" is "coming next year" every single year since 2017. Adam Something on youtube has a fantastic vid on why his hyperfocus on a Mars colony makes zero sense. Our focus should be on actually getting humans to set foot on the moon again, which is a hard enough challenge as it is.
    Reply
  • Unclear Engineer
    I am not expecting a successful StarShip landing on Mars by a launch in 2026! Maybe he could get a StarShip there in that time frame, but how does he intend to slow it down and land it? Mars' atmosphere is not nearly as dense as Earths, so braking by atmospheric drag is not going to be anything like an Earth reentry for StarShip.

    I agree with others that I want the SpaceX priority to be to land on the Moon and start developing off-Earth habitats to be successful there, first. I think SpaceX transportation to the Moon could even be profitable for the company, given the scientific interest and the potential for commercial exploration, even if there is little actual commercial development.

    But, going to Mars is much harder and much less profitable. How many billionaires does he think will sign up to spend the rest of their days stuck in a small habitat on a distant, cold, desert planet, rather than spend their leisure time cruising the world in their megayachts and private jets? And, if the rich are not signing up in large numbers, how is a Mars colony going to be profitable in anything like the medium term, before it can become self-sustaining and produce profitable exports?

    I expect any real trip to Mars with humans aboard is going to need a return strategy with demonstrated infrastructure before there will be a psychologically acceptable crew for the mission.
    Reply
  • orsobubu
    No way there are going to make it
    Gibsense said:
    Wow, amazing. To me, this project by Musk justifies the existence of Billionaires. Well done Elon Musk America should be proud of you (I am sure they are). Imagination, ambition, execution and results - on our behalf (even us in the UK to celebrate a successful colony: The USA, lol) Like a reverse takeover how about adding a new state: UK (please, lol, anyone?)
    No way they are going to make it, and this failure (like many other by musk, in the past and in the future) will justify the damage of the capitalistic system at this advanced stage of human development.
    Reply
  • Classical Motion
    It’s truly amazing how new measurements and data can change our previous concepts we have believed in. We went thru a big change 15-20 years ago with DNA. We reclassified lifeforms with DNA.

    Forgive me if I use the wrong terms. Then they found environmental DNA. And this doubled the biomass of earth overnight, and much more has been added since. Whole families of unknown unseen life. It’s a big deal. Don’t hear about it to much.

    I saw and watched some new research on insect colonies a while back. Like bees, ants and termites. With closer and much longer observation they have found that these societies are not cooperative at all. They are super class and bullying and rationing, even leg amputation are used to keep classes in line.

    It was quite an eye opener. Pheromones were very selectively used collective commands not common house hold commands. Intimidation was needed for that. Gang leaders. Bully leaders.

    Has any others heard of this?

    And what about the new dinosaur theory? Have you heard of that cluster?

    They say A.I. might filter all this new data, plus any old data that hasn’t been looked at yet. We have decades of that. Anyway some are hoping A.I. might thin this down on some of these theories.

    IF we ever get it and if we can power it.

    It might even help explain what all the extra unknown functions of DNA. We see a lot un-used.
    Reply
  • billweberx
    SDelMonte said:
    Shouldn't SpaceX's priority be building the moon lander it was contracted to build?
    SpaceX can walk and chew gum at the same time. Mars has always been Musk's priority. He's only helping Artemis to help NASA. This is a side project and will not distract from the Mars mission.
    Reply
  • billweberx
    BulldogPunch said:
    Right? I would bet everything I own this man doesn't launch anything to Mars in 2026. He's well known to break his promises. He's been promising "Full Self Driving" is "coming next year" every single year since 2017. Adam Something on youtube has a fantastic vid on why his hyperfocus on a Mars colony makes zero sense. Our focus should be on actually getting humans to set foot on the moon again, which is a hard enough challenge as it is.
    Musk has never broken a promise because he's never made one. Show me one time that Musk used the words "I promise". Never. He makes predictions and shares them on X. They're usually way too optimistic but he always delivers in the end, al bet late. FSD has been his worst prediction but he has not given up and will eventually deliver while no one else can. Waymo can never be better than level 4 autonomy as it requires geofencing. Tesla is the only company in the world that has a chance at Level 5 autonomy because of the their massive amount of real world data and one of the largest AI training computers in the world. They are late in delivering but they'll get there eventually and no one else will.
    Reply
  • billweberx
    Unclear Engineer said:
    I am not expecting a successful StarShip landing on Mars by a launch in 2026! Maybe he could get a StarShip there in that time frame, but how does he intend to slow it down and land it? Mars' atmosphere is not nearly as dense as Earths, so braking by atmospheric drag is not going to be anything like an Earth reentry for StarShip.

    I agree with others that I want the SpaceX priority to be to land on the Moon and start developing off-Earth habitats to be successful there, first. I think SpaceX transportation to the Moon could even be profitable for the company, given the scientific interest and the potential for commercial exploration, even if there is little actual commercial development.

    But, going to Mars is much harder and much less profitable. How many billionaires does he think will sign up to spend the rest of their days stuck in a small habitat on a distant, cold, desert planet, rather than spend their leisure time cruising the world in their megayachts and private jets? And, if the rich are not signing up in large numbers, how is a Mars colony going to be profitable in anything like the medium term, before it can become self-sustaining and produce profitable exports?

    I expect any real trip to Mars with humans aboard is going to need a return strategy with demonstrated infrastructure before there will be a psychologically acceptable crew for the mission.
    Pretty sure SpaceX has considered how to slow down the Starship for landing on Mars. They are rocket scientists after all.

    You may want SpaceX's priority to be the moon, but that will never happen. Musk's number 1 priority in life is building a self sustaining city on mars. Nothing will detract from that. The moon lander is just a side project to help out NASA.

    You don't need billionaires to put people on mars. Every major country on earth want's a mars presence and SpaceX will be their taxi cab. Governments have lots of money to spend on space projects. There will be no shortage of business for SpaceX. Also, the cost to send people to mars will be in the neighborhood of $100K each because of the 100% rapidly reusable starships. Most of the cost is the fuel, just like an airline. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people on earth could afford the trip and I personally know people who want to move to mars today.

    The first people to go, will likely be a one way trip until the infrastructure for returning rockets is implemented. That's likely to take a very long time.
    Reply