Elon Musk claims SpaceX could land a spacecraft on Mars in ‘3 to 4 years’

Elon Musk made the claim while speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in Azerbaijan. He also remains optimistic about Starship's next launch.

By: Science Desk

Kochi | October 6, 2023 03:02 PM IST

2 min read

SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is seen on a screen as he addresses participants of the 74th International Astronautical Congress via a video link in Baku, Azerbaijan, October 5, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov

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SpaceX can land a spacecraft on Mars in three to four years, said company founder and CEO Elon Musk on Thursday.

Musk made the claim while speaking through a videoconference at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, reports The New York Times. He also went on to say that the SpaceX Starship, the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built, had a “decent chance of success in its upcoming flight.

SpaceX launched Starship for its first uncrewed test flight from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica on April 20 this year. But minutes after the launch, the upper stage of the launch vehicle failed to separate from the lower-stage Super Heavy, and it exploded in mid-air. The mission’s goal was to complete a 90-minute debut flight, but it lasted less than four minutes, ending in failure.

While speaking at the event on Thursday, Musk said that SpaceX does not want to “set expectations too high” after the April explosion, reports Space.com. The billionaire founder hopes that the Starship rocket can eventually realise his long-held ambition of landing humans on Mars.

Also read | China to double the size of its space station, offering alternative to ISS

But that still seems quite far away for Starship, which was grounded in September by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA said that it took the decision after closing an investigation into the April explosion. It cited many causes that could have led to the mishap and said that SpaceX must take 63 corrective actions to ensure that such an incident does not happen. A Reuters report shortly after the grounding quoted an FAA official who said that it could advance a launch license for it to happen as early as October.

SpaceX claims that it has addressed all the issues brought up by the FAA. But so far, it is yet to receive a license for the launch from the federal regulator. The company will also have to acquire additional environmental approvals for it launch.

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