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SpaceX spacecraft are already undergoing successful tests for future missions to Mars. Source: Getty
Elon Musk, founder and CEO of the American aerospace private enterprise SpaceX, has announced that in 2026 he will start launching the latest spacecraft to Mars. These rockets are made of stainless steel and consist of two elements: a first-stage launch vehicle called Super Heavy and a 50-meter-high upper stage spacecraft known as Starship.
The Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It stands about 122 meters tall and generates more than 5 million meters of thrust at takeoff, almost twice as much as the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket for NASA's Artemis moon mission, Space.com reports.
It is known that Starship is not yet fully operational. To date, it has completed four test missions - in April and November 2023 and March and June 2024. The giant vehicle has shown better results with each subsequent flight, achieving all major goals during the last mission.
According to SpaceX, the company is preparing for the fifth Starship flight, during which the first attempt will be made to land the Super Heavy back on the launch platform using the launch tower's "sticks".
After all, NASA SLS rockets are expendable, and Starship is designed to be fully and quickly reused. SpaceX plans to land the Super Heavy back on the launch pad after each launch, which will allow for quick inspection, repair, and re-launch of the spacecraft.
If all goes according to plan, SpaceX's Starship mega rocket will start flying missions to Mars in two years. "They will be shut down to test the reliability of landing unharmed on Mars. If these landings are successful, the first crew flights to Mars will take place in 4 years," said SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.
Musk also mentioned his long-held dream of building a city of the future on Mars. "The intensity of flights will increase exponentially with the goal of building a self-sufficient city in about 20 years. Multiplanetaryism will significantly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet," the billionaire inventor summarized.
Interestingly, space enthusiasts can buy a die-cast model of the Starship rocket, which is made of alloy steel and weighs only 225 g. This toy is 35 cm in size, which is a 1:375 ratio of the Starship desktop model from SpaceX. It costs $47.99 on Amazon.
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