Large oral of Elon Musk for Mars: his plan unveiled just before a capital flight of the starship

Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, great doubts have surrounded the pursuit of the Artemis program to the Moon. This being confirmedElon Musk announced on his X network that he will give a “talk” (kind of conference) from the Starbase de Spacex in Texas. On the menu of the day, his plan of conquest of the planet Mars.

In the same statement, the magnate teased the imminent ninth test flight of its megafusée Starship (IFT-9). As we announced in Digitalthe shooting date would potentially revolve around May 21. Indeed, the FAA, a federal agency responsible for issuing flight authorizations, has not yet given its green light, but would have advised sailors to avoid certain areas next week. What nourish all speculation.

For Elon Musk, it will be Mars or nothing

More than a simple objective, Mars is an obsession rooted in the depths of the multimillionaire. He intends to be the one who has led humanity to the planet Mars, thus making us “multi-planetary”. In his mind, the human being will only be really safe once he has colonized at least two worlds, thus preserving himself from an extinction caused by a cataclysm. The idea is not absolutely premium at first glance, but reality is obviously more complex.

Thus, Musk and SpaceX do not only aspire to succeed in a touch and go On Mars, as Apollo did in his time on the Moon. It would be a question of installing a human colony on Mars, therefore of building at least one city there. It is also rumored that Tesla’s owner would see himself dying on Mars, like a pioneer in his far-West.

If Musk has often mentioned this ambition, this new “talk” therefore promises unpublished details, long -awaited since the recent test flights (and explosions) of the starship.

Mars, an even bigger challenge than the moon

All technological, medical and psychological constraints linked to a inhabited journey to Mars have very often been detailed. The idea of ​​a permanent Martian colony therefore implies even greater risks and challenges. Because if the red planet is 200 times further than the moon, conquering it will certainly be all the more difficult.

For the SpaceX space firm, a major technical step to take to make this dream a little more concrete is the orbital filling of the starship tanks. That’s good, it is also absolutely necessary for the proper holding of Artemis missions in their current architecture. Another point deserves to be underlined: the starship is still far from being habitable by a crew. More specifically, the upper floor (alias Ship) now has the stinging tendency to explode, proof is its last two failures. So put it one day on the moon, then March, and then take off …

Even if SpaceX is a company that likes to claim its failures, even going to transform them into marketing success, such detailed announcements on Mars on the eve of a potential explosion of the ship would be extremely risky for its credibility. Something tells us that Elon Musk expects a success of IFT-9 to give all its weight to its Martian ambitions.

Want to save even more? Discover Our promo codes Selected for you.