'We Need The Horse First:' SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Tells How Important Starship Is To Build Self-Sustaining Mars City In 20 Years

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is optimistic that it can build a self-sustaining human settlement on Mars in about 20 years.

What Happened: The two-stage launch vehicle Starship is at the core of Musk’s dreams to expand human life to Mars. However, Mars is a “fixer-upper” planet and will require a lot of work, investment, and infrastructure, he said in a talk at Starbase on Saturday.

Starship is touted as the world's most powerful launch vehicle with its 121-meter tall frame weighing approximately 5000 tonnes. It has undergone three flight tests thus far.

During Starship’s latest and third flight test on March 14, the spacecraft lost contact and broke down while re-entering the planet's atmosphere instead of splashing down as planned in the Indian Ocean. The entirety of the last flight lasted about an hour.

For the next flight of Starship, the goal is to re-enter Earth's atmosphere with all systems functioning despite the extreme heat, Musk said last month. Flight 4 is expected in May 2024.

Reusability And Recovery Goals: During the next flight test, the company will also attempt to land the booster on a virtual tower, Musk said. Once that is achieved, the company will attempt to land it on a physical launch tower in a subsequent flight. The CEO pegs the chances of catching the booster with the mechanical arms on the launch tower at 80-90% this year.

As for the starship spacecraft, the company does not intend to bring it back to the launch site until it can land a specific design twice at a particular point in the ocean, Musk said.

While it is “highly likely” that the company will land the starship part of the launch vehicle in a controlled point on the ocean this year, reusing it will take until next year as the company does not want to risk raining debris on U.S. or Mexico, Musk said.

On Landing On Mars: Once the rocket makes it to Mars, it will need to move a lot of materials to the planet for which multiple ships will have to fly in a day, he said. Building a self-sustaining settlement would require infrastructure for power generation, mining, propellant production, construction, and more.

“When people ask me if we are developing these things, I say ‘not yet’ because this is the cart and we need the horse first. So the rocket is the horse and this is the cart.”

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