SpaceX Update: We’re Going to Mars

5,500 years ago, humans invented writing and marked the start of civilization. And while that may seem a lot, Earth alone is 4.5 billion years old; and our universe is 13.8 billion. So, in fact, civilization has existed in the blink of an eye and could be extinguished just as easily. Be it through future world wars, climate change and other artificial means, or natural phenomena such as asteroids or ice ages, humans are and will forever be, inevitably threatened. Right? Well, in the arid lands of Boca Chica Texas, a company named SpaceX has a different answer, and in this article, we will be exploring their progress and schedule to get humans to Mars based on results from their March launch and April update by their CEO Elon Musk. (Fasten your seatbelts for overly scientific information). 

2024 is planned to be one of SpaceX’s most successful and ambitious, with new launch sites, rocket factories and missions scheduled to completion. On April 14th, Starship took off for its third time and marked the first success of the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, capable of ferrying humans and payload to the Moon, Mars and beyond. SpaceX is targeting at least two more flights this year, during which they plan to recover its first stage booster (SuperHeavy) by catching it with the launch tower’s “Mechazilla” arms. Although the first stage (Starship) is not targeted to land back on Earth, they are still aiming to resist the hot plasma upon re-entry and even perform a splashdown-controlled landing on a “virtual platform” in the middle of the ocean. In all, the Starship program is aiming for full reusability by the end of 2025 and is counting on the construction of three other launch towers (another in Boca Chica, and two in Cape Canaveral).  

With this progress in place, SpaceX aims to deliver the first astronauts back to the Moon aboard Starship, as part of NASA’s Artemis program which in 2021, signed a $2.89 billion contract with SpaceX for development of a landing vehicle. Known as “lunar optimized starship”, this vehicle is similar to Starship itself, although no heatshield or flaps are included, for the lack of atmosphere on the Moon. As such, this Starship will also not return to Earth, and rather be re-filled by orbiter tankers and function as a ferrying system between Earth and the Moon.  

Next, the announcement of Raptor 3 was also announced by chief engineer Elon Musk on the event, and marked yet another step toward simplification, lower total mass and increased reliability. He also highlighted the importance of having chosen methane as fuel, once it can be produced by capturing H2O from Mars’ atmosphere, and H2O from polar icecaps. This would decrease dependency on tanker ships.  

Why – Mars? To answer this, we can rationalize by elimination and disregard all planets in our solar system that are either impossible to land on or attempt survival. For instance: all gaseous planets (Jupiter, Saturn, etc..) aren’t lendable, and two of the four Jovian planets, them being Venus and Mercury, are too hot to attempt. So, Earth, Venus and our Moon are the only options left. While many may argue choosing the Moon as a planet B, its lack of atmosphere, low resources and small gravity (1/6 of that on Earth), make it unviable to maintain human life. As such, despite its dramatic sandstorms, drastic temperatures and lack of oxygen, Mars is our best target.  

During his open-air presentation at Starbase (Boca Chica), Musk also presented the ideals of inhabiting Mars, including ideal landing sites, infrastructure and timespan. The core objective of SpaceX has always been to make life multiplanetary and they say it can be done within the next 20 years, as they plan a 1-million-person colony. This population is claimed as the “optimal” number such that Mars citizens can live independently from Earth and could prosper if anything happened to the latter planet. Despite the inevitable milestones and technological challenges that will oppose SpaceX and other organizations to reach this goal, it is also unneglectable, the necessity of its achievement for the best interest of mankind.  

Source in MLA format:  

• published, Mike Wall. “SpaceX Could Launch Starship Again “in about 3 Weeks,” Elon Musk Says.” Space.com, 13 Feb. 2024, www.space.com/space-starship-third-test-flight-three-weeks-elon-musk. 

• “SpaceX.” SpaceX, www.spacex.com/updates/#make-life-multiplanetary. 

• Staff, Al Jazeera. “SpaceX Launches Powerful Starship for Third Time into Space: Key Takeaways.” Al Jazeera, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/15/is-spacexs-latest-starship-launch-a-great-stride-in-space-key-takeaways#:~:text=NASA%20wants%20to%20use%20Starship. Accessed 10 Apr. 2024.