Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's ambitious Mars plans, starship to launch next year

Elon Musk recently reacted to a post by X user DogeDesigner, which was an image of him clapping at an event wearing a SpaceX hoodie. The post was captioned, "But then I started thinking about Mars," referencing Musk's longstanding dream of making a human settlement on the Red Planet. Quoting the post, Musk added, "I do drift off into thinking about Mars at times."Musk has also regularly discussed his Mars exploration vision, with SpaceX actively working on its Starship rocket, intended to take humans to Mars and beyond.

Starship leaves for Mars at the end of next year

He has made aggressive timelines, earlier predicting that the first manned mission to Mars would be possible within a decade. He recently predicted that SpaceX's Starship spacecraft may fly to Mars as early as next year, with manned missions feasible in 2029 or 2031. In an X post, SpaceX CEO wrote: "Starship leaves for Mars at the end of next year, with Optimus on board. If they go well, then human landings could begin as early as 2029, though 2031 seems more probable."

"But then I started thinking about Mars" pic.twitter.com/tP5fZYwTGI

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) March 23, 2025

SpaceX suffers setback as Starship test fails

SpaceX's Mars plans were dealt a blow when its Starship vehicle burst apart during a test flight on March 6. It is the second in two months and highlights the technical hurdles that Space X needs to overcome to realize Elon Musk's aggressive schedule for Mars exploration. The test itself started well with the Super Heavy booster landing successfully. But the mission went awry when several of the Raptor engines on the top stage went bad, which sent the spacecraft out of control.

Happy 23rd Anniversary to @SpaceX! Founded on March 14, 2002, and still pushing the limits of what’s possible, here’s to the next chapter of making life multi-planetary! pic.twitter.com/mzvrdEagAn

— Teslaconomics (@Teslaconomics) March 14, 2025

Musk was quick to concede the disappointment on social media

Mission control lost contact at around 9 minutes and 30 seconds of launch. Musk was quick to concede the disappointment on social media with a straight-up comment of, "Rockets are hard." The company SpaceX recently turned 23 on March 14. "Happy 23rd Anniversary to @SpaceX! Founded March 14, 2002, and still expanding the frontiers of what is possible, here's to the next era of making life multi-planetary!" Musk posted on X.