Many times in the past, Musk revealed his obsession about carrying out Mars mission.
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As it descended into the upper levels of Earth’s atmosphere, the rocket’s engines fired for its “reentry burn”.
This landing marked the first time SpaceX successfully brought its Falcon 9 booster in for a landing on a drone ship.
The aerospace company announced its ambitious plan via Twitter, writing that it plans to send its Dragon spacecraft to Mars by 2018.
To name just a few likely issues, the company will want to survey the terrain, and pick a landing site – preferably one with access to resources useful for sustaining life, and producing rocket fuel.
But before SpaceX can launch any manned inter-planetary missions, they need to show their rocket can make the distance and land safely.
“Dragon 2 is created to be able to land anywhere in the solar system”, tweeted Musk on April 27.
Also, with the Help of NASA, SpaceX is planning to send humans to the Mars by 2030. Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful USA rocket to fly since NASA’s Saturn 5 moon rockets of the 1970s.
For now, the agency is focused on developing the multipurpose deep-space Orion capsule and a heavy-lift rocket, known as the Space Launch System. But, the first test will lay the groundwork for SpaceX to reach Mars and beyond.
This rocket will be the third major rocket design for the private space agency.
Now the question is: Will SpaceX allow a similar in-the-front-seat experience when a rocket heads for Mars in 2018?
Propulsive landing is key to eventual human missions to the red planet for one simple reason-it scales. On the other, NASA scaled back funding for a critical landing demonstration needed for a Mars landing. The spacecraft and rockets would be different, but the basic landing technology is the same.
“It is breaking new ground, and I think it’s a good sign that NASA is even a partner”, said Garver in a Washington Post interview.
Video of the Falcon 9 descent in September, 2014.
The Mars spacecraft will be called Red Dragon, Musk said. Take the Curiosity rover.
“I hope that Space X and NASA – perhaps in a role more … as advisor instead of NASA as operator – will work together in global harmony to jointly land humans on Mars”, astronaut Buzz Aldrin wrote in an email to Discovery News. NASA won’t provide any financial assistance for the project, SpaceX and NASA confirmed. And he’s bullish on SpaceX’s chances. But you’ve got to give them credit.
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Landing on Mars is where things get tricky. “That certainly improves their chances of success”. It’s just too small.
