Posted on 04/27/2016 12:05:14 PM PDT by Red Badger
The company said it is planning to send their Dragon spacecraft to the red planet as early as 2018
SpaceX is planning to be the first private company to land on Mars within the next two years.
The company said it is planning to send its Dragon spaceraft to the red planet as early as 2018.
Bosses announced their intentions in a statement on Twitter this afternoon.
A spokesperson tweeted: "Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come."
Earlier this month the US aerospace company successfully landed a reusable rocket on an ocean platform, after four previous attempts failed.
Mission controllers cheered as the Falcon 9 rocket remained upright on the platform off the coast of Florida on Friday April 8.
It was returning from delivering an inflatable habitat into space for Nasa. The inflatable room will attach to the International Space Station (ISS) for a two-year test and will become the first such habitat for use by humans in orbit.
Built by Nevada company Bigelow Aerospace, the habitat is intended to pave the way for the use of such rooms for long space trips, including to Mars.
It is thought that the ability to reuse rocket launchers will dramatically reduce the cost of space travel, making it possible for many more people to visit space.
As well as space tourism, suborbital spaceflight opens the door to a range of scientific research and technological development - from biotech and materials science to fluid physics and engineering.
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
Space Ping!.....................
If they are just landing the craft, why not fill it to the brim with little robot rovers and such????
I wonder if Kevin SpaceY would fly on a SpaceX?
“PRUTO???”
The first gay asstronaut?....................
Still incredibly agressive. Good for them.
It would much easier for Hollywood to provide an experience if someone is so inclined.
I have no desire to get on a rocket ship and force my way through space, "because it is there."
We went to the moon and that is enough for me.
Another thing, all these people breathlessly awaiting information for the possibility of life out there somewhere, are not buzzed by the fact that life is teeming on this planet.
This is my own opinion.
They may be just testing for space worthiness over a long trip.
They, ESA and NASA should get together and send supplies and habitats ahead of the astronauts, so they will not have to carry everything with them. A years supply of food, water and building materials foe a prefab hut, and test equipment could all be landed within a mile or so of each other, ready for use when they get there.................
Bring lots of potatoes.
Sounds like something I’m glad I missed.
For the natives?
According to Robert Heinlein, in his novel “Stranger in a Strange Land”, Martians look like giant potatoes with three legs.....................
It’s so-so on a sci-fi scale.
It leaves you wondering at the end, “Was he really a space alien, from planet K-Pax?”................
I can confidently say that this will never happen.
“No people, just the craft.................... “
I hope they succeed because NASA never will.
The company said it is planning to send their Dragon spacecraft to the red planet as early as 2018.Wow -- and the Falcon Heavy is slated for its first launch in November.
Mars Colonial Transporter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Colonial_Transporter
Some people will be terribly excited by the prospect of living on another planet, exploring & surviving where none have and blazing trails for millions to come.
Others of us realize it’s a mostly dead rock for a reason.
I appreciate and salute those going. I’ll stay here.
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