SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has again shared his plan to get astronauts to Mars. In a post on X, he said that five uncrewed Starships to the red planet in two years followed by crewed missions if all goes well.
Musk said that that the success of the uncrewed missions will depend on whether the rockets can land safely on Mars.
"If those all land safely, then crewed missions are possible in four years. If we encounter challenges, then the crewed missions will be postponed another two years," he said adding that a journey to the red planet is possible only every two years when Mars and Earth reach their closest point while orbiting the Sun.
"No matter what happens with landing success, SpaceX will increase the number of spaceships traveling to Mars exponentially with every transit opportunity. Eventually, there will be thousands of Starships going to Mars and it will be a glorious sight to see!" Musk added.
He also posed the 'fundamental existential question' of whether humans will be able to colonise another planet before something catastrophic like nuclear war, a pandemic or population collapse cripples our ability to do so.
Musk went on to bash the Biden administration citing the 'stifling red tape' that is preventing SpaceX's Mars vehicle Starship from launching for its fifth test flight.
ALSO SEE: SpaceX's Starship Will Launch With Astronauts To Mars In Four Years: Elon Musk
"While I have many concerns about a potential Kamala regime, my absolute showstopper is that the bureaucracy currently choking America to death is guaranteed to grow under a Democratic Party administration. This would destroy the Mars program and doom humanity," he said.
Musk has grown to be extremely critical of the Biden-Harris administration for many reasons including the recent one by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA, the aviation watchdog, has grounded Starship until November citing safety concerns and fined $6,33,009 or Rs 5.28 crore on SpaceX for alleged violations.
Protesting the decision, Musk questioned why it didn't fine Boeing which launched NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore on a faulty Starliner, which eventually left them stranded on the International Space Station (ISS).
ALSO SEE: Elon Musk Reacts To Starship Launch Getting Delayed To November; 'We'll Never Get To Mars'