? SpaceX and NASA's race to Mars: Who will succeed in sending the first astronaut
After the US space agency NASA announced that it will send its own astronaut to Mars by 2040, the company, SpaceX, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, reiterated that it will precede its competitor in sending the first astronaut to the Red Planet.
Gwen Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, has indicated that the first manned mission to Mars could happen before the end of the decade.
Under the direction of CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX has accomplished things previously considered science fiction, including routine landings and reusing its Falcon 9 super rocket... but will it win this time?
A massive, reusable Starship rocket being developed by SpaceX will take the first settlers and secure their supplies to Mars. But first, the FAA has to approve the spacecraft for the flight, a process that has repeatedly been delayed but is now scheduled for the end of May 2022.
The company has to complete many successful tests in a short time in order to keep its promise: the rocket must successfully complete orbital missions and land on the surface of the Earth without a defect. Shotwell notes that the first of these flights will begin in the summer of 2022.
Next, the SpaceX rocket will have to prove its ability to refuel in orbit. The ability to refuel is critical to the spacecraft's human landing system variant to carry astronauts and cargo to the Moon and back as part of NASA's "Artemis" project to return to the Moon.
Currently, SpaceX is scheduled to perform an unmanned mission to the lunar surface in 2024 and then land the first humans on the moon after the end of the Apollo program in 2025.
If all of the above is successful, SpaceX is ready to send a spacecraft to Mars. It is likely that the first flight will be unmanned and filled with only equipment, including the tools needed to begin construction of an initial base on Mars.
The last approach period between Earth and Mars in this decade will be in late 2028 and early 2029. To fulfill Shotwell's promise, the first human expedition to Mars must take off from Earth through that window.
This bet could prove disastrous for Elon, Musk and his company if any catastrophe were to fail. But if he succeeds, Musk will have made history.
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