Starship rocket will be on Mars in five years: Elon Musk

Controversial billionaire and SpaceX chief Elon Musk on Saturday said the huge starship Starship rocket, that aims to help land astronauts on the Moon in 2026, will be on Mars within five years.

Musk's aerospace company SpaceX this week successfully launched the third test flight of the 400-foot rocket, along with the Heavy booster. “Starship will be on Mars within 5 years,” the billionaire posted on X. The Tesla CEO also posted some images of the Starship rocket, saying “wild that this is a real picture”.

“Pretty much anything that you can do on the ground should be done on the ground. But for warming up Mars, reflectors made on Phobos & Deimos (Mars' two moons) could be a good way to go,” he further said.

Starship is the world's most powerful rocket and will be used to send humans to the Moon and then eventually to Mars.

Starship consists of a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 50 metre upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship.

Musk eventually plans to shift at least one million people to Mars. "We are mapping out a game plan to get a million people to Mars," Musk wrote in a recent post on X.

"Civilisation only passes the single-planet Great Filter when Mars can survive even if Earth supply ships stop coming," he added. "One day, a trip to Mars will be like a flight across the country”. He also aims to build a base on the Moon. "Humanity should have a moon base, cities on Mars and be out there among the stars," the X owner said.