Twitter, Mars and electric cars.
Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder, exercised two of his favorite things on Tuesday to continue promoting the idea that he’s on target to land on Mars within the decade.
He was inspired to hit up Twitter when he was done digesting an Ars Technica story about Europe beginning a launch system program by 2030.
And that’s not soon enough, according to Musk who tweeted: “SpaceX will be landing Starships on Mars well before 2030. The really hard threshold is making Mars Base Alpha self-sustaining.”
Among the more ambitious targets involving life on Mars is Musk’s long-range plan to build up to 1,000 Starship rockets. He would launch three per day in an attempt to send 1 million people to Mars.
In the tweet threat, Musk kept up the pressure on his competitors, challenging Europe’s space-exploration process.
In the thread, he defined Europe as “aiming too low” while also providing unsolicited advice.
The best way toward a future involving Mars landing? Using “only rockets that are fully and rapidly reusable will be competitive.”
SpaceX has had a few problems with the reusable rockets recently. The past three prototypes of the 387-foot-long Starship rocket have exploded during testing.
The scientists will jump back into action, according to Business Insider, planning to launch Starship serial No. 11, or SN11, this week.
Musk has frequently moved the goalposts for landing on Mars.
Musk said on the audio app Clubhouse last month that SpaceX could complete a Starship mission within “5 1/2 years” — with a crew.
Business Insider reported experts said SpaceX had only three remaining launch opportunities to successfully land humans on Mars by 2026. They said if everything went perfectly, Musk could achieve his goal.
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