We regret to inform you that Elon Musk has been using his social media orifice, X, to make some impressively outlandish claims once again. This time, the billionaire stated that SpaceX plans to launch a bunch of uncrewed Starships to Mars "in two years."

Starship, which has yet to make it to orbit and land without exploding, is currently in the midst of a testing program. The next flight, which could include an attempt at catching a descending first stage, is currently waiting for clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before launching. This is clearly vexing Musk, who [1]said : "One of my biggest concerns right now is that the Starship program is being smothered by a mountain of government bureaucracy that grows every year."

It is a statement that requires balancing. When asked why his company seemed to be getting along well with the regulators earlier this year, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck [2]remarked , "Well, we didn't explode the largest rocket ever created in a national reserve."

[3]

Considering the hardware and energy involved, it seems reasonable that regulators might want to take a closer look at Musk's Starship ambitions.

[4]

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Musk's timelines are ambitious. About five uncrewed Starships in two years. If all land safely, crewed missions would be possible in four years. If something goes wrong, then Musk said the missions would be postponed by two years.

Musk said, "It is only possible to travel from Earth to Mars every two years, when the planets are aligned. This increases the difficulty of the task, but also serves to immunize Mars from many catastrophic events on Earth."

[6]

He didn't elaborate on the orbital mechanics at play, but considering the billionaire's track record at meeting his own deadlines, the limited wiggle room afforded by the relative motion of the planets will undoubtedly make things more difficult.

So, the problem is politics. According to Musk, financing is being taken care of by Starlink (although he gave the US space agency NASA a nod as well), but the main blocker to Musk's Martian utopia is those pesky regulators, their irritating questions, and annoying fines.

[7]SpaceX faces $663K FAA fine for Musk's alleged launch impatience

[8]Elon Musk's assassination 'joke' bombs, internet calls for his deportation

[9]Meta back at it, harvesting Britons' public Facebook, Insta feeds for AI training

[10]FCC boss starts bringing up Musk's Starlink dominance, antitrust concerns

For NASA, sticking a crew in Starship is essential if the agency is to realize its dream of a return to the Moon. Unlike Musk, NASA only plans to use Starship to get its astronauts on and off the lunar surface. The crew is expected to launch atop the agency's SLS rocket in an Orion capsule.

Musk's timelines would have astronauts on the way to Mars before the current decade is out. The billionaire said: "We want to enable anyone who wants to be a space traveler to go to Mars! That means you or your family or friends – anyone who dreams of great adventure.

"Eventually, there will be thousands of Starships going to Mars and it will a [sic] glorious sight to see! Can you imagine? Wow."

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Wow indeed. ®

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[1] https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1837908705683059166

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/05/rocket_lab_peter_beck_interview/

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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/17/faa_spacex_fine_proposed/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/calls_to_deport_elon_musk/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/14/uk_meta_ai_facebook/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/starlink_satellite_dominance_fcc/

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[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/