SpaceX Mars Colonization Program
Mars Colonial Transporter is the name of the privately-funded development project by U.S. company SpaceX to design and build a spaceflight system of rocket engines, launch vehicles and space capsules to transport humans to Mars and return to Earth.[1]
SpaceX Chief Executive Officer stated in June 2013 that he intends to hold off any potential IPO of SpaceX shares on the stock market until after the "Mars Colonial Transporter is flying regularly."[1][2]
History
Elon Musk has stated for some time the personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars.[3] He stated in a 2011 interview that he hopes to send humans to Mars' surface within 10–20 years.[3]
In November 2012, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made public company plans to build a second reusable rocket system with capabilities substantially beyond the Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy launch vehicles that SpaceX has already manifested several billion US dollars of launches on. This new vechicle will be "an evolution of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster ... much bigger [than Falcon 9]", but indicated that SpaceX would not be speaking publically about it until 2013.[4]
References
- ^ a b Schaefer, Steve (2013-06-06). "SpaceX IPO Cleared For Launch? Elon Musk Says Hold Your Horses". Forbes. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ Ciaccia, Chris (2013-06-06). "SpaceX IPO: 'Possible in the Very Long Term'". The Street. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ a b "Elon Musk: I'll Put a Man on Mars in 10 Years". Market Watch. New York: The Wall Street Journal. 2011-04-22. Archived from the original on 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
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Coppinger, Rod (2012-11-23). "Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk". Space.com. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
an evolution of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster ... much bigger [than Falcon 9], but I don't think we're quite ready to state the payload. We'll speak about that next year. ... Vertical landing is an extremely important breakthrough — extreme, rapid reusability.