SpaceX Now Aiming For Mission MARS In 2018

SpaceX recently made history when they successfully landed the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket on remote controlled platform in the sea. This was a big achievement because the main engine that pushes the rocket through the atmosphere is housed in the first stage and can now be refuelled and reused for multiple missions. Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX) announced on Wednesday, through social media sites, its long term plans to colonize Mars starting with its first commercial mission to Mars by 2018. The spacecraft to accomplish this task, nick-named Red Dragon, is a Dragon 2 spacecraft that stands 20 feet tall and 12 feet wide and is designed to travel the solar system. The first mission would not carry any astronauts but it will land on Mars to test the capabilities of the capsule.

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The main objective of this mission is to test various aspects like the Architecture of Mars and technology required to deliver large payloads as the insides of this Dragon capsule is equivalent to that of an SUV. As in the past only NASA has been successful in landing on Mars, it will be assisting SpaceX with their mars mission by providing valuable data that it has collected during its missions.

NASA will also provide technical assistance, communications/navigation support and perhaps a suite of science instruments to ride to Mars inside the spacecraft as per the agreement signed between the two space agencies earlier this week. The agreement does not include any exchange of money but is more based upon exchange of valuable information that would also benefit NASA for its future Mars missions. The Red Dragon project is however not new as SpaceX and NASA have been working on it since early 2014 according to the agreement. More information about the mission will be released by Elon Musk at a presentation later this year in Mexico.

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SpaceX recently tested the SuperDraco propulsive thrusters of Dragon 2, at their test site in Central Texas, which is used for landing and is a key component for mission Mars. According to Musk the next generation Dragon, set to debut in 2017, will have the capability of taking Humans to and from the International Space Station and feature SuperDraco jet-packs to push the crew away to safety in case the rocket fails. It is clear that this mission is just a stepping stone towards the future of manned missions to Mars.

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