Humanoid robot departing for Mars at end of 2026
The world’s largest and most powerful rocket is key to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars.
Daily TribuneThe world’s largest and most powerful rocket is key to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft launches from the Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on March 14, 2025 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
AFP pic
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Saturday its massive Starship rocket would leave for Mars at the end of 2026 with Tesla humanoid robot Optimus onboard, adding that human landings could follow “as soon as 2029.”
“Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus. If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely,” Musk said on his X social network.
Musk, who is also the Tesla CEO, brought out the company’s Optimus robots at an event last year.
He said the dancing robots would one day be able to do menial tasks, as well as offer friendship, and expected them to retail for $20,000 to $30,000.
Starship — the world’s largest and most powerful rocket — is key to Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars.
Standing 123 meters tall — about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty — Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable.
United States space agency NASA is also awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.
