Private space company: mars within 10 to 20 years

[tiger101]

US company SpaceX hopes to put an astronaut on Mars within 10 to 20 years, the head of the firm says.

"We'll probably put a first man in space in about three years," Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal.

"We're going all the way to Mars, I think ... best case 10 years, worst case 15 to 20 years.''

SpaceX is one of the two leading private space companies in the US and has won $75 million from the US space agency NASA to help its pursuit of developing a spacecraft to replace the space shuttle.

The California-based company last year completed its first successful test of an unmanned space capsule into orbit and back.

"Our goal is to facilitate the transfer of people and cargo to other planets, and then it will be up to people if they want to go," said Mr Musk, who also runs the Tesla company which develops electric cars.

The US space shuttle program is winding down later this year with final flights of Endeavour set for next week and Atlantis in June, ending an era of American spaceflight that began with the first space shuttle mission in 1981.

When the shuttle program ends, the US hopes private industry will be able to fill the gap by creating the next generation of spacecraft to transport astronauts into space.

"A future where humanity is out there exploring stars is an incredibly exciting future, and inspiring, and that's what we're trying to help make happen," he added in the interview.

Earlier this month SpaceX unveiled what Musk has called the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, which will have its first demonstration flight at the end of 2012.

The launcher is designed to lift into orbit satellites or spacecraft weighing more than 53 metric tons, or 117,000 pounds - more than twice the capacity of the Space Shuttle or Delta IV Heavy launcher.

SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, is one of two private companies that NASA has contracted to transport cargo to the International Space Station.

Mr Musk, a South African who made his fortune in the internet, created SpaceX in 2002.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/deadline-10-years-destination-mars/story-e6frfhk6-1226044527826

Good to see private companies starting to want to reach massive goals like landing on Mars. seeing how NASA is cutting back.

[mightytiges]

Reminds me of a sci-fi book I once read as a teenager (well kind of as it was mostly illustrations lol) which had the universe mapped out with space routes with Earth as the central terminus (like a metro railway map). Each route was run by spin-offs of airway companies of the time (1980s) so Pan-Am was turned into something like Pan-Universe.