SpaceX has announced that it has had to postpone its ambitious plans for a space trip to Mars. Instead of 2018, Elon Musk’s space company will now only head towards the Red Planet in 2020.
SpaceX cites the reason for the delay that it needs more development time, especially for the development of the Falcon Heavy rocket. This heavier version of the Falcon 9 rocket is to deliver the still-in-development version of the Red Dragon capsule. Shifting its focus from 2018 to 2020 will give SpaceX more time to develop the necessary technologies, the company said in a press conference reported on The Verge.
The Red Dragon is specifically intended for landing on Mars, which is a challenge due to the thin atmosphere. The first mission is intended as a test, to determine whether such missions are successful in getting heavy equipment onto the Red Planet. Manned missions may also follow; last year, SpaceX announced ambitious plans for sending astronauts to Mars. For this, work is being done on an upgrade of the Dragon capsule so that it can also transport people.
SpaceX has recently garnered a lot of attention by launching rockets and then landing them again. Currently, the company mainly conducts space missions for NASA, including resupply missions for the International Space Station.