Elon Musk has made it clear he wants to colonize
Mars, and now he’s taking a big first step
toward making that dream a reality.
His company SpaceX announced that it plans
to starting sending spacecraft to the Red
Planet as early as 2018.
That means SpaceX could be the first private
company to land hardware on another planet.
The idea is to test out how to land large
payloads on the Martian surface.
To do that, SpaceX will be sending over its
Red Dragon vehicle.
It’s a modified version of the Dragon cargo
capsule SpaceX uses to deliver supplies to
the International Space Station.
The Red Dragon has eight SuperDraco engines
embedded in its hull.
During the descent to Mars, the engines will
fire, allowing the spacecraft to land gently
and in a controlled manner.
It’s a technique known as a propulsive landing,
and it’s similar to how SpaceX lands its
Falcon 9 rockets.
But landing a spacecraft on Mars is a lot
harder than landing one on Earth.
The Martian atmosphere is one-hundredth the
density of Earth’s atmosphere, so it provides
less cushion for incoming spacecraft.
That means really heavy objects run the risk
of slamming into the Martian surface if they
aren’t slowed down enough.
Right now, NASA only knows how to land 2,000
pounds on Mars, but with propulsive landings,
even more weight could get to the surface
safely.
SpaceX’s Red Dragon would be five to 10
times larger than anything ever landed on
Mars.
There’s still a lot do before the Red Dragon
missions can happen though.
SpaceX plans to transport the spacecraft to
Mars using its Falcon Heavy, a suped-up version
of the Falcon 9.
The Falcon Heavy is still in development though,
so it has yet to fly.
SpaceX says the rocket’s first flight is
supposed to happen in November of this year.
Also, SpaceX has never landed the Dragon using
the SuperDracos before.
It’s used the engines to make the vehicle
ascend and even hover, but never land.
SpaceX will try to propulsively land a Dragon
cargo capsule on Earth first, after it returns
from a station supply run.
The Red Dragon missions are all privately
funded, but SpaceX is still getting some help
from NASA.
The space agency said it will provide technical
support to the company, in exchange for data
regarding the Dragons’ landing attempts.
Meanwhile, NASA is still hoping to send its
own astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s, but
with SpaceX’s announcement, the private
company may be closer to doing it first.
