SpaceX Mars missions could be discussed as early as September

SpaceX wants to go to Mars, that much we already know, but it may be surprising to some to learn that Elon Musk may unveil plans to do so as soon as eight months from now. Wired said recently that Musk spoke during the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong where he made comments suggesting these were indeed SpaceX’s plans.

Wired said Musk made comments hinting that he may discuss big plans to visit the Red Planet during the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico at the end of March. “We’ll have a next generation rocket and spacecraft beyond the Falcon-Dragon series, and I’m hoping to describe that architecture later this year at the International Astronautical Congress,” Musk said during the StartmeupHK Festival.

“Going to Mars is definitely going to be hard and dangerous and difficult in every way you can imagine, ” Musk explained. “But if you care about being safe and comfortable, going to Mars would be a terrible choice.” Apparently Musk isn’t too worried about either feeling: he has personal hopes to visit the International Space Station by 2020 and, perhaps, the Red Planet by 2025.