Musk unveils major plan amid departing Trump administration
Elon Musk has unveiled bold new plans for SpaceX following his split from President Donald Trump. The billionaire hosted an event on Thursday outlining the company's strategy to colonize Mars, detailing what he called the next phase in space exploration.
Musk said SpaceX aims to launch its first crewed Starship mission to the Red Planet in 2026, with a Tesla Optimus robot on board. 'Launching two years later, we would be sending humans, assuming the first missions are successful,' said Musk. The initial crewed launches would likely involve a small number of early settlers, focusing on building and troubleshooting infrastructure on the Martian surface.
The ambitious plan hinges on the development of next-generation Starships, which Musk said will feature nine engines, improved heat shields and increased payload capacity. He also revealed that SpaceX's assembly facility in Texas will eventually produce 1,000 Starships a year, describing it as 'the biggest structure in the world,' designed to enable millions of people to travel to Mars. The announcement comes less than a day since Musk quit the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and bid farewell to the White House, saying his 'scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end.'
While Elon Musk expressed admiration for President Trump, he didn't hold back criticism of the administration's recent $3.8 trillion spending bill. 'It undermines the work the DOGE team is doing,' Musk told CBS bluntly. 'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit instead of reducing it.' Despite the fallout, Musk isn't letting his departure from the White House derail his long-standing vision of putting humans on Mars.
During the event, he unveiled plans for new 'Gigabays' currently in development, one in Texas and another in Florida. These towering facilities serve as vertical integration hubs where Starship and Super Heavy rockets are stacked and prepped for launch. 'We'll be building as many Starships for Mars as Boeing and Airbus produce commercial airliners,' Musk said. 'Each Starship is bigger than a 747 or an A380.' For perspective, Boeing's 747 measures 231 feet in length, while the Airbus A380 comes in at around 238 feet.
Musk also announced that SpaceX will ramp up production of its Starlink satellites to around 5,000 units per year, many of which are destined for Mars. 'Ideally, we'll be able to take anyone who wants to go to Mars,' he said. 'And bring all the equipment needed to make it self-sustaining, to let it grow on its own.' The goal, he emphasized, is to ship enough resources to the Red Planet so that if supply missions from Earth suddenly stop, life on Mars can continue uninterrupted. 'Having two strong, self-sustaining planets will be critical for the long-term survival of civilization,' Musk added. He believes a multiplanetary existence could extend humanity's lifespan tenfold.
But Musk does not plan to stop at Mars—he envisions missions reaching the Asteroid Belt, Jupiter's moons, and eventually, other star systems. SpaceX is eyeing the Arcadia Planitia to land Starships due to it being close to ice for water, lack of mountains and not too close to the poles. The first mission would arrive in 2027 and the first human launch would take off two years later. 'Maybe to just be safe, we might do two landing episodes with Optimus and the third one with humans. We will see,' Musk said.
He estimated that at least one million tons of cargo will be needed to make Mars self-sustaining, requiring 1,000 to 2,000 ships per transfer window, with the long-term goal of the Red Planet's independence from Earth. Musk finished the event saying that this is 'an opportunity for the Martians to rethink how they want civilization to be.' 'So you can rethink what form of government you want, what new rules you should have. There's a lot of freedom and opportunity in Mars to do a recompile on civilization, which will be up to the Martians,' he added.
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