Elon Musk is aiming to land spaceships on Mars in 2022

Elon Musk just unveiled more of his grand plan for colonizing Mars.

 

The hard-charging tech mogul said his rocket company, SpaceX, aims to land at least two cargo ships on the Red Planet in 2022 in order to place power, mining and life support systems there for future flights.

That's just five years from now.

"That's not a typo -- although it is aspirational," Musk said Friday during a presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia. Ships carrying crews would arrive in 2024, he added.


To hit those deadlines, SpaceX plans to start building the first spaceship by the middle of next year, he said. The billionaire entrepreneur does have a track record of setting ambitious time frames for SpaceX, and failing to meet them.
Musk revealed more details on the spacecraft -- the BFR, or Big Falcon Rocket, which inside the company is nicknamed the "Big F--king Rocket." If he has his way, Mars colonizers will eventually travel in style in the BFR, which will accommodate around 100 people spread out over 40 cabins, and include large common areas and an entertainment system.

SpaceX has figured out a way to pay for the costly missions, according to Musk, but he shied away from giving specific numbers.
The company thinks it can make enough money from its current business of launching satellites and servicing the International Space Station to finance its Mars ambitions. Musk's goal is to make the BFR reusable, which would significantly bring down the cost of launches.


He envisions the rockets enabling SpaceX to eventually establish a lunar base, which he dubbed "Moon Base Alpha."
"It's 2017, we should have a lunar base by now," he said. "What the hell's going on?"


Musk suggested the BFR could eventually also be used to clean up space by gobbling up old satellites and other junk orbiting the earth.
And it may come in handy closer to home. Musk said the rockets could fly people from city to city on Earth in incredibly short time spans, such as from New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes.
Related: Elon Musk wants to fly you anywhere in the world in less than an hour 


SpaceX isn't the only company with an eye on Mars, though.
Just hours before Musk took the stage in Australian city of Adelaide on Friday, Lockheed Martin (LMT) touted its plans for a "Mars Base Camp" -- a mobile space habitat that it's developing for NASA. The system would work in tandem with Orion, the spacecraft NASA is developing for crewed missions to deep space.
Lockheed said the structure could be assembled at NASA's Deep Space Gateway -- a structure the agency is developing that would live in space between Earth and the Moon.
Related: Branson! Musk! Bezos! The billionaire space race throwdown
The company says it hopes to build and send the structure to the Mars in about 10 years.
Unlike SpaceX's plan, NASA and Lockheed aren't looking to colonize Mars. Their project is focused on executing experimental missions in which highly trained astronauts would visit the planet and ultimately return to Earth.
Aerospace giant Boeing (BA) has also said it wants the first person to set foot on Mars to get there on one of its rockets.

Cassini's Greatest Hits: Best Photos of Saturn and Its Moons

The Cassini spacecraft spent just over 13 years in the Saturn system, studying this massive, gaseous planet, its rings and its moons. Thanks to gravity assists from Saturn's moon Titan, the probe was able to change its orbit around the planet many times, and view the planet from various angles. In total, the probe sent back more than 450,000 images of the Saturn system. That's a lot to sift through, but we think these are some of the most spectacular images Cassini took of Saturn.

1. End of an era

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, can be seen beyond the rings

2. Rings and Waves

Cassini captured this view of a wave structure in Saturn's rings, known as the Janus 2:1 spiral density wave. Resulting from the same process that creates spiral galaxies, spiral density waves in Saturn's rings are much more tightly wound

3. Ring Shadows

The shadow of Saturn's rings appear as a thin band at the equator in this image that was taken by Cassini as Saturn approached its August 2009 equinox.

4. Planetary portrait

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Cassini snapped this photo as it rested in Saturn's shadow, producing a stunning image where the planet's inner rings, seven of its moons and Earth can be seen.

5. Rainbow on the rings

Cassini's spacecraft offered unprecedented views of Saturn and its moons, including this photo of a rainbow on the planet's rings.

6. Colorful pole

This spectacular, vertigo-inducing, false-color image from NASA Cassini mission highlights the storms at Saturn's north pole. The angry eye of a hurricane-like storm appears dark red.

7. Unique image

In a rare wide-angle camera image from Cassini, Saturn's rings and Earth (seen here as a bright speck) share space.

8. Titan's seas

This near-infrared, color view shows the sun glinting off of Titan's north polar seas.

9.Venus through the Rings

Peering over the shoulder of Saturn, through its rings, and across interplanetary space, the Cassini spacecraft spies the bright, cloudy planet Venus

10. Trio of moons

Cassini observes three of Saturn's moons set against the darkened night side of the planet. Seen here are Rhea, closest to Cassini, Enceladus to right of Rhea, and Dione, to the left of Rhea.

11. Geysers on Enceladus

This image from Cassini, one that was acquired in a survey conducted by the spacecraft's imaging science team, shows the geyser basin at the south pole of Enceladus.

12. Light and shadow

Capturing the interplay between light and shadow, NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the night side of Saturn, where sunlight reflected off the rings has dimly illuminated what would otherwise be the dark side of the planet.

13. Dione

Saturn's pale, icy moon Dione is enriched by the tranquil gold and blue hues of Saturn in the distance. The horizontal stripes near the bottom of the image are Saturn's rings.

14. Farewell, Mimas

On Jan. 30, 2017, Cassini bid so long to Saturn's "Death Star"-like moon Mimas.

15. Mind the gap

Saturn's moon Pan is seen in this color view as it sweeps through the so-called Encke Gap in Saturn's rings. As the lemon-shaped moon orbits Saturn, it always keeps its long axis pointed along a line toward the planet

16. Shadowy moon

Jagged-looking shadows stretch away from vertical structures of ring material created by the moon Daphnis in this image taken as Saturn approached its August 2009 equinox.

17. Titan and Mimas

Cassini captures a mutual event between Titan and Mimas in front of a backdrop of Saturn's rings. This image was snapped shortly before Saturn's largest moon passed in front of and occulted the small moon Mimas.

18. Dione's closeup

This view of Saturn's moon Dione was taken during a close flyby on June 16, 2015. It was Cassini's fourth targeted flyby of Dione.

19. Moon's gravity

The gravity of the potato-shaped Prometheus periodically creates streamer channels in Saturn's rings. The moon's handiwork can be seen in the dark channels in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

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20. Dione in transit

Saturn's moon Dione crosses the face of the giant planet in this view, a phenomenon astronomers call a transit.

21. Icy Enceladus

On Oct. 14, 2015, the Cassini spacecraft snapped a ethereal image of Enceladus' icy north pole

22. Ligeia Mare

This image, from the Radar instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft, shows the evolution of a transient feature in the large hydrocarbon sea named Ligeia Mare on Saturn's moon Titan.

23. Herschel Crater

Shadows cast across Mimas' defining feature, Herschel Crater, provide an indication of the size of the crater's towering walls and central peak.

24. Polar Hexagon

These natural color views compare the appearance of Saturn's north-polar region in June 2013 and April 2017. In both views, Saturn's polar hexagon dominates the scene.

In Photos: Cassini Mission Ends with Epic Dive into Saturn

Before NASA's Cassini spacecraft began the "grand finale" phase of its mission at Saturn, it took one last photo of the giant planet and its ring system from afar

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Cassini's Last Photo

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

This is the last image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft before it dove into Saturn's atmosphere. It shows the location where the spacecraft would enter the planet's atmosphere hours later. Cassini took the photo on Sept. 14, 2017 at 12:59 p.m. PDT (3:59 p.m. EDT; 19:59 GMT).

Saturn

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Cassini shot this photo of Saturn on Sept. 13, 2017.

RIP, Cassini: Historic Mission Ends with Fiery Plunge into Saturn

NASA received its last data transmission from the Cassini spacecraft at 4:55:46 a.m. PDT (7:55:46 a.m. EDT, 1146 GMT) today (Sept. 15), before losing contact with the probe as it hurtled into Saturn's atmosphere. It was a fiery grand finale  for the probe, which spent 13 years orbiting the ringed planet. NASA officials expect that Cassini broke apart about 45 seconds after that final transmission, due to the intense friction and heat generated by the fall.

"I hope you're all ... deeply proud of this amazing accomplishment," Earl Maize, the Cassini program manager, said to the mission team after the spacecraft signal was lost. "Congratulations to you all. This has been an incredible mission, an incredible spacecraft, and you're all an incredible team. I'm going to call this the end of mission."

The Cassini spacecraft has plunged into Saturn, sending back its final communications before burning up in the ringed planet's atmosphere.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

  The final stream of data from Cassini was received at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California. The spacecraft communicated with Earth via the Deep Space Network, a series of telescopes around the world that keep contact with spacecraft that fly beyond the moon. The Deep Space Network is managed from JPL.
During Cassini's final moments, mission scientists and team members watched anxiously as data continued to come in from the spacecraft as it hurtled through Saturn's atmosphere. The signal was lost when Cassini could no longer keep its antenna pointed at Earth, due to the intense friction created by its fall through the atmosphere. Maize said he anticipated that the probe would completely break apart about 45 seconds later. The team members stood and applauded somberly when Maize announced end of mission.

"This is a historic moment, and I think the mood reflects that," Morgan Cable, a research scientist at JPL, said of the event. "This is a celebration of an amazing mission and incredible legacy."

    In Cassini's final months and days, scientists and the public alike have voiced their affection for the space probe and the incredible discoveries it made.
"[I'm] feeling the love, if I may be so corny," Maize said when asked about the public outpouring. "It's just very heartening. Because it's part of what we try to do — to extend everybody out to Saturn. It's not [just for] scientists in the ivory tower; it's for humanity. And so for everybody to get on the ride … it is just phenomenal."
Cassini's descent into Saturn was intentional. The spacecraft was rapidly running out of fuel, after spending nearly 20 years in space, and NASA scientists decided to make use of the mission's inevitable conclusion. By crashing into Saturn, Cassini had the opportunity to see what the planet's upper atmosphere is made of, and that's the data that the probe sent back to Earth during its final few moments of life. The probe took its last images of the Saturn system yesterday (Sept. 14), and transmitted those images back to Earth the same day, ahead of its plunge.

Members of the Cassini team and other JPL employees watch the final minutes of the Cassini mission, next to a full-scale model of the spacecraft.

Credit: Calla Cofield/Space.com 

  During its 13-year tenure at Saturn, Cassini captured breathtaking images of the ringed planet, revealing swirling storms and a hexagonal jet stream swirling around Saturn's north pole. The probe saw strange features in the planet's ring system, found evidence of meteors crashing through the rings in the past, and watched as the planet's many moons caused the rings to change and evolve.
The spacecraft discovered new moons around Saturn; the planet has 53 named moons and another nine unnamed moons, and there are many more small objects that might one day be confirmed as moons. Cassini found geysers erupting from the surface of the large, icy moon Enceladus. Further study of the geysers has since indicated that Enceladus' subsurface water ocean might have conditions suitable for life. Cassini revealed new details about the strange surface of the moon Titan, which is dotted with liquid methane lakes, rivers and oceans.

This is the last image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft before it dove into Saturn's atmosphere. Cassini captured this view on Sept. 14, 2017 at 12:59 p.m. PDT (3:59 p.m. EDT; 19:59 GMT). It shows the location where the spacecraft would enter the planet's atmosphere hours later.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute 

  "We left the world informed but still wondering," Maize said during a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 13). "I could not ask for more."
The $3.26 billion Cassini-Huygens mission  — a joint effort by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency — launched in 1997 and arrived at the Saturn system in 2004. In 2005, the Huygens lander dropped onto the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, revealing the hidden world beneath its opaque, orange atmosphere. The Cassini orbiter's initial mission was meant to last until 2008 but was extended twice, stretching the spacecraft's life to 2017

The Cassini team cheers, hugs and cries after receiving the final signal from Cassini that indicated the mission had come to an end with the spacecraft's disintegration in Saturn's atmosphere.

Credit: Joel Kowski/NASA/UPI/Newscom 

"One of the greatest legacies of the mission is not just the scientific discoveries it makes, and what you learn about, but the fact that you make discoveries that are so compelling that you have to go back," said Mike Watkins, director of JPL. "We will go back and fly through the geysers of Enceladus, we will go back and look at Titan, because the Cassini findings are just groundbreaking."

Watch Cassini’s Saturn dive live with mission control

Join NASA scientists as they bid farewell to Cassini.

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Saturn backlit by the Sun, as seen by Cassini in 2013. Earth can be seen as a few bright pixels below the right hand side of the rings.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI

Just before 10:00pm (AEST) this evening, 15 September 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will end its 20-year mission of discovery as a fireball screaming through the skies of Saturn.

Since leaving Earth in October 1997, Cassini has seen Saturn and its rings up close, landed a probe on the icy crust of Titan, detected water spraying from the cryovolcanoes of Enceladus, and changed our understanding of the Solar System.
You can watch Cassini’s final act along with NASA scientists in the live stream from mission control below. The live broadcast will begin at 9 pm AEST (11am GMT, 7am EDT).
It’s expected that the signal from Cassini will cut out around 55 minutes later as the probe begins to burn up as it descends into the atmosphere. The spectacular flame-out is to ensure that no terrestrial life – in the form of possible stowaway microbes and the like – stands a chance of contaminating Saturn or its moons.
It takes about 80 minutes for signals to reach Earth from Saturn. By the time the broadcast starts, Cassini will already be gone.