A Million People on Mars by 2050?
Back in 2020, Musk tweeted that he planned to launch one thousand Starships, each carrying one hundred passengers, during ideal launch windows that happen every twenty six months. By repeating the process over several decades, he believes one million people could arrive on Mars by mid century.
But this timeline is extremely optimistic. To stay on track, launches would need to begin around the year 2029. That means sending one hundred thousand people during each launch window. SpaceX would need one thousand Starships, fully reusable and ready to go. So far, no one has landed on Mars and no Starship has returned from orbit in one piece.
The most promising test happened in March 2024, when the ship finally launched successfully but disintegrated on its way back to Earth. Musk now says the first humans could arrive on Mars in 2029. That would be a major leap from where we are today.
