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Elon Musk wants to send five big uncrewed Starship rockets to Mars in two years’ time, when the next launch window opens that would enable the trip to be made in months rather than years. Reuters reports that if those missions go to plan Musk now wants to send the first humans two years later, in 2028. These punchy targets may be intended to distract attention from the fact that three of the last four Starship launches have ended in fiery failure, causing consternation at Nasa, which is relying on this very spacecraft to take its astronauts back to the moon. But it does seem increasingly likely that the first humans on Mars will be flown there by SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, rather than a nation state. Separately, an asteroid the size of two giraffes will appear in Earth’s orbit as a mini-moon for 57 days starting next Sunday.
