"One step back, two forward" seems to be one of the many ideas that govern SpaceX and Elon Musk. The recent explosion of its rocket at Cape Canaveral set off several alarm bells, but their vision remains intact: Today we lost a rocket, tomorrow we will be on Mars and beyond. How does Elon Musk plan to turn that vision into reality? Although we already have some clues, within a few hours he will give what several specialized press portals call "the speech of his life" at the International Astronautical Congress being held in Mexico.
The investigation continues
There are still many details to investigate about the explosion suffered by one of SpaceX's rockets at the beginning of this month. Preliminary signs point to a failure in the cryogenic helium system of the liquid oxygen tank in the second stage of the rocket, but the process is far from over, and it also involves resolving economic conflicts. The Israeli company Spacecom demands "50 million dollars or a free flight" for the explosion, and something tells us that story will be quite long. Even so, SpaceX does not stop looking to the future, and with Elon Musk himself as spokesperson, it will present its plan to turn humanity into a "multiplanetary species".
https://www.youtube.com/embed/A1YxNYiyALgThe plan beyond Mars
In about eleven hours (at the time of writing these lines), Elon Musk will take the stage at the International Astronautical Congress to share with the whole world his goals, which, by the way, are not limited to Mars. On September 16, Musk revealed that the "Mars Colonial Transport" project could go "far beyond Mars" and therefore needs another name. The new term is "Interplanetary Transport System", and according to available information, it could reach Venus, the asteroid Ceres, and of course, the Moon. Add to this some images from the test of the new Raptor engine, three times more powerful than the current Merlin 1D. The Raptor is just one piece of the complex puzzle that SpaceX must solve, but there is no doubt that progress is being made.
The coalition needed
For that reason, all eyes will turn to Guadalajara within a few hours. Elon Musk has a plan, but neither he nor SpaceX can face the great challenge alone. His vision requires allies: scientists, industrialists, and governments. The only way we could reach Mars as SpaceX imagines it is by forming a great coalition, and it is impossible to deny that there are great interests at stake. In other words, going to Mars comes down to a matter of money, and the chances that that money comes exclusively from NASA and the US government are slim. The "live stream" of SpaceX is above, don't miss it!
