Mars. The Red Planet.
Our celestial neighbor has tantalized stargazers and scientists alike for centuries. As well as some billionaires.
That reddish dot in the night sky.
We’re closer than ever to uncovering his secrets firsthand.
So, when are we going to Mars?
It’s the million-dollar question (or billion-dollar, given the cost of space exploration).
Let’s dive into the past, present, and future of our Martian adventures and try to pin down a timeline for that giant leap for mankind.
Martian Greatest Hits
Before we talk about boots on Martian ground, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane.
Our robotic emissaries have been doing the grunt work for decades, paving the way for human explorers.
Remember the Viking missions in the ’70s?
Those twin landers were the first to successfully touch down on Mars, beaming back panoramas that had scientists and space enthusiasts alike glued to their screens.
A postcard from an alien world.
Fast forward to the late ’90s and early 2000s, and we’ve got a veritable zoo of rovers scuttling about the Martian surface.
Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity – these plucky little robots were like the Lewis and Clark of Mars, mapping out uncharted territory and making groundbreaking discoveries.
And let’s not forget Curiosity, the SUV-sized rover that touched down in 2012 with all the drama of a Hollywood blockbuster.
That “seven minutes of terror” during its landing.
Curiosity has been like that overachieving student in class, constantly raising its hand with new and exciting findings about Mars’ past habitability.
More recently, we’ve welcomed Perseverance to the Martian family, along with its sidekick, the Ingenuity helicopter.
Watching Ingenuity take flight on another planet? That was a “Wright brothers” moment for the 21st century if I ever saw one.
Where We Stand Today
Here we are in 2024, with multiple space agencies and private companies all eyeing the Red Planet.
NASA, SpaceX, China’s space agency – they’re all in the race, each with their own roadmap to Mars.
NASA’s playing the long game with its Moon to Mars program. The idea is to use the Moon as a cosmic stepping stone, a place to test out the tech we’ll need for Mars.
Their Artemis program aims to get boots back on the Moon by 2025, establishing a permanent lunar presence by the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Elon Musk is, well, being Elon Musk. He’s thrown out ambitious timelines for Mars missions that have made even seasoned space enthusiasts raise their eyebrows.
China, not to be left out, has also announced plans for Mars. They’ve already successfully landed a rover on Mars (Zhurong), and they’re talking about a crewed mission in the 2030s.
When Will We Get There?
Alright, so when are we actually going to see a human bootprint in that red Martian dust?
NASA, ever the cautious older sibling of space agencies, is eyeing the late 2030s or early 2040s for their first crewed Mars mission.
That might seem like a long time, but remember – space is hard.
We’re talking about sending humans on a minimum six-month journey (each way!) to a planet that’s actively trying to kill them.
No pressure…
SpaceX, on the other hand, is shooting for the 2020s, with Musk famously claiming he’d get humans to Mars by 2024 (spoiler alert: we didn’t).
While SpaceX’s timelines tend to be… let’s say optimistic, they’re making impressive strides with their Starship development.
Realistically, I’d put my money on seeing humans on Mars sometime in the 2030s. It could be NASA, it could be a private company, or it could be an international collaboration.
But barring any major setbacks, I think that’s a reasonable bet.
The Road Ahead
Don’t get me wrong — there are still plenty of hurdles to overcome before we can start booking our Martian vacations.
Radiation exposure during the journey, the psychological effects of long-term space travel, and the challenges of landing and surviving on Mars are just a few of the biggies.
But the possibilities?
They’re as vast as space itself.
A human mission to Mars could revolutionize our understanding of the planet’s geology and potential for past or present life.
It could drive technological innovations that benefit life on Earth. And perhaps most importantly, it could unite humanity in a common goal, reminding us that we’re all members of the same species, whether we hail from New York, New Delhi, or New Mars City.
