Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and SpaceX owner, has claimed that his Starship rocket can reach Mars in just six months, instead of the anticipated time of 10 years.
Starship is one of the crucial factors in the billionaire's plans, as he plans to set up a colony on the planet.
The incident took place on Monday, when a user shared a post on the social media platform X (formerly called Twitter) that mentioned how long a commercial airline would take to travel to various planets in a solar system.
To which the SpaceX owner, Musk, replied in one line, highlighting the rocket's space flight capabilities, saying, "Starship can reach Mars in 6 months every 26 months when the planets align."
Musk's comment comes in as SpaceX gets approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch its Starship rocket again after two failures in early 2025. Moreover, previously, the company had received approval to boost the rocket's launches from its Texas launch site.
On the other hand, SpaceX has also been working closely with the present US president, Donald Trump and his Golden missile defence project.
As soon as the comment of Elon Musk surfaced on the internet, netizens quickly shared their reactions, and it sparked an online debate.
One said, "Do you think we could ever decrease that time to under 1 month ?"
While another added, "345 years to reach Uranus...", one questioned at what speed?"
"So you¡¯re gonna go from humans going 642 miles into space to 140million miles into space? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to do like 2 million first, just to try it?
According to Mint, SpaceX is gearing up for its next space mission, and Musk is quite ambitious about the project as it has got a boost, with a date set for 2026.
The Tesla owner's comment on the post is based on the current speeds and their distance from Earth. Through his comment, Musk is referring to what scientists term as an 'opposition', and this is when, during their revolutions around the Sun, Earth and Mars catch up, and Earth is placed between the central star and the red planet.
While such oppositions only happen every 26 months or so, with Mars getting closest to our home, Earth. This happens mainly during the interval of 15 to 17 years of time, as per NASA.
To stay updated on the stories that are going viral, follow Indiatimes?Trending.??