Elon Musk To Discuss Plans Of Landing on Mars

NASA has been planning a crewed landing on the Red Planet since the first man landed on the moon. Due to restrictions set by congress and presidents, however, they were never able to do so.

Fortunately, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Space X, decided to take a Mars Landing in his own hands. He announced that he's planning on launching his first unmanned Mars Mission by 2018 -- beating NASA's goal of putting people on the surface by the 2030s.

Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come pic.twitter.com/u4nbVUNCpA

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 27, 2016

Musk's plan was straighforward -- and promising. According to Time Magazine, the Red Dragon is the type of versatile ship that you would want with you on your Mars journey. It's cousin, the Dragon, already made numerous uncrewed runs to the International Space Station, and by next year, it could carry with its supplies some astronauts as well.

The Red Dragon will be even better: it will land on its legs with the help of engines, not drop in the ocean with a parachute. The Engines are liquid-fueled and throttleable, so you can step on the gas or ease back, making for a soft landing that is required for such a landing.

The Irish Examiner also noted that the Red Dragon can land anywhere in the solar system, and may already be launched aboard the upgraded Space X Falcon rocket that will debut at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida by the end of the year.

He also promised additional details regarding the Mars plan, even discussing his approach on a possible city establishment at an aerospace meeting in Mexico come September.

“I think it’s going to sound pretty crazy. So it should be at least entertaining," he said.