SpaceX Is Delaying Its Mars Mission, Needs To Refocus

SpaceX has a change of plans. The aim for Mars in the coming year 2018 will be rescheduled. The private space company's plan to launch a robotic mission to Mars or the popularly known as the Red Dragon mission will be delayed for two more years.

The Verge reported that the president of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, mentioned the delay last Friday in a press conference. The estimated year for the Mars mission is moved to 2020.

Given the delay, it would allow SpaceX to refocus on other things. Of such things are its earthly ambitions in the near term before targeting its plans on traveling to Mars.

Shotwell said that, "We were focused on 2018, but we felt like we needed to put more resources and focus more heavily on our crew program and our Falcon Heavy program, so we're looking more in the 2020 time frame for that."

If the future 2020 mission would push through, it would require SpaceX to send the Dragon spacecraft to Mars with the help of the company's Falcon Heavy rocket, which is the largest launcher that SpaceX has ever built. It is also made for the heavy payloads and to go further in the distant parts of the Solar System.

However, SpaceX has not yet conducted a launch to test flight the Falcon Heavy. Nonetheless, Shotwell is confident that the rocket will be flying its first mission by this summer.

Meanwhile, Mashable reported that Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has also shown his grand plan to launch a crewed mission going to the planet Mars in the target year of 2024. Not only that, the plan of creating a city on the Red Planet is following in the year 2060s. However, these plans are still floating as they cannot tell what will happen in the years to come.

As follows, according to Shotwell, it would be exciting once the Red Dragon mission takes flight. SpaceX will be able to carry experiment for science and other payloads to the Mars' surface with it.