SpaceX Plans for Mission to Mars

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SpaceX Plans Mars Mission for 2018

SpaceX, the private space-travel technology company, is headed for the Red Planet. The company announced plans this week to send several spacecraft to Mars “as soon as 2018.” The goal is to “help demonstrate the technologies needed to land large payloads” on Mars.

SpaceX also hopes to learn more about the “overall Mars architecture,” especially the extent to which the planet could be colonized by humans. SpaceX plans to use its Dragon spacecraft for the mission. However, the craft will not have astronauts on board. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that the Dragon shouldn’t be used for transporting humans. That’s because its capsule is about the size of the inside of an SUV and “wouldn’t be fun for long journeys.”

What do you think the scientists will find when the space craft lands on mars?