SpaceX
How does SpaceX measure up to other Mars-destined challengers? [Countdown to Mars, Part 1]
SpaceX isn’t the only organization with eyes set on the skies of Mars. There are other dreamers with their own plans and technology. How does SpaceX measure up?

If it wasn’t entirely clear before, it is now with all the recent announcements from SpaceX: Elon Musk said “Mars”, and he really meant Mars. While Falcon 9 hits milestone after milestone, SpaceX inches closer and closer to “boots on the ground” in red, Martian regolith.
SpaceX isn’t the only organization with eyes set on Martian skies, however. There are other dreamers with their own plans and technology, NASA being a “given” of course. After all, if we’re going to Mars, it’s natural to expect the agency that sent humans to the moon to have something to say about sending humans to another planetary body.
Who all is planning on going to Mars?
To be clear, the Mars planners I’m referring to here are developing full missions for human transport, not just robotics. Further, I’m narrowing the criteria to only include those actively developing the technology rather than working on related scientific studies, developing artistic concepts, engineering helpful devices, and so forth.
In that light, it seems the field thus far consists of two other major players besides SpaceX.
NASA
Aptly named, NASA’s “Journey to Mars” program consists of developing all the capabilities needed to achieve what its designation implies. Their vision comprises the development of their next generation rocket, the Space Launch System, coupled with a crew capsule called Orion.
The Space Launch System has three primary components: One main core and two solid rocket boosters, most components being either derived or upgraded from space shuttle technology. The plan is to “evolve” the configurations through three “blocks”, the third of which will be capable of handling all of the payload needs for a mission to Mars.
The Orion capsule, nicknamed “Apollo on steroids”, is very similar to the capsules used in the Apollo programs, but with significant upgrades such as the heat shield that must handle higher reentry speeds. Further, it will house up to four astronauts (one more than Apollo) while supported by a service module, i.e., a connected structure that will provide resources such as power and oxygen. Overall, it’s about three feet wider than the Apollo capsules, an expansion which translates into a much roomier space square-footage wise.
Somewhere in NASA’s mix is an Asteroid Redirect Mission that involves capturing an asteroid, bringing it into orbit around the moon, and sending crews there to land and study it. Don’t see how that’s really related to Mars? Neither do I, but it’s included on all the “Journey to Mars” posters so it must be. I think I’ve heard people try and explain why the moon wouldn’t suffice for any Mars-related training as well, but I’m personally not convinced enough to really cite the argument. I’m not alone in that confusion, either.
Personally, I’d prefer the pure scientific study of an asteroid to be the justification for the mission, or maybe even “practice” for a future Armageddon event, but when everyone is drumming for Mars, I guess you do what you can. I’ve read that NASA attempted to market it as both of those, but the attempts weren’t successful.
Oh, wait. They changed “asteroid” to “large boulder on an asteroid”. I wonder why? Some of their pages are still citing the original mission… Perhaps it was always either/or?
Speaking of that poster, there’s a space habitat and Mars transfer craft listed, but no other details are provided. NASA’s political and budgetary constraints seem to be limiting any details about how they plan on getting to Mars (landing in particular) once SLS and Orion are flying. These types of restrictions are the reason NASA even has other contenders for the mission, although those same challengers are the ones pushing the journey into the public drumming in the first place.
Mars One
Mars One is a non-profit foundation which hopes to send astronauts they select and train through an in-house application process to Mars via technology they will pay to have built and launched using current service providers.
Founded by Dutch scientist-entrepreneurs Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders in 2011, Mars One is an unusual player in the Mars transport game. It is not an aerospace company, as all systems are designed and built by outsourced companies, and their planned sources of funding are private investment and the creation of a reality show documenting the astronauts’ mission from training through their first steps on Mars (although they’ve had some recent troubles with that). Mars One would also like you to purchase plenty of merchandise in the meantime to support their efforts and have even set up a “point” system to encourage this.
For their astronauts, the company solicited applications from would-be space travelers around the world via the Internet, received about two hundred thousand responses, and is now in the process of narrowing down their candidate field to a maximum of twenty-four hopefuls (six groups of four, specifically) that will train together for the next ten years before groups are shuttled off to Mars every two years.
Mars One also plans on having their entire human habitat set up by rovers prior to the first astronaut arrivals, meaning there will be several cargo missions to the surface in the lead-up years. Their first unmanned mission is planned for 2020 wherein some tech will be put to the test along with placing a communications satellite in orbit. Then, a rover and second communications satellite is planned for 2022, followed by cargo missions in 2024 to have the habitat fully operational by 2025 in advance of the first crew arrival in 2027.
Oh, by the way, their trip to Mars will be one-way. According to them, it’s a strategic choice, not a matter of insurance liability for guaranteeing return.
While all space-going organizations face criticism in one way or another, the criticism lodged at Mars One is fairly significant, some even labeling the mission as a scam. To be fair, the nature of their mission combined with the lack of government backing or a billionaire founder puts them in the position that demands fundraising to be a primary activity. Add to that an estimated mission cost of six billion dollars and skepticism quickly rises. Everything involved becomes subject to close analysis.
Their plans aren’t impossible, of course, just full of challenges without perceivable solutions. I don’t personally believe the mission is a scam, and I don’t doubt its long-term viability should the astronauts actually make it to Mars; I think they won’t be the only crews visiting the planet come the days when their intentions match their funding needs, therefore a “back up” plan is essentially built-in. However, I also see a ten-year mission plan that is placing a lot of faith in contract work that is supposed to produce what SpaceX is still working on fourteen years after-the-fact and with a much better financial portfolio.
Honorable Mention: “Mars Direct” by The Mars Society
Founded in 1998 by Dr. Robert Zubrin (and “others”), The Mars Society has made humans on Mars their business for a very long time. Since they are not an organization primarily developing & building technology to go to Mars, I have to classify them as “honorable mention”; however, their contributions to the effort should definitely be noted. Elon Musk certainly has.

Dr. Zubrin of The Mars Society introduces Elon Musk. (Credit: Chris Radcliff under CC by SA-2.0.)
“Mars Direct” is The Mars Society’s detailed plan for putting humans on Mars and, like Mars One, it focuses on building components using existing technology to achieve orbit and landing rather than depending on future developments. It advocates a “live off the land” approach that minimizes cargo needs.
The Mars Direct mission would comprise two phases. First, using a heavy lift launch vehicle, a fuel generation structure would be sent to the Martian surface to generate a Methane/Oxygen bipropellant for a return trip and to power equipment. Second, another fuel generation structure plus a crew and habitat would be sent and landed near the first structure. While in orbit, the effects of zero gravity would be mitigated by rotation of the crew vehicle via a tether connected to the spent upper stage of the transport rocket to act as an anchor. The crew missions would necessarily require a two-year length due to the orbital proximities of Earth and Mars combined with the six-month travel time each way.
Unlike Mars One, this plan has been developed with incredible detail and was published in 1991 by Dr. Zubrin, David A. Baker, and Owen Gwynne. The Mars Society also has annual conferences (this year’s will be the 19th one) which both flesh out the plan’s details and feature speakers across the aerospace spectrum discussing the various aspects. Dr. Zubrin’s book, The Case for Mars, fleshes out the plan in a more readable format, and there’s also plenty of good stuff on the Mars One website.
SpaceX’s Plan for Mars
The founding goal of SpaceX was, and still is, making humans a multiplanet species. Therefore, no incredibly detailed introduction or lengthy explanation is really needed for them when discussing companies interested in going to Mars (see: publicity). However, for the sake of being thorough (and for the sake of sake’s sake), let’s review the Musk brand for Mars.
Known for its Falcon rocket series (along with its famous founder), SpaceX isn’t hitching a ride to Mars as is Mars One, thereby avoiding the potential pitfall of being “all dressed up with nowhere to go”. They’re building their own ride: The Falcon Heavy.
Scheduled for a test launch this November, the Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket in operation since the Saturn V was used for the Apollo moon program. With three cores powered by nine Merlin engines each, Falcon Heavy will be able to haul around 120,000 pounds to low earth orbit (LEO), 50,000 pounds to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), and 30,000 pounds of payload to Mars. Just for fun, SpaceX’s website also cites a 6,400 pound payload capacity for trips to Pluto.
SpaceX is also developing their own crew capsule, the Dragon (“Red Dragon” when on its way to Mars), which will include a propulsive landing system (i.e., it can hover) via its eight SuperDraco engines. The landing system also doubles as an emergency escape system in the event that there’s a problem during launch, and while space traveling, Dragon will be supported by a “trunk” (essentially with the same function as Orion’s service module) to support missions as needed.
Now, pardon my excitement, but these things are really cool. The SuperDraco engines are doubled up and self-contained, meaning that the lander can lose up to half its engines and still land safely, and if anything goes wrong with one engine, it’s isolated to not impact the others. The engines are also 3D-printed out of Inconel, a high performance nickel-based super alloy.
Bonus level! SpaceX’s long-terms plans don’t just include short(ish) jaunts to Mars and back, although, unlike Mars One, there will be an option to return to Earth via regular cargo missions. There also may be an option with their up and coming Mars Colonial Transport vehicle.
The Mars Colonial Transporter is, at the moment, a mysterious development SpaceX is working on to achieve its goal of large-scale Martian colonization. There’s plenty of speculation about the details, but officially, even the size is being kept secret for now. Elon will only reveal it to be “So big.” A few details were shared (or speculations confirmed) during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything “ (AMA) session this past January such as:
- The second stage could be reusable
- The architecture will be completely different from the Falcon/Dragon system
- The goal payload capacity is 100 metric tons
- There is a family of methane-based engines called “Raptor” being developed by SpaceX for travel to and exploration of Mars.*
*Note: This detail wasn’t particularly new to the AMA, but there aren’t many original sources where Elon or a SpaceX executive has spoken directly about it, thus I’ve included it.
Overall, it certainly seems like SpaceX is charging ahead compared to the others that are aimed for Mars, but it’s not because of their publicity wins. Their steady march via the piece by piece development of the required technology combined with the customer-driven financial viability of the company as a rocket launch provider are key to the believably that they will actually make Mars “happen”.
Coming Up on Countdown to Mars…
SpaceX’s colonial “grand plan” reveal is what I’m counting down to with this “Countdown to Mars” article series. Scheduled for September 26th – 30th of this year, Elon Musk has stated that he will be announcing detailed plans for their Mars Colonial Transporter at the International Astronautical Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. It’s supposed to be so awesome, even Elon can hardly contain himself. To say that I’m incredibly excited as well would be a huge understatement. So I won’t. I’ll just keep writing about things related to it!
Coming up on “Countdown to Mars”…
How do these companies plan on solving some of the biggest challenges for achieving a successful mission to Mars? Then, if we are talking about permanent settlements on Mars, what will the human power structure look like? Or in other words, what kind of government will the first human Martians have?
Stay tuned!
News
Starlink nears S Korea launch as satellite internet demand rises

Starlink is poised to launch in South Korea this year, pending regulatory approvals, as global demand for low-orbit satellite connectivity surges.
On April 27, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT announced system improvements to facilitate low-orbit satellite communication services like Starlink and the U.K.’s OneWeb. Low-orbit satellites, operating at 300–1,500 km, enable high-speed internet without extensive ground infrastructure, serving remote areas, ships, and airplanes.
“If we start domestic services, high-speed Wi-Fi services will be available on airplanes, and we will be able to provide online video services (OTT) and video calls to crews on long-haul ships,” said Minister of Science and ICT Yoo Sang-im.
According to KMIB, OneWeb is awaiting approvals for cross-border supply agreements and terminal suitability assessments. SpaceX’s Starlink is also waiting for approval. In October 2024, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT notified the public about amendments to technical standards that would prevent frequent interference. After 60 days of the notice’s publication, the South Korean government is estimated to take 3-4 months to approve Starlink’s cross-board supply agreement with SpaceX.
Kim Nam-cheol, director of the Radio Policy Bureau, noted, “It is certain that (the two companies) will launch services this year, but it is difficult to specify a date as changes may occur during the consultation process.”
Starlink and OneWeb’s pending approvals in S. Korea involve ensuring compliance with local regulations, including terminal assessments for new devices. The push for satellite internet reflects a broader global trend, with S. Korea positioning itself to bridge connectivity gaps in aviation, maritime, and remote regions.
Starlink’s global reach is evident, and its usefulness increases as it expands. In January, T-Mobile used Starlink Cellular to transmit emergency alerts during LA wildfires. Meanwhile, Hawaiian and United Airlines offer Starlink Aviation for in-flight video streaming and gaming.
As Starlink expands, new competitors enter the ever-growing lob-orbit satellite communications industry. For example, Amazon’s Kuiper established a corporation in South Korea last May.
Starlink’s involvement in the Ukriane-Russia war has also led world governments to consider establishing their own satellite communications network. South Korea aims to develop its own independent satellite technology by 2030. The Asian nation plans to invest 320 billion won over six years to launch two communication units via the Nuri rocket.
Ukraine is also exploring Starlink alternatives developed by the European Union. In addition, Germany’s military, Bundeswehr, plans to build its own satellite constellation to reduce dependence on foreign networks amid geopolitical tensions.
As Starlink expands, S Korea’s regulatory and technological efforts could shape its role in the global satellite communication market, balancing foreign services with ambitions for domestic innovation.
News
Starlink India’s license faces delay due to regulatory requirements

SpaceX’s satellite internet venture Starlink has yet to secure an operating license in India. Starlink is facing regulatory delays in India despite ongoing progress.
India’s Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia confirmed that the company must meet stringent requirements before launching services in the country.
“The process is ongoing. The minute they meet all conditions — including setting up gateways in India and registering user terminals locally — we are ready to issue the license,” Scindia told local media.
The licensing process involves multiple agencies in India, including the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe). These agencies are evaluating Starlink’s compliance with India’s technical, administrative, and national security standards.
Scindia emphasized Starlink’s need for domestic registration of user terminals and local gateways to address data sovereignty and internal security concerns.
“It’s not only related to DoT but also to internal security — gateways have to be in India, any user terminal has to be registered in India…the minute they check all the boxes, which I also hope will be soon, the license should be given,” he added.
The requirements reflect India’s cautious approach to integrating foreign satellite providers into its telecom ecosystem. The delay comes amid broader industry calls for enhanced connectivity. At Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal urged regulators to support telecom operators in closing the global connectivity gap for 400 million people, particularly in rural India. He advocated for resource sharing between terrestrial and satellite operators to avoid duplicative investments.
Bharti Airtel and Jio Platforms signed agreements with SpaceX to help expand Starlink services in India. The agreements are contingent on the Indian government approving Starlink’s license.
Starlink’s potential entry into India could bolster rural connectivity, but regulatory hurdles remain a significant barrier. As the company works to meet India’s conditions, its progress is closely watched by telecom operators and regulators alike. The outcome could shape the role of satellite internet in addressing India’s digital divide, aligning with global efforts to expand access through collaborative infrastructure investments.
News
SpaceX investment fuels Alphabet’s $8 billion profit surge

Alphabet Inc.’s first-quarter profit soared, boosted by an $8 billion unrealized gain from its investment in SpaceX. Since 2015, Alphabet has been a key SpaceX investor, joining Fidelity Investments to inject $1 billion for a 10% stake in the space firm.
The tech giant reported a 46% surge in net income to $34.54 billion, driven by strong advertising revenues and the SpaceX windfall, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter. SpaceX’s valuation hit approximately $350 billion in December, cementing its status as one of the world’s most valuable private companies. The company thrives on NASA contracts and its Starlink satellite internet service, which provides direct-to-consumer connectivity.
Unlike Tesla, SpaceX has largely sidestepped public backlash tied to CEO Elon Musk despite growing scrutiny. The Tesla Takedown movement, emboldened by Tesla’s first-quarter 2025 earnings, plans to target Musk’s other ventures, including SpaceX and Starlink.
Starlink faces its own challenges abroad. For instance, Ukraine is exploring Starlink alternatives developed by the European Union. Ukraine and EU member states have become increasingly worried about Elon Musk, which is being reflected in SpaceX’s Starlink contracts on the continent. However, Starlink remains critical for Ukraine’s battlefield connectivity, with EU alternatives lagging behind SpaceX’s robust internet capabilities.
Alphabet’s financial windfall underscores SpaceX’s growing influence in the space and satellite internet sectors. The $8 billion gain from “non-marketable equity securities,” identified as SpaceX, highlights the strategic value of Alphabet’s early investment. While Tesla grapples with public and activist scrutiny, SpaceX’s government contracts and Starlink’s consumer reach provide a buffer, though not immunity, from Musk-related controversies.
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