An interactive infographic
Making life
multiplanetary
How SpaceX plans to get to Mars, how long the trip takes, and when a city might actually appear: from the official plan to the most likely scenario.
Mini-game · Mission control
Can you hit the launch window?
Earth and Mars line up for an efficient trip only once every ~26 months. Watch the planets, wait for the right moment and press LAUNCH: get it right and your Starship lands on Mars, get it wrong and it drifts past an empty orbit.
- Earth–Mars distance
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- Radio delay (one way)
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- Next launch window
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Your mission: land on Mars
- Time is running: Earth and Mars orbit the Sun at different speeds.
- The dashed line is where your ship would fly. The dashed circle is where Mars will be when you arrive.
- When the needle hits the green GO zone, the circle sits on the arrow’s tip: press LAUNCH (or Space).
Planet positions come from real orbital elements (simplified). Launch windows are found numerically as the moments when a minimum-energy transfer leaving Earth meets Mars on arrival. Green dots on the timeline mark each window.
The mission, step by step
Starship's architecture relies on full reuse, refueling in orbit and making propellant on Mars.
How long is the trip?
It depends on how much energy you spend. Starship trades propellant (refilled in orbit) for speed.
Timeline: from dream to city
What happened, what was promised, and what is most likely. Switch scenario to compare.
“Most probable” is an editorial estimate built from: Musk's Feb 2026 announcement of a 5–7 year delay to prioritise the Moon, SpaceX's own “cargo no earlier than 2028”, and the long history of slipping Mars dates (2016 promised a 2025 landing). It is not an official SpaceX schedule.
What could stop it
The hardest problems aren't the rocket.
The scale of a city
SpaceX's end goal, in numbers.
Why Mars?
Not the easiest neighbour, but the most livable one we can reach.