Ambitious, but it feels like science fiction right now. The principles seem reasonable, but we have no reason to believe that SpaceX is capable of pulling this off in the foreseeable future. We'll see if Musk can convincingly explain it in his speech in 40 minutes.
Also interesting to note how close fan speculation actually got to the truth: http://imgur.com/a/87OOT
> but we have no reason to believe that SpaceX is capable of pulling this off in the foreseeable future
Based on what they've achieved so far, I see no reason to believe they are not capable.
It's been their goal since day one, so it seems they will go after it as hard as they went after their achievements to date, which has far surpassed expectations.
TL;DR - Big rocket launches, refuels, and heads to Mars on solar power.
I'm hoping there are more details about living conditions, habitats on planet, and other aspects of such a trip. While other companies may eventually provide solutions to those parts of an expedition, I fully expect SpaceX to have to figure it out for the first few trips...
The solar panels seems to be designed to catch some solar wind (if that's even viable), in addition to generate electricity, but the engine works with fuel. There is no (yet) any full electric space engine.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 25.0 ms ] threadAlso interesting to note how close fan speculation actually got to the truth: http://imgur.com/a/87OOT
Based on what they've achieved so far, I see no reason to believe they are not capable.
It's been their goal since day one, so it seems they will go after it as hard as they went after their achievements to date, which has far surpassed expectations.
I'm hoping there are more details about living conditions, habitats on planet, and other aspects of such a trip. While other companies may eventually provide solutions to those parts of an expedition, I fully expect SpaceX to have to figure it out for the first few trips...