【】

In April 2016, SpaceX made the bold proclamation that it will send a robotic mission to Mars by 2018. 。
Today, the Elon Musk-founded company is singing a different tune. 。
Instead of aiming for the 2018 deadline, SpaceX will now try to launch a robotic mission to Mars -- known as its Red Dragon mission -- two years later, in 2020, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said during a press conference Friday. 。
SEE ALSO:SpaceX's historic rocket launch Saturday could end in another dramatic landing。This delay will allow the company to refocus on other more, earthly ambitions in the near term before setting its sights on Mars down the road.。

"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," Shotwell said.。

The 2020 mission should involve sending a Dragon spacecraft to Mars using the company's Falcon Heavy rocket -- the largest launcher SpaceX has ever built, designed for heavy payloads and distant parts of the solar system.。
SpaceX has yet to launch a test flight of the Falcon Heavy, but Shotwell is confident the rocket should fly on its first mission by this summer. 。
Thanks for signing up!。
Musk has also expressed his grand plan to launch a crewed mission to the red planet by around 2024, with a city on Mars coming sometime after that, perhaps in the 2060s, though those plans are still very much up in the air. 。
Once the Red Dragon mission takes flight, it will be exciting. According to Shotwell, SpaceX will carry science experiments and other payloads to the Martian surface with it.。

Artist's illustration of SpaceX's Dragon on Mars.Credit: spacex 。
In June 2015, a Falcon 9 rocket exploded after launching toward the International Space Station from Florida, and in September 2016, another Falcon 9 exploded during a test before launch. 。
While SpaceX has weathered those failures (and according to Shotwell, they could weather another if it had to), it has caused some industry experts to question whether the company is up to their ambitious tasks. 。
The independent U.S. Government Accountability Office recently reviewed SpaceX's progress toward launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard crewed Dragon capsules and found that the company will not meet their original 2017 crew launch date.。
Boeing, the other company under contract with NASA for these types of launches, will also miss that original deadline. 。
The office found that those human launches could slip until 2019, though Shotwell said SpaceX will meet its 2018 goal.。
The office found that those human launches could slip until 2019, though Shotwell said SpaceX will meet its 2018 goal. 。
Featured Video For You。
相关文章
Chinese gymnastics team horrifies crowd with human jump rope
Awesome. Also, ouch.。The Chinese acrobatic team wowed and horrified the crowd at the Rio Olympic gym2025-04-03Kenan Thompson would reboot 'Kenan & Kel' but 'with a twist'
With 28+ years of television and movie credits under his belt and as the longest-tenured Saturday Ni2025-04-03'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for August 20
Saturdays are the best days to play Quordle aren't they? You have plenty of time to think over each2025-04-03Disney+ will stream 'Thor: Love and Thunder' on September 8. What we know so far.
UPDATE: Aug. 22, 2022, 2:28 p.m. GMT Disney+ confirmed in a tweet that Thor: Love and Thunder will b2025-04-03This 'sh*tpost' bot makes terrible memes so you don't have to
The internet is awash in trashy memes just waiting for your late-night retweet spree. Why waste prec2025-04-03Samsung announces data breach affecting undisclosed number of customers
Samsung users should be on alert about a July data breach of U.S. customer personal data, only just2025-04-03
最新评论