The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla Inc.
Musk acknowledged that his latest timeline for reaching Mars hinged on whether Starship could accomplish a number of challenging technical feats during its flight-test development, particularly a post-launch refuelling manoeuvre in Earth’s orbit.
A Starship test-launch in 2024. File photo: SpaceX via AFP
The end of 2026 would coincide with a slim window that occurs once every two years when Mars and Earth align around the sun for the closest trip between the two planets, which would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft.
Musk gave his company a 50-50 chance of meeting that deadline. If Starship were not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again, Musk suggested in the video.