When Elon Musk teased a major announcement on “Making Life Multiplanetary” recently, his X post quickly attracted more than 35 million views, reflecting widespread public interest in the billionaire’s promise to unveil new milestones in his vision to colonise Mars. 

But just hours before the event, Musk postponed the presentation, stating it would follow the ninth test flight of SpaceX’s 400-foot Starship megarocket.

The launch itself, which took place from his Texas headquarters, Starbase, drew over 1.1 million live viewers on X. This critical step in his Mars plans, however, ended in failure with the spacecraft losing control during re-entry and disintegrating roughly after 35 minutes into flight over the Southern Atlantic.

The mission failed to deploy its test payload, marking the third significant setback for SpaceX’s Starship programme in 2025. Just hours later, he announced that he was stepping down from his post as a special government employee leading DOGE in the Trump administration, ending a high-profile role that had shaped the past year’s political and budgetary direction of US space policy. 

His departure followed a public clash with President Trump over the administration’s “big beautiful bill,” a legislative package that included tax cuts and immigration measures but significantly increased the federal deficit. 

The dual developments, an unsuccessful Starship launch and Musk’s political exit, have raised fresh questions about the immediate future of his multiplanetary agenda, even as he revealed a new timeline last night for launching an uncrewed Mars mission by the end of 2026.

Back in 2011, the SpaceX CEO had expressed hopes of reaching the Red Planet within a decade. Though 14 years later, the mission has yet to leave Earth.

In 2016, during a presentation in Guadalajara, he initially aimed to launch a cargo mission to Mars by 2022, followed by a crewed flight in 2024, though neither timeline has been met. 

In 2017, he promised private lunar tourism by 2018, a target that also slipped. By 2022, Musk acknowledged that the earliest feasible date for sending humans to Mars would likely be 2029.

In a video released on Thursday, Musk announced a new target: the first uncrewed Starship mission to Mars is now expected by the end of 2026.

The date coincides with a rare orbital alignment of Earth and Mars, enabling a shorter transit time of seven to nine months. However, he admitted there’s only a “50-50 chance” of meeting that deadline, and if not, the mission will have to wait until the next window in 2028.

While each new timeline renews public attention, the repeated delays mean doubts remain over whether Musk’s vision of a multiplanetary future will be realised on schedule.

According to experts, SpaceX’s Starship system remains far from ready, with additional years of testing likely needed before any deep space missions can be realistically considered.

‘‘Starship is undergoing its testing phase, had some successes, had a few failures. It’s still a modest number of tests…less than 10,’’ says Chris Impey, a professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. 

“We can predict that they're going to keep testing until it works flawlessly on Earth, taking off and then landing again. That's a minimum requirement to even start talking about going to Mars. So that's another year or so just to…start talking about going beyond Earth.’’ he adds.

Are we ready for Mars?

One of the biggest obstacles in sending human crews to Mars at present remains the vast quantity of resources required not only for the journey, but also for survival on the Martian surface. 

As Impey explains: “The sheer amount of life support you need; food, water, oxygen and fuel is prodigious. This is not a short undertaking. It’s a two-year mission, minimum. And it doesn't matter if you send three or six people, the requirements are enormous either way.” 

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), astronauts currently rely entirely on food supplies from Earth, a model that is unsustainable for long-duration missions. 

In response, NASA’s Advanced Food Technology team at the Johnson Space Center is working to develop systems that can sustainably produce food on Mars while minimising waste. 

Another technical issue blocking Starship’s path to Mars is that a landing facility has to be built on the planet’s surface before the first humans arrive, according to a study.

Addressing such infrastructure needs, NASA’s Game Changing Development programme at the Marshall Space Flight Center is exploring the use of large-scale robotic 3D printing for construction on other planets.

In addition to fuel constraints, life support demands, and the need for autonomous infrastructure, Mars’ thin atmosphere, shortage of greenhouse gases, and lack of a magnetic field further complicate the path to human settlement, keeping the prospect of colonisation a distant goal.

Musk, Trump, and the political gravity of space

Ever since Trump assumed office in his second term, media coverage has visibly and consistently highlighted the expanding role of DOGE in directing space-related funding, particularly in the case of SpaceX.

Despite deep cuts to NASA’s overall budget, the Trump administration’s decision to allocate $1 billion specifically to Mars-focused initiatives signals institutional alignment with Musk’s ongoing goal of multiplanetary colonisation. 

By prioritising Mars over other scientific missions and retiring programmes like the SLS and Orion spacecraft, the administration appears to be streamlining efforts around systems like SpaceX’s Starship. 

However, political backing and targeted allocations may still fall short of the required funding for the infrastructure, technology and testing of the human mission to Mars. 

Having underscored the gap between rhetoric and execution, Prof Impey feels that even Trump’s visible support for Musk has not translated into long-term budget commitments without clear and specified contracts for comprehensive space research.

“SpaceX would not exist without those multi-billion dollar contracts,” he notes, emphasising that aside from limited tourism revenue, the company has “no revenue stream substantial enough” to support its broader ambitions. 

Without concrete financial commitments, “even the most minimal Mars vision is a trillion-dollar thing”. Given the scale of SpaceX’s objectives, public funding alone may fall short. 

Securing the necessary resources could depend on partnerships with international agencies pursuing similar interplanetary goals, such as the European Space Agency. 

Overall, the mission requires far more than political endorsement to become a reality. Despite Musk’s declarations about building a self-sustaining colony on Mars, the economics of such a vision seems to remain out of reach for now.

Beyond rockets: What it really takes to build a future on Mars

In a recent interview, Musk described going to Mars as a form of “life insurance” for humanity, arguing that the Sun will eventually render Earth uninhabitable. 

“To ensure the long-term survival of civilisation,” in his words, a self-sustaining city on the Martian surface will ultimately be necessary. 

Framing Mars as a contingency plan for humanity’s survival also raises important questions and potential drawbacks. 

“If we’re trying to create a backup for the human species…we’ll have to think about the hard questions of lifeboat ethics: who do we save, and who gets left behind?” Erika Nesvold, astrophysicist and the author of ‘Off-Earth’, tells TRT World. 

The billionaire-led efforts to colonise Mars risk perpetuating the social and economic inequalities and exclusions of the Earth in cosmic settings as well. “If early Martian settlements are only accessible to the ultra-wealthy or elite astronauts from a few powerful countries, we risk reproducing the same global inequities off Earth,” says Nesvold. 

According to her, Mars may become less a new beginning and more a cosmic continuation of extractive, unjust systems. 

“We’ve learned that lesson on Earth already, over and over throughout human history, and we’re still dealing with the environmental damage, labour exploitation, and political oppression produced by this economic system and its accompanying mindset.”

As the dust settles on the failed Starship flight and Musk’s abrupt political exit, the future of multiplanetary vision remains suspended between ambition and reality.

While the dream of colonising Mars continues to capture global imagination, experts warn that without scientific feasibility, sustained funding, and ethical foresight, it risks becoming elite-driven and out of reach for most people. 

Whether Musk returns with a revised roadmap following his departure as a special government employee or not, one thing remains clear: making life multiplanetary will demand far more than rockets and rhetoric.