Space X has announced on Wednesday, April 27, that as early as 2018 the company plans to launch an upgraded Dragon capsule for an unpiloted test flight to Mars.
According to CBS News, NASA will provide technical support to Space X in exchange for space flight data including entry, descent and landing information. The "Red Dragon" spacecraft will use a powerful Falcon 9 heavy-lift booster that is still untried so far.
Space X designed "Red Dragon" as a variant of the spacecraft that will carry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The commercial space company will land the "Red Dragon" on Mars presumably using eight Super Draco engines.
The engines are designed by Space X to allow astronauts descending to a powered landing back on Earth at the end of a space mission or to help a station-bound crew escape a malfunctioning booster during the climb to space. Space X plans to also use Red Dragons to explore the Mars environment.
Elon Musk, Space X founder and CEO, has envisioned since long an eventual colonization on Mars. Sending a spacecraft to the Red Planet would be just the first step of his ambitious project.
Musk said that the "Dragon 2" will be able to land anywhere in our solar system but he did not provide more details about the unpiloted test flight. He just added that Space X Red Dragon spacecraft is not recommended for "transporting astronauts beyond Earth-moon region" due to its small size that would be uncomfortable for longer journeys.
A NASA spokesman declared that NASA will build on an existing no-funds-exchanged collaboration with Musk's commercial space company. According to The Washington Post, the partnership between NASA and Space X is an example of the important shift in the role NASA is playing in space exploration. The American space agency will continue to pursue its own deep space missions while helping in supporting a robust commercial space industry.
