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Musk’s Most Harebrained Idea Yet

Sending robots to Mars!

Musk has said some really dumb shit over the years. The only person who can realistically beat him when it comes to spouting bullshit is the Dorito Bonito himself. Occasionally, both men rabbit on about something that sounds like it could be true, but digging deeper exposes the cavernous extent of just how fallacious they are. For example, a few days ago, Musk posted this message on X: “Slight chance of Starship flight to Mars crewed by Optimus in Nov/Dec next year. A lot needs to go right for that. — More likely, first flight without humans in ~3.5 years, next flight ~5.5 years with humans. — Mars city self-sustaining in 20 to 30 years.” The statement “A lot needs to go right for that” is heavy lifting so hard that it puts Atlas to shame. So, strap in, and let’s dive down this rabbit hole.

Starship has had nine test flights so far. Yet, no Starship has entered Low Earth Orbit (LEO), no Starship has delivered a payload to LEO, it’s only been able to launch with less than 20% of its designed payload, it hasn’t even tried to demonstrate orbital cryogenic fuel transfer (which is crucial for its mission briefs), and no Starship has landed its upper stage successfully. Every launch has ended in “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, which is a gem of a euphemism, and one rocket even exploded before it launched while it was being…