On Wednesday, the company teased the launch of its “Red Dragon” on Twitter, intended to “inform overall Mars architecture.”
Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come pic.twitter.com/u4nbVUNCpA
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) 27 апреля 2016 г.
A company spokesperson detailed that the major goal of the mission will be to find a safe method of landing large payloads on the surface of Mars, a planet with a very low-density atmosphere, compared with Earth.
Dragon 2 is designed to be able to land anywhere in the solar system. Red Dragon Mars mission is the first test flight.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 27 апреля 2016 г.
Red Dragon, designed for long-range outer space missions, will use an upgraded version of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft.The spaceship will be powered by eight SuperDraco engines that will provide enough propulsive capability for a soft landing on the Martian surface, Ars Technica reported.
SpaceX will launch the Red Dragon spacecraft atop its Falcon Heavy rocket, a newer version of the Falcon rocket, it has tested recently.
The SpaceX mission, if successful, will be the first interplanetary travel conducted by a commercial enterprise. After the first mission, SpaceX intends to use the Red Dragon to explore space areas beyond Mars.
Musk has promised to provide details on a hypothetical city to be built on Mars, at the upcoming September 2016 Aeronautical Conference.
