[Micele]

Trump heeft alvast -nog eens- zijn zegen gegeven tijdens zijn toespraak eergisteren, en ook al tijdens zijn verkiezingscampagne de 9e oktober.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/s...mars-flag.html

Jan. 21, 2025

During his Inaugural Address on Monday, President Donald J. Trump again promised to launch American astronauts to Mars.

Seated nearby, Elon Musk, a political benefactor of Mr. Trump who founded SpaceX in the hope that it would one day be able to send colonists to Mars, beamed with enthusiasm and offered two thumbs up. The gargantuan Starship rocket that Mr. Musk’s company is currently developing is meant for that task.

Mr. Trump left a number of specifics unsaid, including what the new initiative would mean for NASA’s existing moon program, when astronauts would get to Mars and what other NASA programs might be cut to pay for it.

What Trump has said about Mars

Mr. Trump has mentioned landing on Mars before. During a campaign rally in Reading, Pa., on Oct. 9, he promised that this would occur during his presidency. “We will lead the world in space and reach Mars before the end of my term,” he said.

He did not specify whether he meant landing American astronauts on Mars by Jan. 20, 2029, his last day in the White House, or whether just sending a prototype of the spacecraft that would take astronauts someday further in the future would suffice.

On Monday, he said that American astronauts would “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars,” but left out when.

Separately, Mr. Musk has not been shy in making his own proclamations. In September, he said that SpaceX would launch five Starships to Mars in 2026, albeit with no one aboard, to test their ability to survive re-entry through the thin Martian atmosphere and to arrive on the surface in one piece.

Earth and Mars pass relatively close to each other once every 26 months; the next time they will be in alignment will be in late 2026. If those landers succeeded, the first people would travel at the next opportunity, in 2028, Mr. Musk said.

Mr. Musk’s timeline is thus possible, at least in terms of orbital dynamics. But many other questions remain to be answered.