{
  "id": 14507917,
  "title": "SpaceX's Starship just turned 10 years old. When will it go to Mars?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/spacexs-starship-just-turned-10-years-old-when-will-it-go-to-mars",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-14T18:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Space.com",
    "slug": "space-com",
    "url": "https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacexs-starship-just-turned-10-years-old-when-will-it-go-to-mars"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ten years ago, in September 2014, SpaceX unveiled its Starship design at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, with the ambitious goal of carrying humans to Mars. However, the company has made significant progress since then. On September 28, 2024, a decade and a day later, Starship achieved its first orbit during its 14th test flight. Over the past decade, Starship has evolved from the carbon fiber Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) to the stainless-steel Starship, which SpaceX began testing in 2019. After initial failures, Starship successfully landed in May 2021, and NASA selected it as the first astronaut lander for Artemis lunar missions. In 2024, SpaceX tested propellant transfer between Ship tanks, a critical step for future missions to the moon or Mars. Despite the progress, several challenges remain, including the need for large-scale cryogenic propellant transfer and a successful mission to Mars. Elon Musk has expressed a 50/50 chance of Starship making a run for Mars in 2026, but the timeline is uncertain, with the next low-energy orbital transfer opportunity for the Red Planet not until late 2028.",
  "summary": "A decade after Elon Musk publicly unveiled plans for the fully reusable megarocket, Starship has reached orbit. How far away is Mars?",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}