Space exploration company SpaceX is a wonder. Its privately built and operated rocket ships are a science fiction fan’s dream, and they seem to accomplish new technological marvels with every passing day. And yet, if you thought SpaceX’s “Grasshopper” — the spaceship that can launch from earth, hover half a mile up in the sky, and then return to its launchpad and land on its tail — was a neat invention, well… it is.

But you’re not going to believe what Elon Musk, the company’s founder, has got up his sleeve this time.

This time, he’s aiming for Mars.

And maybe even farther.

Unleashing the Dragon
For going on two years now, SpaceX has been using its independently developed “Dragon” spacecraft to ferry supplies to the International Space Station. But within two to three years, the company aims to have Dragon ready to carry astronauts on manned spaceflight missions, as well.

As part of that goal, SpaceX announced Thursday that it has just completed “qualification testing” on the engine that will power the escape capsule on Dragon once it is carrying human crew — and assuming there is a need to escape. Dubbed the “SuperDraco thruster,” SpaceX says this is also the engine that will enable such capsules to land on “another planet with pinpoint accuracy.” So already, SpaceX is looking ahead to the advent of manned space missions to explore other planets.

And even that is not all. According to SpaceX, each SuperDraco engine “can be restarted multiple times if necessary” — so the engine appears to be designed for use on reusable spacecraft, a concept SpaceX is testing with Grasshopper.

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To Mars and beyond
Elon Musk aims to accomplish three main goals with the three companies he currently controls. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), his electric car company, will usher in an age of cheap, clean, battery-powered vehicles — and usher out the internal combustion engine. SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY), which leases solar panels, will help to generate the electric power needed to run the Teslas. (And in a virtuous cycle, the same factory that Musk is building to manufacture batteries for Teslas, can be used to manufacture batteries that can store electricity generated by SolarCity).

With his third company, SpaceX (the only one still not public — and the only one believed to be earning a profit), Musk wants to go to Mars, and eventually colonize the Red Planet. For that, he’ll need a spacecraft capable of not just getting there, but engines capable of landing carbon-based lifeforms on the surface, accurately and safely. The SuperDraco thruster, and the Grasshopper, are crucial to this goal.

As his company develops proficiency in space travel and space tech, Musk says he thinks the first manned missions aimed at colonizing Mars could begin as soon as a decade from now. With any luck, that will give SpaceX time to conduct an IPO — so that we can invest in it before he gets there.

 

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