A SpaceX drone captured this view of Booster 7 shortly after the test, with the surrounding infrastructure not appearing worse for wear. In a tweet posted yesterday after the test, Musk said he’s “congenitally optimistic” about a human presence on Mars in the very near future, saying five years from now is “possible” and 10 years “highly likely.” That humans could land on Mars in the 2030s is not entirely unrealistic; NASA itself, through its Moon-to-Mars program, is aiming for a first landing during the late 2030s or early 2040s.
Musk’s comments are still deserving of scorn, however, as the CEO still insists that Starship can ship one million colonists to Mars by 2050. That would require his company to transport an astounding number of people to the Red Planet in 17 years, assuming a first landing in 2033. Musk has outlined a strategy to that effect, but I beg to differ.