SpaceX' billionaire founder and chief executive Elon Musk announced Wednesday, April 27 via Twitter that he plans to send a Dragon capsule to land on the red planet as early as 2018, the Associated Press reports.
The Mars spacecraft will be called Red Dragon, Musk said. No astronauts will accompany Red Dragon on this first test flight. Musk said he wouldn't recommend transporting crews in Dragons beyond the moon; its internal volume is only about the size of an SUV.
California-based SpaceX already is using Dragons for space station supply runs, and the company could start transporting Americans to the International Space Station by the end of next year.
Musk said the upgraded Dragon is designed to land anywhere in the solar system.
