BREAKING: SpaceX Sending Humanoid Robot to Mars
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Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. I'm thrilled to share some exciting news with you. Over the next two weeks, we're evolving. We'll be broadening our focus to cover all the tech titans shaping our world. And with that, our show will become stage zero. You'll still get the latest insights on Elon Musk, plus so much more. So stay tuned for our official relaunch at stage zero coming up.

Coming soon. Now let's get into this episode. Sometime late next year, a SpaceX Starship, the rocket is taller than a 15-story building and as wide as your house, breaks through Earth's atmosphere on a trajectory not towards the moon or another Earth orbital test, but towards Mars. It's not carrying astronauts, though. It's not even bringing back samples or rovers. Instead, it carries a different kind of explorer, a humanoid robot. Why?

One shaped like us, designed to think like us, and meant to pave the way for us. That raises one burning question, though. Is a robot truly about to become the first Earthling to set foot on Mars?

Now, this is more than hypothetical because of something Elon Musk posted on April 10th at 3.37 a.m., a time that seems oddly appropriate for a message this surreal. And according to Tesla and SpaceX CEO, a starship could hopefully depart from Mars at the end of next year with IOC.

Optimus Explorer robots. That would mean if everything goes right, Tesla's humanoid robots, originally envisioned to work in factories and maybe assist with groceries or doing the dishes, could soon become pioneers of another planet.

Now, this isn't some obscure concept buried in a corporate investor call. Musk made a similarly direct declaration in September of 2024 saying the first starships to Mars will launch in two years, referring to the upcoming Mars-Earth transfer window in late of 2026. And these early Mars missions will be unthinkable.

uncrewed. No people on board. Robotic trials, actually. Essentially, the test whether Starship can land intact on Mars. But in less than 24 months, this experiment may include Optimus robots leaving their metallic footprints on Mars's red soil. But why does this matter?

It's because it would be the first time a humanoid robot built by a private company on Earth, not a nation-state space agency, becomes the vanguard of interplanetary exploration.

It signals a possible pivot point in space travel, where the first explorers of a new world aren't astronauts in bulky suits but neural network-controlled machines with stiff arms and carefully calculated gates. And if successful, these missions could radically shift how humans colonize space.

Instead of sending humans into the unknown, we may send robotic proxies first. Not just for scouting though, but for building infrastructure long before any people arrive.

And there's also something deeply symbolic about sending Optimus. So far, the most massive payload humans have successfully landed on Mars is about the size of a compact car, namely NASA's Perseverance rover. Starship is closer to the size of a four-bedroom house. And landing a spacecraft that large on Mars...

is an engineering problem that remains unsolved. No one's done it. No one even knows if it's even possible yet, not definitively. And that's part of the reason that SpaceX is launching these uncrewed missions. And having Optimus aboard is not just about science, it's a statement to other robot builders, saying that we can build Optimus on Earth, it can help humans here, but we can also send it around the

the solar system to other planets to help us on those planets. Now, the Mars launch window opens in October of 2026. This is the period where both Earth and Mars align favorably in their orbits, allowing for a relatively efficient trip.

Using current propulsion tech, travel time could be anywhere from six to nine months. Anything longer becomes prohibitively fuel-heavy and difficult to manage. That means a Starship launch in October of 2026 could arrive on Mars by mid-2027. And Optimus could take its first Martian step shortly thereafter.

Now, there are some hurdles though. Some major hurdles. For one, SpaceX still hasn't landed and recovered a Starship using its much-discussed tech, the catch arms on the launch tower. That's a crucial milestone for reusability and eventually for making Mars round trips feasible. And while booster landings have become routine, returning the entire Starship vehicle safely has remained elusive.

All test flights so far have ended in explosions, sometimes in space, sometimes on reentry. That's expected with early hardware development, but it raises doubts about whether the timeline Musk envisions is grounded in current engineering reality. And assuming Starship is ready in time, there's another big unknown, the terrain. Mars is not friendly to landing attempts.

Past Mars missions from NASA have used everything from inflatable crash bags to rocket-assisted sky cranes to get rovers safely on the ground. And none of these solutions are viable at Starship scale. Even if SpaceX figures out the mechanics of deceleration in Mars' thin atmosphere, there's still the issue of where to land.

The Martian surface isn't a tarmac, it's unpredictable. Slopes, craters, rocks, every inch is a new variable. A starship would have to land with pinpoint accuracy on terrain it has never touched, possibly carrying a robot that will have to walk across the same surface. Now, Tesla's Optimus isn't exactly ready for Mars either. At least not yet. As of late 2024, the robot could barely walk up a small hill without wobbling or falling over.

It's made significant progress from its early days of stilted, clumsy shuffles. Still, compared to robotics leaders like Boston Dynamics, Tesla's humanoid still looks rudimentary. The robot doesn't need to perform acrobatics on Mars. It only needs to walk down a ramp, interact with its environment, and possibly collect small rocks or explore simple surroundings. That alone, however, would be making history.

If it accomplishes even basic functions, Optimus could be the first machine of its kind to actively explore a planet. Now that sets the stage for something for more consequential things. Using robots to build Mars habitats. This would remove the initial risk for human astronauts, letting robots install solar panels, test excavation methods, or even begin the construction of pressurized structures. And understand why moment is critical.

You have to understand Musk's broader Mars visions. He has said repeatedly that being a multi-planetary species is essential for humanity's long-term survival. The idea is that Earth is vulnerable to disasters, nuclear war, even the long-term effects of climate change or even AI. And having a second base of operations could serve as just a backup.

And the phrase he used in 2024 was that being multi-planetary will, quote, vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness. In other words, if everything we know and love is wiped out here, we might have a shot someplace else. Out here, there's no one way of doing things. No unwritten rules and no shortage of adventure. Because out here, the only requirement is having fun.

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Vision isn't just about escape, though. It's about expansion. SpaceX's long-term plan, as outlined by Elon, is to build a self-sustaining Mars city in 20 years. That wouldn't mean permanent Martian infrastructure, regular cargo runs, and a small population of humans capable of surviving without constant Earth support. Optimus robots, upgraded with new tools and skills over the years, would likely form the initial construction crew.

This creates a strange dynamic though. In theory, humans could one day arrive at Mars to find their living quarters already built by machines. Floors swept, airlocks pressurized, solar panels humming. And in this scenario, Optimus isn't just a research assistant. It's a butler, a technician, a mechanic, and maybe even a cohabitant. While that future may still be decades away, the journey toward it arguably begins with the first flight in 2026.

Another crucial layer to this conversation is how these programs are tied together. Tesla is building Optimus solely for factory work. Musk has said before that all of his companies, Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and X, are designed to accelerate humanity's future.

That's more than branding. There are shared technologies across each enterprise. Starship already uses Tesla battery cells for power storage, uses software that resembles Tesla autopilot logic. The idea of building the future is not theoretical. It's architectural. And Optimus is a pillar in that architecture. Now, sending robots to Mars also allows SpaceX and Tesla to push AI and robotics in a relatively low-risk environment.

Failures on Mars are not life-threatening in the same way as failures on Earth. The Optimus units could be trained via simulated Mars environments here on Earth and refined through incremental software updates. Now, even after launch, once they're on Mars, Tesla can push over-the-air updates via Starlink, a system also owned and operated by Elon and SpaceX. And that is a major development milestone for Starship.

They must be able to carry Starlink hardware to Mars and deploy it autonomously. Without reliable communication, the entire robot mission is basically flying blind. But if they can land, deploy Starlink, and connect Optimus to Earth via high-speed relay, we could be looking at real-time robotic operations on Mars, live feeds, remote commands, and continuous status reports.

There's still skeptics, of course. Some experts question whether Mars colonization is a meaningful investment when Earth's problems remain unresolved. Others ask whether Musk's timeline is a form of wishful thinking or a way to maintain investor interest. These critics...

haven't slowed the program down. As of now, construction continues at Starbase. They don't care. And the goal, according to Musk, is eventually to be launching dozens of starships per year. He has even floated numbers as high as 50 to 100 launches by 2026, depending on regulatory approval and production output, of course.

And while they may seem far-fetched, it's worth noting how much progress SpaceX has already made in a few short years. They've gone from blowing up prototypes in South Texas to coordinating orbital reentries. Starship still has a long way to go before it's Mars-ready, but it's no longer a speculative concept. And meanwhile, Artemis has quietly become a larger focus at Tesla. What started as a surprise stage reveal is now a full product line.

Musk has said Tesla could eventually produce millions of Optimus robots. Early models will be for internal use, working in Tesla factories, fetching parts, or even assisting in the warehouse. But Musk has stated the long-term goal is for these robots to be sold to consumers and possibly leased to businesses. The robots could cost less than a small car. In theory, pay for themselves by performing basic tasks. So the 2026 Mars mission may be a test

four-star ship's capacity, but it could also be a test for Tesla's long-term robotics viability. If Optimus can survive and operate on Mars, it becomes something far more impressive than a warehouse assistant. It doesn't just do your dishes or vacuum your home. It becomes a potential tool for human expansion, a product that can build, explore, and endure where humans cannot.

Now, if all goals go according to plan, Starship could carry the first humanoid robots to Mars in 2026. They're going to scout the terrain. They may start work on building second home for humanity. And they could bring cargo down to the surface for when people show up in the future.

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