Elon Musk has updated the Mars and Starship plans. Starship and the Booster will eventually each be made about 20% more powerful. There will be versions by the end of the year that will be improved by about 5-10%. The new Starship will not have heat shields around the engines. The new engines can withstand the higher temperatures without protection. SpaceX has a 50-50 chance of getting refueling working in time for an unmanned launch to Mars at the end of 2026. They will then go with larger and larger mission every 26 months. SpaceX plans to make about 1000 Starships every year and to make 5000 Starlink satellites per year. The number of Starlink satellites could increase to 10,000 per year. The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary: an update from @elonmusk on SpaceX’s plan to reach Mars pic.twitter.com/d2cnsVKK80 June 18, 2025 at 4:05 pm I’ve said it before, you can’t run until you can walk, let alone fly. Musk’s obsession with Mars is very romantic, but not yet logical. IMO, going back to the moon is uber-logical (not the car company), before we go to Mars. Why? Well the moon is very close, about 3days one way using just orbital mechanics, timing, and occasional burst from a hydrazine thruster. More important, we need to know how to live on another world. Mining the moon/asteroids is essential to not just getting the materials to keep you alive, but harvesting the raw materials that make it all worth while. We need to start learning, somewhere close. The moon is, as close as it gets. No one yet “own’s the moon”, but whoever get’s there first, and “makes it work”, what’s anyone else going to do? File a protest with the UN? Good luck… Dave