Building a new world on Mars is now possible: Elon Musk after Starship surpasses capability of NASA’s Saturn V Moon rocket.

In a significant milestone for space exploration, Elon Musk recently announced that building a sustainable human colony on Mars is now closer to reality.

His statement came after SpaceX's Starship rocket, designed for Mars and lunar missions, surpassed the capability of NASA’s legendary Saturn V Moon rocket, which had set records for payload capacity and power. Musk, known for his bold vision of making humanity a "multi-planetary species," pointed to the achievement as proof that a new era of space colonization could soon be within reach.

The Starship rocket system, consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, represents a leap forward in rocket technology. Standing nearly 400 feet tall and boasting a massive payload capacity, Starship is designed to transport up to 150 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) in a fully reusable configuration. This marks a stark improvement over NASA’s Saturn V, which took astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo program. Saturn V, while groundbreaking, could deliver about 140 tons to LEO but was a single-use system, making each launch incredibly costly and resource-intensive.

SpaceX’s focus on reusability is one of the core innovations that could make a Mars colony possible. Unlike the Saturn V, Starship is designed to be refueled in space, allowing it to carry even larger payloads across the vast distances to Mars. Refueling is critical for making Mars missions sustainable and affordable. This reusability translates to significant cost reductions, bringing down the price per launch to a fraction of what was needed for Saturn V, which is essential for the high-frequency flights that a Mars colony would require.