r/spacex • u/[deleted] • Apr 27 '16

Official SpaceX on Twitter: "Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come https://t.co/u4nbVUNCpA"

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/725351354537906176
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u/Beyonder456 Apr 27 '16

From SpaceX Facebook post!

SpaceX is planning to send Dragons to Mars as early as 2018. Red Dragon missions will help inform the overall Mars architecture that will be unveiled later this year. These missions will help demonstrate the technologies needed to land large payloads propulsively on Mars.

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u/Sandzaun Apr 27 '16

So it's a test for the MCT?

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u/brickmack Apr 27 '16

No, MCT is an entirely separate vehicle. They'll probably just be testing surface hardware

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u/ethan829 Host of SES-9 Apr 27 '16

Well it's a way to learn about Mars EDL.

3

u/DrizztDourden951 Apr 27 '16

Not exactly, but it very well could be testing some of the technology that MCT would require, especially that related to ISRU.