Elon Musk reveals plan to 'extend consciousness to Mars' as he prepares to launch rocket

14 May 2024 , 12:51

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Elon Musk heads up a number of pioneering companies, from Tesla to SpaceX (file) (Image: Getty Images)

Elon Musk has revealed plans to 'extend consciousness to Mars' as he prepares to launch more satellites into space.

The entrepreneur, 52, has launched a number of ambitious projects in his time, from taking over Twitter – now X – to co-founding the controversial brain chip start-up Neuralink. His spacecraft company SpaceX has sent 44 rockets into space in 2024 alone, with another launch scheduled for 10.37am local time (6.37pm BST) today (Tuesday, May 14).

Ahead of lift-off, Musk took to X to outline his hopes for the company. He wrote: "SpaceX’s mission is to extend consciousness to Mars and then the stars."

Fans were quick to comment on the announcement. One wrote: "Can’t wait to see the first human get flown to mars, hope it will be in our lifetime."

Meanwhile another added: "It's a necessary mission and without it, we'll be grounded to this rock for a very long time," while an Elon Musk parody account wrote: "Humanity will be multi-planetary and also continue to make memes."

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Musk has made no secret of his fascination with space exploration. Earlier this year he successfully launched his £2.4 billion SpaceX Starship, congratulating the team on their launch of the "largest flying object ever made," the Mirror previously reported.

Musk is gearing up for another rocket launch (file) (Getty Images)

The SpaceX boss wrote: "Starship reached orbital velocity! Congratulations @SpaceX team!!". He then added: "At ~5000 tons, Starship is the largest flying object ever made".

Musk also reposted Steve Jurvetson, board member of X, who said: ''Starships are meant to fly... An incredible launch this morning, with 33 Raptor engines breathing fire, hot staging over the Gulf of Mexico, boost back to the ocean, good upper stage burn, and test of the Pez bay door. Starship engine relight and reentry to splashdown to come.''

Musk did not wait long to send his next spacecraft into the stratosphere. Today's Falcon 9 launch will be the 18th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission.

Once its work in space is done it is due to come back to Earth, landing on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship – which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

Lizzie McAllister