Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has challenged the rival Boeing in the race to Mars after their recent statement that they could be the first to get there.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, speaking on CNBC, claimed that his company might be the first to take humans to our neighbour planet , beating SpaceX in the process.
Muilenburg was asked whether he or Musk would win this ‘race’, on which he replied:
“Eventually we’re going to go to Mars and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket”.
After this bold statement, Elon Musk had a simple but challenging reply on Twitter: “Do it”. Following his twitter post, Boeing made an even bolder move by replying ” Game on”.
Do it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2017
Now we have at least two private companies in the race to Mars.
Back in September, Mask unveiled what he calls “The Big F*cking Rocket” and said that he has plans on going to Mars, also suggesting that flights could begin in the next decade. Meanwhile his rival Boeing, although not developing its own rocket, is currently working with NASA on its Space Launch System (SLS) which is expected to launch in the next decade.
The rockets are still under construction so there are no ways of telling which company will get humans to Mars.
Besides this, the two companies are battling on another field as well. Both SpaceX and Boeing are racing to launch new crewed spacecrafts. At the moment SpaceX is leading the race. The company plans to launch its Falcon 9 rocket in August next year, while Boeing expects to launch its Atlas V rocket in late 2018 or early 2019.
Game on!
— The Boeing Company (@Boeing) December 7, 2017
Regardless of the latest comments, in previous interviews Elon Musk suggested that he doesn’t mind who gets to Mars first, just as long as someone does.
“I think it’s actually much better for the world if there are multiple companies or organizations building these interplanetary spacecraft . You know, the more the better”, he said in his talk at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) last year.