How SpaceX's rocket landing could pave the way for trips to Mars: Elon Musk predicts a 'sustainable city' could be built on the Red Planet by 2054

For decades, sending humans on the 140 million-mile journey from Earth to Mars has seemed like a distant pipedream. But as SpaceX successfully lands its Starship rocket booster, Elon Musk says that trips to the Red Planet could be common within 30 years. After five minutes the booster detaches and flies back down to Earth where it is caught by the 'Mechazilla' arms of the landing platform As SpaceX successfully lands its Super Heavy booster, Elon Musk says that the rocket could help establish a city on Mars by 2054 In a post on X, Musk wrote that a city of a million people could be established on Mars within the next 30 years Yesterday's success was the fifth test of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and the first time that a launch of this powerful new rocket has been a complete success. Starship was launched from Boca Chica starbase in Texas at 7:25 am local time and hit a top speed of 17,000 mph Super Heavy's 33 'Raptor' engines produce a staggering 16.6 million lbs of force - 700 times more than a commercial aeroplane The booster allows SpaceX to launch the 50-metre-tall Starship craft at supersonic speeds while carrying up to 150 tonnes of cargo In September, Musk said that up to eight Starship missions could fly to Mars when the next Earth-to-Mars transfer window opens in November 2026. This could pave the way for the launches needed to establish a human settlement on Mars On X, Musk wrote that the Super Heavy booster is designed to be launched once every hour.