https://phys.org/news/2018-06-chicago-airport-musk.html > Arguably Musk's boldest or most far-fetched project, depending on who you ask, is one to send manned missions to Mars. He's even spoken about colonizing the red planet. According to the SpaceX website, the "aspirational goal is to send our first cargo mission to Mars in 2022." The first unmanned Mars mission would seek to confirm the presence of water and identify other resources that could help sustain human life. And the manned Mars mission? Musk's goal is for that to happen just two years later, in 2024. By contrast, NASA has spoken about the mid-2030s as a realistic goal for sending humans to Mars. > A powerful new rocket capable of making it to Mars is already being developed. The Los Angeles harbor commissioners in April approved a permit for SpaceX to build a facility on port land to manufacture it.