No one has ever developed a truly reusable orbital heat shield, it’s extremely difficult to do so. Even the Shuttle’s heat shield required several months of refurbishment, basically fixing broken tiles,

The SpaceX CEO outlined upcoming changes to the rocket while staying committed to a 2026 mission to the Red Planet.

SpaceX launched Starship Tuesday, May 27 on its first test flight since March. This time, the vehicle further than the previous two flights.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to tap the private sector to pave the way for human missions to Mars in a proposal that closely aligns with the goals of Elon Musk.

The consecutive failures may have decreased the likelihood SpaceX can meet NASA’s goal of landing on the moon in 2027, experts said.

The final concept, which was unveiled in 2019, consisted of a Starship composed of stainless steel instead of carbon fiber (per the original proposal), with reusable heat shield tiles on the windward side (similar to the Space Shuttle).

As NASA and SpaceX pivot toward speeding astronauts to Mars, U.S. scientists are testing technologies that could transform the Red Planet into an astonishing New Eden.