"Two years down the road it seems feasible.It would be enough for #SpaceX to have a fleet of three launchers, one per pad. The bottleneck may lie in the supply of the thousands of liters of #methane and oxygen needed to maintain a sustained hourly launch rate. Some have proposed building a jetty and a small gas #pipeline so that the fuel can arrive in large methane tankers." https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-11-04/elon-musks-plans-to-go-to-mars-within-two-years.html
The proof of concept shows that at the current achievable flow rates of #CO2 and water, it is possible to meet #NASA’s 16-month deadline for refueling #rockets on #Mars 🔴. It can be scaled further to meet tighter rocket refueling ⛽ deadlines. The use of Martian nighttime temperatures for heat 🌡️ exchange can potentially reduce the dependence on power-hungry cryogenic methods for gas liquefaction. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9118664
In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to refuel rockets on Mars will become critical in the future. The current effort presents a thorough feasibility analysis of a scalable, Matlab-based, integrated ISRU framework from the standpoint of the second ...
For Starship to go to #Mars 🔴, you’ve got to get #Starship tankers ⛽ on orbit and perfect orbital refueling. #SpaceX will have to perfect the #robots 🤖 that will help build spacecraft #LandingPads and human #habitats on the Martian surface, prospect for water 💧 underground, and convert the water and carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere into vast reservoirs of super-cooled oxygen and methane for the Starships’ return voyage to Earth. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinholdenplatt/2025/03/11/spacexs-starship-plan-to-land-first-humans-on-mars-but-not-till-2031
#Reuters - #Starship is set to depart for #Mars at the end of next year, carrying humanoid bot #Optimus. https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/starship-carrying-teslas-bot-set-mars-by-end-2026-elon-musk-2025-03-15
Many core components of #humanoid robots 🤖 – including exteriors, actuators, joints and ball screws – are sourced heavily from suppliers in #China 🇨🇳 https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3307085/tesla-cant-make-optimus-robot-us20000-without-china-humanoid-experts-say
“After #Chinese supply chain manufacturers supply components to #Tesla, they refine them based on testing feedback and then offer the improved versions to domestic manufacturers” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/25/tech/china-robots-market-competitiveness-intl-hnk/index.html
#Optimus humanoid robots 🤖 have electric motors in their arms that operate in a confined space and require the special magnets 🧲. #RareEarth magnets are up to 15 times as powerful as conventional iron magnets of the same size https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/business/elon-musk-tesla-robots.html
A one-way journey typically takes about six 6️⃣ to nine months. #Optimus is intended to perform basic tasks like equipment setup, maintenance, and data collection on #Mars 🔴 https://thedroidguy.com/spacexs-bold-plan-starship-and-teslas-optimus-robot-headed-to-mars-by-2026-1268548
The #Mars Exploration Rover #Spirit and #InSight lander both experienced challenges related to understanding the geotechnical properties of regolith. The advancements in legged #robotic platforms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBTyelFFE1A hold potential to address these challenges through greater sensitivity to changing surface properties https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20230000243
#NASA robots 📆 Apr 29, 2025 :
• A modular system of small #robots and smart algorithms that can #autonomously assemble large-scale structures in #space
• A team of small lunar rovers designed to operate #independently, navigating and making decisions together
• A robotic arm system built for #lunar #construction tasks 🏗️
• A lunar #bulldozer-dump #truck hybrid designed to mine ⚒️ and transport regolith
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/johnson/robots-rovers-and-regolith-nasa-brings-exploration-to-first-robotics-2025
This #robotic system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOq20bisc0g holds the potential to dig up to 10,000 kg in a single lunar day. This is a huge increase 📈 from previous missions that only collected tens of kilograms https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/nasas-powerful-moon-mining-robot-could-dig-10000-kg-of-soil-in-a-single-lunar-day
📆 2021 #Hyundai 🇰🇷 bought 80% of #BostonDynamics* and revealed a #robotic vehicle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs3srQuTs6Q