Elon Musk plans to send Tesla's Optimus robot to Mars aboard Starship by 2026

Billionaire Elon Musk is planning to send humanoid robots called Optimus to Mars by the end of next year.

The SpaceX and Tesla founder posted on social media platform X on Thursday that the robot would blast off aboard Starship, a rocket that the aerospace company has been developing for deep space missions. Tesla is behind the robot, which uses advanced artificial intelligence to perform tasks, including walking, lifting and climbing stairs.

“Starship will hopefully depart for Mars at the end of next year with Optimus explorer robots,” he said.

Mr Musk, who has been campaigning heavily to make humanity “a multi-planetary species”, first revealed these plans on March 15 on an X post. “If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029 – although 2031 is more likely,” he said.

SpaceX has been developing the powerful rocket for several years, with eight orbital test flights so far that are helping the company edge closer to starting commercial operations of the vehicle.

Starship is a two-stage launch vehicle, including the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, which together can produce 3,991 tonnes of thrust – 15 per cent more than Nasa’s Apollo Moon rocket Saturn V.

In the latest test flight on March 6, the booster successfully delivered the spacecraft to space and returned for a catch by mechanical arms on a launch tower. The spacecraft, however, was lost after 9 minutes and 30 seconds after the lift-off.

Mr Musk has ambitions to send one million people to Mars, stating that the Red Planet is “critical to the long-term survival of consciousness”. Sending robots there first could help prepare space agencies for crewed missions to Mars, as they can operate in harsh environments.

A robot could help identify potential hazards and scout locations for human settlement. On its website, Tesla described Optimus as capable of performing “unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks”.

“Achieving that end goal requires building the software stacks that enable balance, navigation perception and interaction with the physical world,” the company said.