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Originally Posted by O.city
So likely in our lifetimes?
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Well, depends on how old you are.
But yeah, I think we get there in the 2030s. In theory SpaceX wants to get there sooner than that, but NASA seems to have their sights on the moon, so it'll be more of a stretch for SpaceX to do it alone. Here's the general timeline as I see it:
2020-2025 - Rapid expansion of launch vehicle capabilities (New Glenn, Starship, and maybe SLS)
2025-2030 - Manned missions to the moon to start building a base and to test out technology that would allow for long-term habitats. Also, unmanned missions to Mars that take far bigger payloads than we've ever sent there before.
2030-2035 - Manned missions to Mars, but we don't stay longer than we have to. (Granted, we might have to stay quite a while since you have to wait for the right launch window.)
2035+ - Long-term missions to Mars.
Of course, that's all just guessing. We could get there earlier or much later. Or, frankly, it's possible that we never really figure out how to live on Mars long-term. We'll see.