It’s no secret that Elon Musk wants humanity to reach Mars. The technology billionaire has been pursuing that dream for almost two decades, and now his aerospace company, SpaceX, seems to be finally making it possible. Until when? Musk says in the next five to ten years.

In a recent interview, Musk was once again asked – “When do you think SpaceX will land a man on Mars?” To that end, the CEOs of Tesla and SpaceX responded that under the best possible conditions, SpaceX would be able to land a man on Mars within the next five years. The worst case scenario could be extended to the next 10 years.

Considering that the discussion is about sending a living and breathing man to the surface of another planet, it is still commendable that if we only lived half a century ago today it would be wildly ridiculed. Right now, we have big rockets like SpaceX Spacecraft, which will soon make Musk’s dream and many more possible.

Musk does not seem to be overly optimistic. During the interview, when podcaster Lex Friedman asked the question, Musk stared at it for ten seconds. He then said: “About five years is the best, 10 years is the worst”, enough words to excite the hearts of all space lovers.

This is not the first time Musk has suggested a timetable for humans to land on Mars. “I’m not sure if we’ve landed on Mars in five years,” Musk told Time magazine earlier this month. Since then the timeline seems a bit more realistic.

It should be noted that Musk is notorious for wasting time on his goals. For good reason, his aspirations are often considered insane, at least until the world sees that he is fulfilling them. Landing a man on Mars is one of those desires. Building a rocket for this is another.

In the last half, Kasturirangan seems to be in control. In his recent interview, he highlighted how “rocket engineering” is a critical component of the monument mission. He took the opportunity to refer to the glory of the starship as “the most sophisticated and innovative rocket ever built”. “This is really the next level,” he said.

Musk explained that the level of optimization of the starship was crucial to this mission. The rocket can reduce the cost per tonne in each orbit, “ultimately the cost per tonne on the surface of Mars,” Musk explained.

Although this is crucial to the mission. Of course, this will not be the only factor shaping man’s journey to Mars. It seems that Musk, like other agencies involved in the venture, still has time to figure it all out.