Elon Musk and SpaceX announced the first manned space mission into Earth's polar orbit

Elon Musk continues to advance his plan for a future where space travel will be accessible to millions of people. Its parent company, SpaceX, has said it plans to launch a human spaceflight with private astronauts by the end of the year.

The mission will explore Earth from polar orbit and fly over the planet's polar regions, Musk said in a statement.

Crew Dragon Frame 2, the vessel carrying out this mission, It is named after the boat used by explorers to reach the Arctic and Antarctic regions for the first time.

Malta-based entrepreneur and adventurer Chun Wang will lead the mission. Wang wants the work to awaken a sense of exploration and wonder among the public, while showing how technology can expand the boundaries of landscape exploration and contribute to research.

For their part, Wang will be accompanied on this trip by an international group of “adventurers.” Among them are Norway's Janike Mikkelsen, vehicle commander; Eric Phillips of Australia, pilot of the vehicle; and Rabia Rog from Germany, mission specialist.

For all crew members, this will be their first space flightAlthough they were all trained as astronauts. So far, SpaceX has not disclosed the cost of tickets for this mission.

Frame 2 will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida and reach Earth's polar orbit at an altitude of 425 to 450 km. During the three- to five-day mission, the crew will observe the polar regions through Dragon's Dome to study unusual light phenomena such as auroras.

One of the mission's main scientific objectives is to study green patches and mauve ribbons of persistent emission, comparable to a phenomenon known as STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement). This phenomenon is measured approximately 400 to 500 km above the Earth's atmosphere.

The founder of SpaceX plans to send a million people to Mars in the next 25 years. Likewise, in June of this year, Musk already approved the plan to name the first city on Mars “Terminus”, which was suggested by a user on the social network X.

Musk has stated on several occasions his ambitious goal of building a self-sustaining city on Mars using SpaceX's Starship launch vehicle.

This project, It is considered one of the most innovative in the history of space exploration by experts in the fieldIts ultimate goal is to create a colony on Mars that is capable of sustaining itself for the long term.

Musk's plan includes moving several essential supplies to Mars once the starship reaches the Red Planet. These items include equipment and resources for construction of infrastructure, energy production, mining and fuel production.

The ability to generate these resources on Mars is considered critical to the colony's long-term viability. However, this goal faces many challenges as starship development is still in the experimental stage.

Since 2023, the vehicle has carried out four test flights, the last being successful in June, where it met all objectives and achieved a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.