🚀 Bold Plans for the Red Planet: Sunrise Systems Aims for Mars in 2026

Sunrise Systems, a daring new space company with big ambitions (and even bigger rockets), has announced its boldest plan yet: a crewed Mars mission by late 2026. At the heart of their plan is the “Sunrise-Class” rocket—a towering, reusable behemoth twice the height of a Boeing 747 and designed to carry over 150 tonnes of cargo to Mars orbit in a single flight.

Their goal? To kickstart human settlement on the Red Planet by deploying modular habitat pods, solar farms, and water extraction systems as early as 2027. CEO and founder Dr. Fred Murry claims they’re “months, not years” from a full-scale orbital test of Sunrise-Class. Skeptics, however, point out that the rocket’s engine array—comprising 42 hybrid methane-fusion thrusters—is still in the prototype phase.

Realistically, hitting a 2026 crewed launch window is ambitious. Mars launch windows occur roughly every 26 months, and the next good one is late 2026. For Sunrise Systems to make it, they’ll need successful orbital testing by mid-2025, crew training and life support validation by 2026, and deep-space radiation shielding ready for human passengers—not to mention a way to land all this safely on Mars.

Still, optimism isn’t unfounded. Sunrises’s engineers include veterans from various well-known space agencies, and their propulsion team just set a record in simulated Mars cargo delivery testing. With recent breakthroughs in inflatable habitats, AI life support, and rapid 3D-printing using Martian soil simulants, the future might just arrive faster than we think.

Stay tuned—Mars might just be closer than ever!