California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is planning on landing one of its unmanned capsules on the surface of Mars within two years.

Owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the company has specifically targeted May of 2018 for its history-making feat. Musk has previously detailed plans of colonizing Mars and has often made references to a 2020 time-line where he envisions having people co-habitating there.

Dragon Capsule to be Sent to Mars in 2018

As for the company's latest announcement, plans call for an unmanned Dragon capsule to be sent to Mars in 2018 and land on its surface about six months later.

Musk and SpaceX's announcement was closely followed by one made by NASA's deputy administrator Dava J. Newman, who proclaimed, "We are closer than ever before to sending American astronauts to Mars than anyone, anywhere at any time has ever been."

Newman later revealed NASA plans to offer technical support to SpaceX and its mission to land a Dragon 2 spacecraft on the planet in exchange for Martian entry, descent and landing data.

Between now and then, one of the biggest challenges facing SpaceX exxecs is creating the kind of system needed to safely slow down such a large capsule for safe descent, particularly given the thin Martian atmosphere.

Dragon 2 is expected to significantly outweigh all the unmanned rovers NASA has previously orbited around the planet.

In the meantime, Musk continues to hint at plans to detail more of his long-term visions for Mars at an international conference in Mexico slated for late September. The company is believed to planning on solely funding the mission.

Space Community Debates What Should be the way Forward

Word of SpaceX's plans come at a tenuous time for the international space community, as experts debate what they views as the best approach to sending manned missions to Mars. It's widely assumed such voyages would expose astronauts to unprecedented levels of radiation and long stretches of isolation.

Still, in Musk's mind the way forward seems clear.

"It's a fundamental decision we have to make as a civilization," he said during a recent conference in Hong Kong, where he branded Mars "the next, natural step."

He later added, "It's the only planet" on which "we really have a shot at establishing a self-sustaining city."

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