Red Dragon (spacecraft)

Red Dragon

Concept art of a Dragon 2 landing on Mars
Mission type	Lander technology demonstrator; optional sample return
Operator	SpaceX
Spacecraft properties
Bus	Dragon 2
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Launch mass	6.5 t (14,000 lb) plus payload
Payload mass	Up to 1 t (2,200 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	2020 (planned)
Rocket	Falcon Heavy
Contractor	SpaceX
Mars lander
Landing date	Planned: 2020
Interplanetary Transport System Interplanetary Spaceship →

Red Dragon is a planned unmanned SpaceX Dragon 2 capsule for low-cost Mars lander missions to be launched using Falcon Heavy rockets. This series of Mars missions will be technology pathfinders for the much larger SpaceX Mars colonization architecture that was announced in September 2016.

The primary objective of the first mission is to test techniques and technology to enter the Martian atmosphere with equipment a human crew could eventually use. An additional suggested use for the first mission calls for a sample return Mars rover to be delivered to the Martian surface. No payload has been announced.

The idea, conceived in 2011, was to propose it for funding in 2013 and 2015 as the United States NASA Discovery mission #13 for launch in 2022, but it was not submitted. On 27 April 2016 SpaceX announced that they will proceed with the robotic mission for a 2018 launch and NASA will be providing technical support. On 17 February 2017, SpaceX said the mission would be delayed to the 2020 launch window.

SpaceX worked with NASA's Ames Research Center in 2011 to produce a feasibility study for a mission that would search for evidence of life on Mars (biosignatures), past or present. SpaceX's Dragon version 1 capsule is used to ferry cargo, and Dragon 2 is planned to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station in the future. The Red Dragon proposal called for modifications so it could be used to transport payload to Mars, land using retrorockets, and to become a precursor to a human mission to Mars.