SpaceX founder Elon Musk announces company plans to send capsule to Mars in 2018

SpaceX founder Elon Musk plans to send a capsule to Mars in 2018. The company is going to send one of its Dragon capsules - in this case known as the Red Dragon - to the planet. It won't carry any astronauts with it, but represents Mr Musk's first step towards his ultimate plan of colonising Mars. For now, the Dragon is too small to carry astronauts further than the Moon, he said, since it is about the size of a large family car. "Wouldn't be fun for longer journeys," Mr Musk explained in a tweet.