SpaceX's unmanned mission to Mars has been rescheduled for a later year. Mission "Red Dragon" is said to commence around the year 2020.
SpaceX has been having its eyes set on a year where they would be able to launch their mission to Mars using an unmanned spacecraft for quite a while. Calling it the Red Dragon, the company has developed a special type of unmanned spacecraft that would make these types of space excursions easier. Unfortunately, things always seem to get in the way of development for the company.
Engadget claims that the company may have been a bit too ambitious with this project. They had even tried to set their sights on 2018 for the Red Dragon mission to Mars, but that had fallen through as well, but the robotic lander would still not be ready for the mission. The main reason for the delays, however, is because they desired to allocate their focus not on the Red Dragon but rather on the crew and the other project they've been working on, known as the "Falcon Heavy" program.
According to Ubergizmo, the unmanned Red Dragon capsule was supposed to accompany the Falcon Heavy for low-cost lander missions and to general make things easier for the crew when in space. Initially, the general year for the crew to move forward with the mission to Mars was in 2022, but again, sources were relocated to further fuel the development of other projects. All of their tests are crucial for the development of ferrying real live human astronauts to Mars, so it's safe to say that despite their ambitious nature, it would be better to take things slowly so as to allow for a higher chance of success come the day of the actual launch regardless of whether it be in 2020 or 2022.
