SpaceX had announced earlier last year that it would launch its Dragon spacecraft to Mars by 2018, but it is not going to happen as scheduled, as the company has decided to delay the mission by a couple of years.
SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk has said at a press conference in Cape Canaveral, Florida, that the company would launch Dragon spacecraft to Mars by 2020 and not in 2018 as announced earlier.
[READ: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch schedule: Block 5 or Falcon Heavy will revolutionise future flights]
Why is the company delaying its Mars mission?
"We were focused on 2018, but we felt like we needed to put more resources and focus more heavily on our crew program and our Falcon Heavy program, so we're looking more in the 2020 time frame for that," said Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX.
SpaceX could have decided to focus more on Falcon Heavy rocket following the explosion of its Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida a few months ago.
The company will use Falcon Heavy or the upgraded Falcon 9 that has the capacity to carry heavy payload to place Dragon spacecraft on the space.
Earlier, Elon Musk had revealed on Twitter that "future flights will go on Falcon Heavy or the upgraded Falcon 9" and the first flight could happen by the end of 2017.
