That photo of Starship over Mars isn’t real: what SpaceX’s rocket has actually done so far
The image was posted at 11:39 a.m. Bogotá time on Oct. 23 by an X account that, within minutes, shared a string of similar Starship renders. One of them was a post that literally begins. The post claiming the Mars scene had drawn only modest engagement by midday.
**Why it isn’t real.** Several details give it away:
– The ship’s flaps sit in the wrong places, and rows of lit «windows» appear on a vehicle that has none.
– The real Starship’s black hexagonal heat-shield tiles are missing.
– A brightly sunlit object sits in front of a dense star field with visible galaxies, which a real camera exposure would not capture together.
– A heart emoji is overlaid on the picture, and the file carries no camera metadata.
Colombian Herald did not have access to a formal reverse-image search tool. Our verdict rests on the visual analysis above and on the account’s own posting pattern.
**What Starship has actually done.** On Sept. 28, 2026, SpaceX launched Starship Flight 14 (Ship 41 atop Booster 21) from Starbase, Texas. It reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites; SpaceX said it made contact with all of them ([SpaceX, Flight 14](https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-14)). An engine issue during ascent cut the planned mission short, to roughly three hours. The ship then splashed down in the northern Pacific, where it tipped over and burned (AP, BBC). In its Oct. 20 update, SpaceX called it its «first revenue-generating Starship mission,» with «~10x downlink capacity of a Falcon 9 Starlink launch» ([SpaceX on X](https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2112638276389790102)). On Oct. 13, SpaceX showed Ship 40, «the first Starship to return to its launch site,» back at Starbase ([SpaceX on X](https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2110126570233094527)).
**Where Mars stands.** In September 2024, Elon Musk said the first uncrewed Starships would head to Mars in the 2026 launch window. In 2025 he called those odds «50/50.» In February 2026 he wrote that «SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon,» adding that a Mars city would take far longer ([Musk on X, Feb. 8, 2026](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2020640004628742577)). The current Earth–Mars window, whose lowest-energy departures fall around Oct. 31 and Nov. 14, 2026, is closing with no Starship Mars launch announced. Space.com reported on Oct. 14 that a 2026 attempt was off the table; the next window opens in late 2028. SpaceX’s Mars page now says cargo flights to the Martian surface start «no earlier than 2028» ([SpaceX, Mars](https://www.spacex.com/mars)).
The only spacecraft found to have launched toward Mars this month is Japan’s MMX probe. It lifted off on an H3 rocket on Oct. 20, 2026 (Japan time) and is headed for the Martian moon Phobos (JAXA).
**The missing piece.** Any trip to the Moon or Mars on Starship depends on refueling in orbit, with one ship transferring propellant to another. That has never been attempted. In 2024, SpaceX moved liquid oxygen only between tanks inside a single ship. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported on July 23, 2026, that the long-duration flight and ship-to-ship transfer tests were scheduled for 2026. Starship’s next flights are reported to have slipped to mid-to-late November. SpaceX has not given an official date.
## Sources
– SpaceX, Starship Flight 14 summary: https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-14
– SpaceX, Mars page: https://www.spacex.com/mars
– SpaceX on X, Oct. 20, 2026 (Q3 update): https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2112638276389790102
– SpaceX on X, Oct. 13, 2026 (Ship 40 at Starbase): https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2110126570233094527
– SpaceX on X, Flight 14 photos and video: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2105352066424017118 · https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2104556424336384146 · https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2104563035486499043
– Elon Musk on X, Feb. 8, 2026: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2020640004628742577
– Space.com, Andrew Jones, Oct. 14, 2026: Starship Mars 2026 window «off the table» (link pending: we have the outlet, author and date, but not the URL)
– AP / BBC coverage of Flight 14 splashdown, Sept. 28, 2026
– U.S. GAO report on the Artemis lunar lander, July 23, 2026
– JAXA, MMX launch, Oct. 20, 2026 (JST)
– Original image: post by an X account, Oct. 23, 2026, 11:39 a.m. Bogotá (account not named by editorial decision)
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