Elon Musk and SpaceX Face a Big Obstacle on Their Way to Mars

The CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX wants to conquer Mars but a big regulatory obstacle currently stands in his way to the red planet.

Elon Musk is a man in a hurry to leave his mark on the world. 

Some will say that he has already done so by pushing the entire automotive industry, via the disruption initiated by Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report, to see electric vehicles as the future.

His recent victory on this front, and not the least, is to see Toyota  (TYIDY) , the world's automotive leader in terms of sales, tacitly admitting that it made a strategic mistake by opting for hybrid vehicles.

The departure of Akio Toyoda, the grandson of founder Kiichiro Toyoda, from the position of CEO of the Japanese group this year, turned the page on the pre-Musk and Tesla in the car industry. A new era, dictated by the Austin, Texas-based carmaker and its whimsical and charismatic Chief executive Officer, has begun.

'Moon Brought Us Together in 69'

For many entrepreneurs, this feat would be capital. Not for the Techno King, as Musk is known at Tesla, who vowed to give the world a new common dream: to conquer Mars.

"Moon brought us together in ‘69," the billionaire said last July. "Mars can do that in the future."

This dream the billionaire promised would come true in our time.

"Humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime," he said.

So Musk wants to go fast. Very quickly, say his critics and no doubt the regulators. After some confusion at the start of the year, the billionaire now seems to be saying the same thing when it comes to his space ambitions: SpaceX, his rocket and satellite company, is ready for the first orbital test flight of the Starship, the rocket with which Musk wants to conquer Mars.

He repeated it several times in the last six days.

The problem is that he must obtain the license to perform this long-awaited flight. For the moment the position of the main regulator is the same: they will give the license when SpaceX has fulfilled all the necessary conditions.

This is a position that does not seem to please Musk, who has decided to increase the pressure on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In the last few days, then, the innovator keeps repeating -- without saying the name of the FAA -- that what's stopping SpaceX from giving the world a new dream to unite around is the federal agency.

"Starship is stacked & ready to launch next week, pending regulatory approval," the billionaire said on Twitter on April 6.

'Flight Test as Soon as Next Week'

Three days later, he declared on the social network that: "Starship is ready for launch