Bethesda’s highly anticipated sci-fi RPG, Starfield, recently updated its website with a timeline that delves into the imagined interplanetary drama leading up to the game’s events in 2330. Aside from fiction, the timeline makes some bold predictions about our real-world future, notably when humanity will set foot on Mars.
According to the Starfield timeline, the first human landing on Mars will occur in 2050, just 27 years from now. To put things into perspective, China aims to send a crewed flight to Mars by 2033, while Elon Musk envisions depositing one million people on the red planet by 2050. However, Musk’s predictions should be taken with caution, considering his infamous Twitter behavior.
In the Starfield universe, not only do humans reach Mars, but they also go a step further and decide to colonize Alpha Centauri instead. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system in the Milky Way that scientists believe may contain hospitable exoplanets. Although astronomers have been searching for an Earth-like planet near Alpha Centauri, the estimated travel time is around 6,300 years. In Starfield’s proposed timeline, humans arrive at Alpha Centauri in 2156 and establish the United Colonies by 2159—a rather optimistic prediction.
After two centuries of conflicts over border control, treaties, and money, the game’s storyline centers around a discovered artifact that solidifies the importance of the space explorer group, Constellation. While the game’s plot leans more towards fiction than science, it promises to be an epic adventure.
Unlike the day when traveling to Mars becomes as common as going to the beach, you won’t have to wait much longer to explore the intrigue and vastness of Starfield. The game will be available for Xbox Series X/S and PC on September 6.
