At Code Conference 2016, an event sponsored by Recode and Vox Media this week near Los Angeles, Musk talked about a range of things, including SpaceX's ambitions for Mars. In the June 1 interview, he reiterated the architecture for sending people to the Red Planet will be unveiled at the September International Astronomical Congress (IAC) in Mexico City. In the meantime, he gave a few hints of what his company might be able to offer in the coming years.

"We're going to send a mission to Mars with every Mars opportunity from 2018 onward," Musk said, "We're establishing cargo flights to Mars that people can count on for cargo. The Earth-Mars orbital rendezvous is only ever 26 months. There's one in 2018. They'll be another one in 2020."

Musk and SpaceX revealed in April the company's plans to send a modified version of the company's Crew Dragon capsule, called Red Dragon, to the surface of Mars as early as 2018.