Chun Wang, the Chinese-born Maltese-Kittitian crypto investor who co-founded F2Pool, has been named interplanetary mission commander for a SpaceX commercial human spaceflight to Mars, crucial to Elon Musk’s plans to send a million people to the Red Planet.
Wang, whose mining pool controls approximately 11.3% of the global Bitcoin network hashrate and whose personal bitcoin assets are estimated to exceed $300 million, will take a two-year leave of absence from his current role as head of digital ledgers to lead humanity’s next frontier in deep space.
SpaceX’s announcement comes as company owner Elon Musk’s aggressive plans to colonize the Red Planet and establish a multiplanetary civilization continue to accelerate.
A two-year journey into the unknown
The ambitious multi-phase schedule will take Wang on a week-long circumlunar flyby approximately 125 miles from the moon’s surface alongside Dennis and Akiko Tito before launching on the historic Martian trajectory.
Currently, planned launch windows are driving technical preparations for a planned departure in 2026. Once launched, the crew will spend two consecutive years in space. The deep space itinerary includes a complete external exploration of the Earth-Moon system, a high-altitude flyby of Mars and a complex return trajectory to Earth.
Navigating the risks of deep space
Operating in deep space for 24 months introduces serious operational risks, including severe hardware fatigue and the volatile thermodynamics of cryogenic fuel management during long coasts in deep space.
To mitigate these dangers, SpaceX is introducing its next-generation Starship V3 architecture. The upgraded vehicle features vacuum-jacketed header power lines, high-voltage cryogenic recirculation systems, and 60 integrated custom avionics units capable of handling distributed fault isolation of up to 9 MW of peak power.
The crew will face serious biomedical hazards while collecting critical diagnostic telemetry. One of Wang’s team’s key tasks is to conduct advanced behavioral health monitoring and capture the first human X-ray images in microgravity to assess long-term physiological decline.
The path to a multiplanetary future
Wang’s mission is designed to deliver crucial operational data needed to transition Mars exploration from short-term novelties to permanent, self-sustaining habitats.
The data crew is expected to return to Earth, which will directly test Starship’s autonomous navigation array, deep space radiation shielding, and in-space propellant transfer mechanisms.
The SpaceX team’s findings will be vital to achieving Musk’s ultimate goal: verifying rapid vehicle reuse and validating the logistics foundation needed to safely transport millions of tons of cargo and, ultimately, one million citizens to the Martian surface.
The announcement of the trip to Mars comes when SpaceX, the space satellite and rocket company, confidentially presented its public offer with the goal of a valuation of more than 1.75 trillion dollars, the largest in history. It also comes as Musk’s company officially revealed, for the first time, its bitcoin holdings, totaling 8,285 BTC.
