Elon Musk planning SpaceX mission to Mars by 2018

Tesla boss's SpaceX plans to send an unmanned spaceship, the boldest goal yet in a private space travel industry that counts Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson

There are moonshots, and then there are moonshots.

Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, announced Wednesday morning it planned to send one of its spaceships to Mars by 2018, the most ambitious goal set to date by the burgeoning private space travel industry funded by billionaires instead of governments.