Want to go to Mars? Just ace your March Madness bracket

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Elon Musk’s social media platform X is offering Americans a trip to Mars – on the condition that they submit a perfect NCAA March Madness tournament bracket this year.

The “X bracket Challenge” would give the college basketball fan a future seat on board the SpaceX Starship vehicle.

Alternatively, the Musk-founded aerospace company will extend the perfect bracket winner a year of free residential Starlink internet service, the opportunity to train like a SpaceX astronaut, a VIP viewing of a Starship launch and the chance to send a personal item of choice to space on a Falcon 9 rocket.

If there is no perfect bracket, the first runner-up will receive a $100,000 cash prize.

Elon Musk’s social media platform X is giving Americans a chance to win a flight to Mars if they submit a perfect NCAA March Madness tournament bracket this year. But, the chances of it happening are extremely remote (Getty Images)

“We’re not just hosting a bracket challenge; we’re redefining how fans connect, compete and dream big, all on a platform that’s already the heartbeat of real-time sports culture,” said Andrew Musk, the site’s lead product engineer.

Only legal residents of the U.S., who are over the age of 18 can enter the challenge, which is sponsored by Uber Eats. It closes at 8 a.m. PDT Thursday, which is shortly before the first tip-offs for the Round of 64.

X is also giving its users the opportunity to play fantasy games at various rounds of the tournament, with $10,000 prizes awarded to each of its four fantasy game winners.

It should be noted that nobody has ever come close to a perfect bracket. However, in 2019, an Ohio man predicted the entire tournament into the Sweet 16. The odds are about one in 9.2 quintillion, according to the NCAA.

The challenge offers a flight on the SpaceX Starship spacecraft. When that would be possible remains in question following two test flights that ended in fiery explosions (Getty Images)

If someone actually does the unthinkable, SpaceX will have to improve on its Starship test flights.

In January and March, there were explosions that sent debris raining down from the sky. The company is pre-flight testing for its ninth flight, NASASpaceflight.com reports. In a post on X, Musk wrote last week that Starship was slated to leave for the red planet at the end of next year.

There’s a lot riding on the Starship, which was selected for NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.

Musk said Tuesday night that SpaceX’s goal remains building a self-sustaining civilization on Mars in coming decades. Starship would be a part of that.

“I think we can do it in 20 to 30 years, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.