Elon Musk will reveal his Mars colony plan in September. Here's everything we know so far.

Impact

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will reveal his plan to get humans to Mars at the International Astronautical Congress meeting in Mexico in late September, according to the International Astronautical Federation.  

On Sept. 27, the second day of the conference, Musk will give a presentation called "Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species."

"The technical presentation will focus on potential architectures for colonizing the red planet that industry, government and the scientific community can collaborate on in the years ahead," noted the IAF.

What will Musk actually be sharing? Details are scarce.

SpaceX/Flickr

What we know so far

We already know Musk has plans to send an unmanned Red Dragon space capsule to Mars in 2018 in cooperation with NASA. Eventually that's what Musk plans to send humans to Mars. That could happen as soon as 2024, Musk has said. 

He doesn't plan on stopping after sending a few explorers to Mars. Musk has envisioned a thriving colony on the red planet in the not-so-distant future. We've heard rumors about a giant spacecraft called the Mars Colonial Transporter, capable of carrying 100 people at once. 

It's unclear if Musk will reveal details about the MCT or something related to it at the conference, but it sounds like there's reason to be optimistic. Chris Bergin, the managing editor for NASA Space Flight, tweeted this message in July: