​SpaceX, a private spaceflight company, has announced that it is planning to send a large and unmanned probe to Mars.

This mission will be the first of its kind and will operate under the name Red Dragon, reports The Manufacturer.

Plans are for the probe to reach Mars' orbit by 2018 and from there it will land on the planet's surface to carry out research on its surface.

The first privately-funded missions to Mars, Red Dragon is also going to be the largest of all the probes that have been sent to this planet.

It will be sent on its way by a modified Dragon 2 capsule, which will launch from SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket.

Elon Musk, chief executive officer at SpaceX, tweeted: "Dragon 2 is designed to be able to land anywhere in the solar system. Red Dragon Mars mission is the first test flight."

SpaceX's Twitter account commented that the company has tested Dragon 2's SuperDraco propulsive landing system at one of its facilities, which it passed.