Elon Musk’s SpaceX to send rocket to Mars by 2022
New ‘BFR’ vehicle could also take passengers anywhere on Earth ‘in under an hour’
Elon Musk has announced plans to build a new rocket at his aerospace firm SpaceX that will make humanity a “multi-planetary species”.
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, the South African-born billionaire said the company wants to move “all the resources” it uses on its three existing vehicles towards building a single rocket that can be sent on multiple missions.
The new rocket, codenamed ‘BFR’ (‘Big F***ing Rocket’), will be used for “a cargo mission” to Mars in 2022, says The New York Times, with passenger flights expected two years after that.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“By that stage, they plan to be able to build a plant on the surface of Mars that would be able to synthesise fuel for return journeys back from Mars,” reports The Guardian.
The BFR could also be used for trips on Earth, the newspaper says, taking passengers anywhere on the planet “in under an hour.”
“If you build a ship that’s capable of going to Mars, what if you take that same ship and go from one place to another on Earth?” Musk asked.
The billionaire said passengers could travel from New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes.
SpaceX has focused on building reusable rockets since its inception in 2007, with the aim of cutting down production and servicing costs of vehicles to make space flight more manageable.
Last month, the company launched a secret military shuttle into orbit that the US Air Force says will help develop “reusable” rockets.
However, Alphr says “it doesn’t take a large stretch of the imagination to guess that the US is also testing surveillance technologies”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why is Tesla stumbling?
In the Spotlight More competition, confusion about the future and a giant pay package for Elon Musk
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
How Taylor Swift changed copyright negotiations in music
under the radar The success of Taylor's Version rerecordings has put new pressure on record labels
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Job scams are increasingly common. Here's what to look out for.
The Explainer You should never pay for an application or give out your personal info before being hired
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Is Google's new AI bot 'woke'?
Talking Points Gemini produced images of female popes and Black Vikings. Now the company has stepped back.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Elon Musk's most controversial moments
The Explainer The business mogul has a long history in the hot seat
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
2023: the year of the AI boom
the explainer This year, generative artificial intelligence bypassed the metaverse and became the next big thing in tech
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Elon Musk's 'frivolous' but precedent-setting free speech fight with Media Matters
Talking Point The lawsuit is just the latest in Musk's ongoing tension with social media watchdogs
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Inside Sam Altman's 'extraordinary firing' from OpenAI
The Explainer AI superstar joins Microsoft after 'philosophical disagreement' with his old board that stunned tech world
By The Week UK Published
-
How Grok, Elon Musk's 'rebellious' AI bot, differs from the others
The Explainer Musk developed the bot as a competitor to ChatGPT
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Twitter's year of Elon Musk: what happens next?
Why Everyone's Talking About 'Your platform is dying', says one commentator, but new CEO is aiming for profitability next year
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Nasa reveals first findings from asteroid that could explain origins of life
Speed Read Sample from Bennu has been found to contain an abundance of water and carbon
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published