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Elon Musk Shows First Glimpse of the BFR Spaceship

A big cylinder with six holes in it. That is what Elon Musk showed the world on Instagram on Monday, saying it is the “SpaceX main body tool for the BFR interplanetary spaceship.” Meaning not the spaceship itself, but one of the tools which will be used to build it.
BFR rocket tool 1 photo
Photo: Instagram/Elon Musk
This is the first time the Tesla billionaire has shown the world a piece of equipment designed to make one of his wildest ideas yet possible: interplanetary travel. The BFR rocket, as SpaceX calls it, will be the backbone of Musk’s mission to Mars.

The picture you see above shows what is supposed to be the template using which parts of the BRF assembly will be constructed. Together with the booster, the BFR is also supposed to have a human-carrying capable pod, of which little is known so far.

According to initial specs, the BFR capsule is supposed to be fitted with 40 cabins and large common areas on a deck that would be larger the one of an Airbus A380. The pod would also boast a central storage area, a galley and even a solar storm shelter.

The fact that Elon Musk released this photo shows this time too he means business. The plan is that by 2022 two BFRs to launch towards the Red Planet carrying cargo in preparation for human arrival. Two years later, in 2024, 2 crew ships are planned to be launched toward the same location.

Aside from taking people from planet to planet, application of the rocket would be transportation from and to locations on Earth, by flying into low-orbit and coming back down using the principle of ballistics.

At least, that’s the theory. In practice, Musk will probably miss all these goals by a few years, if not a decade or so. But, as the man showed us time and time again, he would eventually do it, thus becoming the first man to send Earthlings to another planet. If the Russians don’t beat him to it, that is.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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