Photo: SpaceX
If transformed into reality – and there’s no reason to suspect otherwise – SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) will likely become humanity’s first true spaceship, capable of transporting humans to other planets.
Before that happens, Elon Musk needs a place to build it. And rumors of a location having been chosen in Los Angeles have been confirmed for good on Tuesday after the city’s council approved a lease agreement on a 19 acres piece of land at the Port of LA.
As per Curbed, the location was once part of the Southwest Marine shipyard, the place from where World War II naval destroyers left for battle. The location will house an 80,000-square-foot SpaceX facility where the BFR will be assembled.
SpaceX can occupy the space for the next ten years - optionally the company can extend that by an extra 20 years -, having to pay an annual rent of $1.38 million.
City Councilman Joe Buscaino said in a statement that the new facility would create some 700 new jobs in the city. Production of the first interplanetary spaceship is planned to begin in 2021 at the latest.
The BFR is a bullet-like construction with a pressurized space larger than that of an Airbus A380. It measures 48 meters in length (157 feet) and has a diameter of 9 meters (30 feet).
The construction is comprised of a rocket booster and a capsule. The BFR booster will assist the ship into exiting the Earth’s gravity and then return in a fashion not unlike the one presented with the Falcon Heavy boosters. The ship will continue on its way to Mars, carrying at first only cargo, and later a human crew as well.
The ship fitted on the BFR will also be capable of Earth-transport using a ballistic trajectory. A nearly 4,000 km trip (2,485 miles) from Los Angeles to New York would take only 25 minutes, compared to the current flight time of nearly five and a half hours.
As per Curbed, the location was once part of the Southwest Marine shipyard, the place from where World War II naval destroyers left for battle. The location will house an 80,000-square-foot SpaceX facility where the BFR will be assembled.
SpaceX can occupy the space for the next ten years - optionally the company can extend that by an extra 20 years -, having to pay an annual rent of $1.38 million.
City Councilman Joe Buscaino said in a statement that the new facility would create some 700 new jobs in the city. Production of the first interplanetary spaceship is planned to begin in 2021 at the latest.
The BFR is a bullet-like construction with a pressurized space larger than that of an Airbus A380. It measures 48 meters in length (157 feet) and has a diameter of 9 meters (30 feet).
The construction is comprised of a rocket booster and a capsule. The BFR booster will assist the ship into exiting the Earth’s gravity and then return in a fashion not unlike the one presented with the Falcon Heavy boosters. The ship will continue on its way to Mars, carrying at first only cargo, and later a human crew as well.
The ship fitted on the BFR will also be capable of Earth-transport using a ballistic trajectory. A nearly 4,000 km trip (2,485 miles) from Los Angeles to New York would take only 25 minutes, compared to the current flight time of nearly five and a half hours.
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