Photo: Twiiter/Elon Musk
When Elon Musk presented last year his plans for taking humans to Mars and establishing a somewhat permanent colony there, many believed the billionaire was doing it just for the kicks of being in the spotlight.
Since then, the company he created to change space exploration, SpaceX, has achieved several important milestones, as well as a handful of premieres for an industry it pretty much single-handedly revived.
Last week, SpaceX announced plans to send the first paying tourist on a trip around the Moon. With this announcement came word of a new, updated Big Falcon Rocket ship (BFR), also featured in a Twitter post dated September 21.
In the rendering posted by Musk, three BFRs are seen standing upright on platforms near a road that leads to dome-like structures somewhere in the distance. This, says Musk, is Mars Base Alpha.
Officially, there was no announcement made as to when the Alpha is supposed to be ready, but Musk did hint in subsequent tweets it could happen before the end of next decade. Until then, SpaceX has a lot of work to do.
As per the plans revealed last year, the company is planning to send the BFR for the first time into space in 2020. After that, two BFRs packed with supplies are to leave for Mars by 2022. Human crews are expected to be launched by 2024. That would put the 2030 target in reach for those planning to leave for Mars.
The BFR ship will be capable of carrying around 100 people living in 40 cabins for crew, as well as common areas. The revised version presented last week is a bit longer than the one presented last year, with its size increased from 157.5 feet to 180 feet (48 to 55 m) and seven total engines instead of six.
Last week, SpaceX announced plans to send the first paying tourist on a trip around the Moon. With this announcement came word of a new, updated Big Falcon Rocket ship (BFR), also featured in a Twitter post dated September 21.
In the rendering posted by Musk, three BFRs are seen standing upright on platforms near a road that leads to dome-like structures somewhere in the distance. This, says Musk, is Mars Base Alpha.
Officially, there was no announcement made as to when the Alpha is supposed to be ready, but Musk did hint in subsequent tweets it could happen before the end of next decade. Until then, SpaceX has a lot of work to do.
As per the plans revealed last year, the company is planning to send the BFR for the first time into space in 2020. After that, two BFRs packed with supplies are to leave for Mars by 2022. Human crews are expected to be launched by 2024. That would put the 2030 target in reach for those planning to leave for Mars.
The BFR ship will be capable of carrying around 100 people living in 40 cabins for crew, as well as common areas. The revised version presented last week is a bit longer than the one presented last year, with its size increased from 157.5 feet to 180 feet (48 to 55 m) and seven total engines instead of six.
Mars Base Alpha pic.twitter.com/O1llQp8rFY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 21 septembrie 2018
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