Elon Musk says he is building 'Starship' in Texas

Elon Musk is building a massive rocket prototype in Texas. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send people around the moon, to Mars, and on uber-fast international flights by way of space. >>> Click through to see more on Elon Musk's Starship. less Elon Musk is building a massive rocket prototype in Texas. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send people around the moon, to Mars, and on uber-fast international flights by way of space. >>> Click ... more Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Elon Musk says he is building 'Starship' in Texas 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

Billionaire Elon Musk is building a massive rocket prototype in Texas.

On Monday, the chief executive officer of SpaceX, a private aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services business that managed more than 20 launches in 2018, posted an image on Twitter of a preliminary model of the space vessel, deemed "Starship."

The rocket, currently under construction at the company's Boca Chica Village location near Brownsville, Texas, was previously known as "Big Falcon Rocket" (BFR), according to CNET.

The company plans to use Starship to send people around the moon, to Mars, and on uber-fast international flights by way of space.

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"I will do a full technical presentation of Starship after the test vehicle we're building in Texas flies, so hopefully March/April," Musk tweeted.

Musk's Twitter photo gives an indication of the scale of the prototype. Positioned next to a pickup truck, the nose cone appears to be multiple stories tall. SpaceX has previously reported that Starship will be bigger and more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that took Apollo astronauts to the moon, says CNET.

Musk responded to several questions from Twitterverse about the project, revealing that Starship will "look like liquid silver" and boast a "stainless mirror finish" and "maximum reflectivity."

He also noted that steel will perform better than lighter weight carbon fiber material at high temperatures like those that transpire during reentry.

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SpaceX reportedly plans to begin testing its Starship design in 2019 with "hopper" flights that will launch the rocket straight up, then down for a landing.

The craft is expected to cost $5 billion and will be capable of taking up to 100 tons of cargo or 100 passengers as far as Mars, per The Verge.

Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter specializing in social media, the famous, and food. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message