A PLAN to have a Mars City of a million people has been outlined in Adelaide by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk as he also revealed his plans for a base on the moon.

He plans to use a rocket bigger than an A380 plane to send 100 people at a time — with two or three people per cabin — to Mars. Ultimately he hopes to create a sustainable population of about a million.

Mr Musk said his company SpaceX has begun serious work on the BFR (Big F***king Rocket) as he plans an Interplanetary Transport System.

He is trying to drive down the cost by reusing parts and improving technology.

But he also says he has an idea on how to pay for it all. And it can be as cheap as a plane ticket for a seat in economy.

Fly to most places on Earth in under 30 mins and anywhere in under 60. Cost per seat should be about the same as full fare economy in an aircraft. Forgot to mention that. A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Sep 28, 2017 at 11:19pm PDT

LIVE: WATCH ELON MUSK’S ADDRESS (SPEECH STARTS AT THE 26-MINUTE MARK)

Elon Musk Live Feed

In Adelaide for the International Astronautical Congress, he talked about humans “becoming a multiplanet species”. He has previously written that history shows eventually we will meet a doomsday scenario that will wipe us out, but today he said it was more aspirational.

“I can’t think of anything more exciting than being out there among the stars,” he said.

He also said a lunar base was past due.

“It’s 2017. We should have a lunar base by now. What the hell is going on?”

Mr Musk talked about the key technical capabilities SpaceX has been working on, such as the spaceship materials and how to land perfectly on the moon or Mars. He first revealed his plans to go to Mars last year.

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THE ADVERTISER’S CAMERON ENGLAND COVERS THE MUSK ADDRESS

Cameron England (@CameronEngland) | Twitter The latest Tweets from Cameron England (@CameronEngland). Adelaide-based Business Editor for The Advertiser and @theTiser. Runner, rider, writer and hiker. Adelaide

“We want the landing risk to be as close to zero as possible,” he said.

Mr Musk says SpaceX can launch two cargo missions by 2022; the estimate has previously been about a decade for the first Mars mission.

Four more — including two manned trips — will follow two years later.

“That’s not a typo. It is aspirational,” he said.

“We can be ready for a launch in about five years. Five years seems like a long time to me.”

media_camera Elon Musk's proposed "BFR" interplanetary transport vehicle, as revealed to the crowd at Adelaide's International Astronautical Congress.

His Falcon Heavy — otherwise known as “BFR” — is essentially several strengthened Falcon 9 launchers strapped to a vehicle capable of carrying 150 tonnes — or 820sq m — of cargo into low Earth orbit. “Hopefully toward the end of this year we’ll be launching Falcon Heavy,” he said.

The payload section is capable of being reconfigured to contain 40 cabins, with between two or three people per cabin, he said. This provides a capability of carrying 100 people to Mars each trip.

Mr Musk explained the ship, as it lands on Mars, would have redundant engine capacity to enable it to safely land if one fails.

Supporting the creation of a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars. https://t.co/kCtBLPbSg8 pic.twitter.com/ra6hKsrOcG — SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2017

media_camera A concept image of Elon Musk's "BFR" Mars vehicle shown here attached to the ISS.

“At first glance this is ridiculous,” he said, explaining projected costs. “But you need to look at aircraft.”

A single engined turboprop was cheap, he said, while a passenger jet cost many tens of millions. But the turboprop can’t reach Australia — and the jumbo jets have become the centre of an enormous industry.

BFR is capable of transporting satellites to orbit, crew and cargo to the @Space_Station and completing missions to the Moon and Mars. pic.twitter.com/p9staho4VZ — SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2017

The massive boost in payload launch capability his new rockets offer will greatly expand commercial space activity, Mr Musk said. Launch fees from these will help cover the cost of his Mars project.

But Mr Musk took his aircraft analogy further.

Using the same “BFR” transport vehicle to transport paying passengers from one side of the Earth to the other within 30 minutes would further boost the revenue stream to pay the way to Mars, he said.

Elon Musk's vision

Another major cost saver and capability enhancer will be a reusable orbital refuelling capacity, he said. Getting heavy fuel into space, waiting to top-up a cargo payload in low-Earth orbit, makes the process of interplanetary travel much more efficient.

“We can land the ship on the moon and return without need for propellant production on the moon,” Mr Musk said. “It’s 2017, we should have a lunar base by now. What the hell’s going on?”

Simulation of how the SpaceX Interplanetary Spaceship and Rocket design would work. Will be unveiling the new version on Friday afternoon at IAC Adelaide. Certain aspects of the new design and its applications will be unexpected. A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Sep 25, 2017 at 2:41am PDT

RACE TO THE BOTTOM

Lockheed Martin — which is working on a Mars project with NASA — has also updated its plans in Adelaide this morning.

It’s revealed its concept of a Mars Base Camp, a six-person space station in orbit around Mars. Now it has detailed its plans for a lander craft to explore the Red Planet’s surface.

“Sending humans to Mars has always been a part of science fiction, but today we have the capability to make it a reality,” said Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin.

“Partnered with NASA, our vision leverages hardware currently in development and production.”

The project is intended to work alongside NASA’s proposed Lunar Deep Space Gateway space station in orbit around the moon.

Mars Base Camp

The Gateway would enable astronauts to live and work in orbit around the moon for months at a time while gaining experience with extended operations far from Earth.

This would pave the way for Lockheed Martin’s project, which intends to send a crewed mission to the Red Planet to establish an orbital ‘base camp’.

“Following this, the architecture allows for a surface lander,” Lockheed Martin presentation this morning said. “The concept is designed to be a reusable, single-stage lander capable of descending to the surface from Mars orbit. Each surface mission could last two weeks with up to four astronauts, and then return to the orbiting Mars Base Camp where it would be refuelled and readied for another mission.”

But program strategist Rob Chambers says it’s likely the world’s space agencies will need to collaborate, along with the private sector, to turn the current concepts into reality.

media_camera A conceptual image of Lockheed Martin's planned Mars Lander, plans for which were announced in Adelaide today.

Mr Chambers says global collaboration could also accelerate plans for a mission, potentially making it possible in about 10 years.

“That will allow us a much more rich experience as we voyage out to the moon and out to Mars,” he told reporters at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide on Friday.

“The implementation is so much easier when it’s a team sport. “The human race is bigger than a single country and a single company because you’ve got that combined skill and will. “

Lockheed Martin says at no other time in history has there been both the know- how and the public excitement to get humans to Mars.

“Mars base camp is about more than humanity’s greatest adventure, it’s about science,” Mr Chambers said.

“Answering fundamental questions that scientists have been asking for hundreds of years.

“Where did we come from, where are we going and are we alone?”

media_camera A conceptual image supplied by Lockheed Martin showing its proposed Mars Base Camp mission to establish a station in orbit above the Red Planet to facilitate landers exploring the surface below.

WINE FROM DIFFERENT WORLDS

One of the world’s most famous scientists, Brian Cox, was asked if he would go to Mars.

“If the conditions aren’t right to grow wine … I might not want to go there,” he said.

But he could get lucky. One day, grapevines could grow on the planet.

Clare Valley winemaker Muster Wine Company has set up a new brand called Mars Needs. Unexpectedly, owner David Muster received an email from US company Explore Mars Organisation to talk about the possibilities.

They hosted a tasting of their earthly wares in Adelaide on Thursday night.

Mr Muster said his label was inspired by shiraz and David Bowie.

“I was sitting at home one night and I had this really good Clare Valley shiraz that didn’t quite fit the Muster label. But it was compelling fruit,” he said.

“ ... there was a song from Skrillex; and on the front was an alien face, then there was Ziggy Stardust, and Spider from Mars.”

So the idea was born, with the concept of a wine for a different world with new frontiers. Mr Muster says he’s been discussing it with Chris Carberry from Explore Mars.

“There are no nutrients in the soil. That red soil would be iron-rich, low fertility, and ancient, a bit like some of those red soils in the Barossa,” he said, adding that the two agreed that at first the wine would probably not be great.

A Whole new area has opened up for South Australian wine exports — and it’s literally out of this world.

SA is positioned to offer a range of services from recycling water to building satellites, and Space Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith has also talked up our ability to develop space food.

NASA and others have experimented with Martian farming techniques, as they try to work out how to feed astronauts on the way to Mars, and when they get there.

No word yet on if they plan to breed Martian cows to make Martian cheese to go with the Martian wine.