It's a race to Mars for Elon Musk.

"You want to be inspired by things," the SpaceX CEO told an audience of several thousand upon arriving on stage at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia. "It's about believing in the future and believing the future is better than the past, and I can't think of anything more exciting."

Musk provided an update to his vision last year of creating a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars.

SpaceX aims to do 30 launches next year. According to Musk, there are about 60 launches each year, which means his company could account for half. This year, it's completed 13 out of what Musk said on Friday was a goal of 20.

Last year, Musk laid out his plan to build a 42-engine rocket capable of holding around 100 people.

He said that Interplanetary Transport System will launch people to and from Mars. The booster system was referred to as the BFR.