Elon Musk envisages building commercial spaceports that float around 20 miles (32 km) out at sea from which Starship rockets can launch towards the Moon and Mars.

An offshore location would be needed to ensure that routine, noise-polluting, blast-offs from such spaceports would not disturb anyone, he tweeted.

Starship — formally dubbed the Big Falcon, or F******g, Rocket (BFR) — is SpaceX's planned long-duration cargo and passenger spacecraft.

The gleaming silver rocket will carry a complement of 100 passengers.

The 387 feet-long vessel would be launched atop a so-called Super Heavy rocket and could also be used to travel between two different points on Earth.

It could make a journey between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, for example, in around 90 minutes, according to Popular Mechanics.

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Elon Musk envisages building commercial spaceports, pictured here in an artist's impression, that float around 20 miles (32 km) out at sea from which Starship rockets can launch towards the Moon, Mars and even other locations across the globe

'Most Starship spaceports will probably need to be around 20 miles / 30km offshore for acceptable noise levels,' Mr Musk wrote on Twitter. This, he added, would be especially true 'for frequent daily flights, as would occur for point to point flights on Earth'

'Most Starship spaceports will probably need to be around 20 miles / 30km offshore for acceptable noise levels,' Mr Musk wrote on Twitter.

This, he added, would be especially true 'for frequent daily flights, as would occur for point to point flights on Earth.'

The SpaceX CEO made the comments during an exchange on twitter concerning how far reusable technology for space travel had progressed in the last eight years.

Travellers could reach the spaceports by boat — or perhaps an underground 'hyperloop' rapid vacuum-based transit system, a concept that Mr Musk has previously floated.

'Starship will be fully reusable with booster reflight possible every few hours & ship reflight every 8 hours. No boats needed,' Mr Musk wrote on Twitter.

In contrast, the rockets used by SpaceX at present — dubbed 'Falcons' — are only 80 per cent recoverable, he added.

This relies on the rocket's fairings — the heat-resistant nosecones needed to pass through the majority of the atmosphere — being recovered after each launch.

Fairings are expensive — each one for the Falcon Heavy rockets, for example, is estimated to cost around $6 million (£4.7 million), according to CNBC.

At present, SpaceX has been recovering fairings by capturing them in giant nets which are carried to the component's landing site on large boats.

An offshore location would be needed to ensure that routine, noise-polluting, blast-offs from such spaceports would not disturb anyone, he tweeted

Starship — formally dubbed the Big Falcon, or F******g, Rocket (BFR) — is SpaceX's planned long-duration cargo and passenger spacecraft. The gleaming silver rocket is being designed to carry a complement of 100 passengers

The 387 feet-long Starship would be launched atop a so-called Super Heavy rocket and could also be used to travel between two different points on Earth. Pictured, one of the floating landing platforms SpaceX are currently using for the Falcon rockets

At present, SpaceX has been recovering fairings by capturing them in giant nets which are carried to the component's landing site on large boats

Fairings are expensive — each one for the Falcon Heavy rockets, for example, is estimated to cost around $6 million (£4.7 million), according to CNBC. Pictured, SpaceX recovering a rocket fairing using its giant boat-mounted net setup

Elon Musk is not the only billionaire with spaceports on the mind, however.

In August, Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic firm unveiled the New Mexico-based spaceport from which they hope to launch tourists into orbit.

Converted from a disused airplane hanger, the so-called 'Gateway to Space' contains both operations facilities and customer spaces.

According to Virgin Galactic, around 600 people have already reserved tickets to go into space aboard its carrier-plane lifted 'SpaceShipTwo'.

Each ticket will ultimately set the purchaser back $250,000, or around £195,000.

The craft made its first successful test launch from California's Mojave desert in mid-December 2018.

In August, Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic firm unveiled the New Mexico-based spaceport, pictured, from which they hope to launch tourists into orbit

Converted from a disused airplane hanger, the so-called 'Gateway to Space' contains both operations facilities and customer spaces

According to Virgin Galactic, around 600 people have already reserved tickets to go into space aboard its carrier-plane lifted 'SpaceShipTwo'. Pictured, the so-called 'Gateway to Space' from which space tourists will depart

'Starship will be fully reusable with booster reflight possible every few hours & ship reflight every 8 hours. No boats needed,' Mr Musk wrote on Twitter. Pictured, the Starship MK1 seen here at a SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas

The SpaceX CEO made the comments about the future spaceports during an exchange on twitter concerning how far reusable technology for space travel had progressed in the last eight years. Pictured, the present-day SpaceX Starship facility in Florida

WHAT IS ELON MUSK'S 'BFR'? The BFR (Big F***ing Rocket), now known as Starship, will complete all missions and is smaller than the ones Musk announced in 2016. The SpaceX CEO said the rocket would take its first trip to the red planet in 2022, carrying only cargo, followed by a manned mission in 2024 and claimed other SpaceX's products would be 'cannibalised' to pay for it. The rocket would be partially reusable and capable of flight directly from Earth to Mars. Once built, Musk believes the rocket could be used for travel on Earth - saying that passengers would be able to get anywhere in under an hour. Advertisement



