SpaceX

Nobody has ever accused Elon Musk of a lack of ambition. The SpaceX founder has announced a brand new rocket, bigger than any other in existence, and outlined how his company will create a human colony on Mars.

Codenamed Big Fucking Rocket (BFR), Musk says the new spaceship will be able to ferry people to and from the Mars, with the first test launch to the Red Planet set to take-off in 2022.


He's also planning to use the BFR system to transport people around Earth, claiming a journey to anywhere on the planet will take no more than an hour. In a promotional video, SpaceX says the BFR will be able to fly into the planet's orbit and travel with a maximum speed of 27,000kmh. It says a flight from Hong Kong to Singapore would take 22 minutes; London to Dubai 29 minutes; and London to New York 30 minutes.



SpaceX

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Away from Earth, Musk believes the BFR will be used to ferry people to Mars. He has predicted that the first test launches will take place in 2022 and then have four of the craft flying to Mars by 2024. It's an ambitious plan with a tight timeline, but Musk says he is going to focus the majority of SpaceX's resources on the project and "cannibalise" its Falcon rockets.

The BFR, although not under that codename, was first announced by Musk last year under the guise of the Interplanetary Transport System. Since then, Musk has toned the project down, reducing the number of rockets it has. The BFR will have 31 Raptor engines, weigh 4,400 tons and have a liftoff thrust of 5,400 tons. Importantly, Musk claims it will be relatively cheap as it is planned to be fully reusable (the current Falcon 9's are only partially reusable).


SpaceX

At the top of the BFR, which will stand at 106m tall, is the payload. It's here where passengers and cargo will be stored for flights. During a speech at the International Astronautical Congress, in Australia, Musk said it would be pressurised to a greater level than an A380 cabin and have 40 cabins (carrying 100 people), large storage areas, and a galley. The lower parts of the rocket will be used for its propellant: 860 tons of liquid oxygen, with methane to help propel the vehicle through its flight.

"We've already started building the system," Musk said on stage. "The tooling for the main tanks has been ordered, the facility is being built, we will start construction of the first ship in around six to nine months". When revealing his "aspiration" for cargo missions to Mars in 2022, Musk said it wasn't a typo, adding that the BFR would also be able to go to the Moon. The first mission to Mars will aim to find water and then create a propellant plant to refuel SpaceX rockets and allow them to make return journeys to Earth.


SpaceX

The BFR is a key part of Musk's plan to turn humans into a multi-planetary species. It has long been his ambition to put people on Mars as he believes it will help save humanity from a dying planet. Given SpaceX's history of rocket development, it's entirely conceivable the firm will be able to construct the BFR.

What is more ambitious, is Musk's plan for colonising on Mars. His concept of a Mars City might look impressive, but the plan currently lacks any details of how the city would be created, supplied with food and made safe for human habitation. "Over time we want to terraform Mars and make it a nice place to be," he said.