Exactly 11 years after SpaceX launched its first successful mission on a Falcon 1 rocket, company CEO Elon Musk took a stage in Texas on Saturday and provided an update on the sleek, futuristic rocket known as Starship tasked with executing his multi-planetary ambitions.

Musk, known for being open and communicative via Twitter about the iterative hardware changes to Starship, provides at least once-a-year updates on the vehicle that he plans for crewed flights to the moon, Mars and beyond. Saturday's event was held at the company's outpost in Boca Chica, a village with a population under 30 situated on the southern tip of Texas.

SpaceX began building the first stainless steel prototype of Starship there and it successfully launched on a minute-long, low-altitude test flight known as a "hop" in August. Eventually, Starship will be paired with a booster known as Super Heavy that will take it to Earth orbit.

The Space Coast has a stake in SpaceX's ambitions, too: A second prototype of Starship is being built in Cocoa and will eventually be transported to Kennedy Space Center for flight tests. Musk said future Starships and Super Heavy boosters will also be built and launched here.

Here's what we learned from the event:

Why Starship?

SpaceX currently operates a fleet of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, but they ultimately lack the flexibility needed for deep-space missions. They could take hardware and possibly people to the moon, but to transport dozens or hundreds of people in one flight requires something of Starship's caliber.

The latest version, Musk said, stands some 387 feet tall and produces more thrust than a Saturn V rocket of the Apollo era. It also uses reflective panels of stainless steel instead of complex carbon fiber and other composites, which are hard to produce and significantly more expensive.

"The best design decision on this whole thing is 301 stainless steel," Musk said. "Unlike most steels which get brittle at low temperatures, 301 stainless gets much stronger. And if it's in the extra hot condition, it gets way stronger."

But the steel itself could also be a resource on voyages if needed.

"On Mars, you can cut that up, you can weld it, you can modify it," Musk said. "If you're out there on the moon or Mars, you want something you can modify and you can cut up and use for other things."

But design and hardware decisions aside, Musk's reason for Starship and Super Heavy hinges on his belief that humanity needs to become a multi-planetary, space-faring species sooner rather than later. After billions of years of evolution, he said, the window to expand is open – and it could close before we know it.

"It appears that consciousness is a very rare and precious thing," he said. "And we should take whatever steps we can to preserve the light of consciousness."

"I'm pretty optimistic by nature, but there's some chance that window will not be open for long. I think we should become a multi-planet civilization while that window is open," he said.

Tensions before the event

As a company, SpaceX's immediate priority – and a source of revenue – is NASA's Commercial Crew program, or returning American astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. A Falcon 9 rocket is slated to take a Crew Dragon capsule with two astronauts to the ISS sometime late this year or, more likely, early next year.

But before Musk's event in Texas, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine released a statement targeting delays to the crew program, which also includes Boeing as a contractor. Both companies have fallen behind schedule due to testing anomalies and other development issues.

"I am looking forward to the SpaceX announcement tomorrow," Bridenstine said via Twitter. "In the meantime, Commercial Crew is years behind schedule. NASA expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American taxpayer. It’s time to deliver."

When asked if he had a response to the statement, Musk said most of his company is still focused on Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon development, including getting astronauts back to the ISS.

"From a SpaceX resource standpoint, our resources are overwhelmingly on Falcon and Dragon," Musk said. "It was really quite a small percentage of SpaceX that did Starship. Less than 5% of the company, basically."

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.