Musk reveals new plans for Mars mission

“We looked at that and the results are quite interesting”, Musk said, leaving us hanging.

In a speech Friday at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, the SpaceX chief executive showed off new specs for the rocket and spaceship system known for now as BFR, a reference to how big the vehicles still would be. They’d be looking for things like water and other resources, and working out if it’s feasible to build a city there.

The redesigned SpaceX rocket will be reusable and hold about 100 people and include common areas, a galley, and a solar storm shelter.

According to the hard-charging tech mogul, his rocket company SpaceX aimed to land at least two cargo ships on the Red Planet in 2022 to place power, mining and life support systems there for future flights.

SpaceX also announced its new fully reusable BFR rocket which could eventually be used for global flights on Earth as well besides doing nearly every flight-related activity that the company enrages in or proposes to do, including carrying humans to Mars. This means a BFR rocket will launch from NY, for example, detach from the rocket booster and head towards a landing pad in Shanghai and propulsively land in under 40 minutes.

Upon lift off, the vessel would leave Earth’s gravity and split in two, sending passengers to their destination at 27,000kmh and the rocket safely back to earth for reuse.

In the video, passengers board a boat at a harbour in NY, which takes them to a launchpad where the BFR would be ready to board. People could start heading to Mars by 2024, he reckons.

Apart from this mission by SpaceX to colonise Mars, Russia and China are getting ready to send manned missions to the Moon.

Once the ship is built, Musk believes it can one day be used to transport people quickly around Earth.

He said: “The goal is to find the best source of water and to build the propellent plant.with six ships there is enough landed mass to construct the depot of solar panels, and mine and refine water, draw Carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere”.

Early today, Musk announced that he plans to make city-to-city commuting via space travel a reality, promising metro-to-metro travel in a scant sixty minute flight or less.