Canadian-American business magnate, Elon Musk, is revising his ambitions about sending people to Mars. He says that now his company, Space X, can send people there in 7 years. He said that the key is a new spaceship and a new rocket, which is bigger than anything launched before.
On Friday (Sept 29), he spoke at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, where he announced his ambitions. He also provided some engineering insight to the mission -- a reusable rocket called 'Interplanetary Transport System’
"Now we think we have a better way to do it," he said on Friday .
The new rocket will be nine metres in diametre instead of the 12m rocket he had said it would be. It would still be more powerful than the Saturn 5 rocket that took Nasa astronauts to the Moon. Musk called it BFR (The "B" stands for "big"; the "R" is for "rocket") The BFR would be able to lift 150 metric tonnes to low Earth orbit, he said.
The rocket could lift a spaceship with 40 cabins and carry 100 people per flight. He did not speak too much about the passenger experience in the spaceship.
He said that because the rocket and spaceship are reusable, it should not cost much to operate them. He also said the rocket could make long distance trips shorter. It could make the trip from New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes
"The cost per seat should be about the same as full fare economy in an aircraft."
Imagine travelling around the world in a rocket!
Elon Musk’s ambitions often take the world by surprise. He has said that he wants humanity to become a space-bearing civilization and a multi-planetary species.”
What do you think? Can he send a man to Mars by 2024?
Also Read: Turning complaint into an opportunity, that’s Elon Musk for you
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