Elon Musk shared a five-minute animation of what a trip to Mars might look like on a Starship rocket.
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The CEO of SpaceX hopes to establish a permanent human colony on Mars in the coming decades, with the first crewed missions expected to take place by 2030.
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The video shows how the Starship and accompanying Super Heavy booster will launch from a futuristic spaceport – likely the Starbase facility in Texas where it is being deployed – before refueling in orbit and continuing its seven-month journey to Mars.
Both the booster and the Starship rocket land vertically, allowing them to be reused for future missions.
SpaceX is currently preparing for the first orbital test of its Starship spacecraft, which will take off from Starbase and travel around the Earth for 90 minutes, before landing on the coast of Hawaii.
In a presentation last week, Mr. Musk said the 119-meter-long rocket would likely fly sometime next month, although regulatory approval and further technical fixes are still required.
"We have received a rough indication that there may be approval in March," the billionaire said.
Once development is complete, SpaceX plans to mass-produce Starship rockets in order to build a “vehicle” capable of carrying people and cargo around the Solar System.
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Fundamental to achieving the goal is reducing the cost of space travel, which is why so much emphasis has been placed on reuse.
Source of information: independent.co.uk
