Thread: SpaceX - On to Mars

Two weeks since the presentation and I am still in the process of digesting it. More info is coming out, yesterday by President of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell and a little by Elons friend and investor Multi Billionaire Jurvetson.

The name ITS did not stick. Presently they are back to the name BFR (Big F.... Rocket now rebranded as Big Falcon Rocket) but that too may only be temporary until they can come up with something nice.

Last year the capacity they aimed for was 300t to Low Earth Orbit. Seems it was too ambitious and beyond the financial strength of SpaceX, no support of NASA materializing. IMO it was never realistic to hope for NASA. The new version has only 150t to LEO, in fully reusable mode. Not too bad, it is the same as the famous Saturn 5 could do, expendable. Less beautiful as well.




Last years version was destined to go to Mars. This years version is supposed to be able to do more different things so it can earn money. So

Go to Mars and come back.
Go to the Moon and come back.
Do passenger service from New York to Shanghai in 38 minutes. This would be one of the longest flight times. Most other connections would be below 30 minutes.

Initially I did not take that announcement by Elon Musk quite seriously. But now the more down to earth Gwynne Shotwell said the same. Also Elons friend Steve Jurvetson said, they can serve these connections at competetive prices. I am still somewhat sceptical. It would not only be technically and financially feasible. They will need to convince aerospace regulators worldwide that it is safe. I guess best case they could start flying regular passenger service in 20 years.



They would fly from platforms out at sea and bring passengers with fast boats. Launches and landings are just too noisy to fly nearer to a City. This limits possible connections to coastal cities. But many of the big cities are located at the coast.