Elon Musk: SpaceX's Mars Rocket Could Fly Short Flights By Next Year

On stage at SXSW, Elon Musk issued yet another incredibly ambitious timeline. During a Q&A session on Sunday, Musk said SpaceX will be ready to fly its Mars rocket in 2019. He said: We are building the first ship, or interplanetary ship, right now, and we'll probably be able to do short flights, short up and down flights, during the first half of next year. Further reading: Fortune.

Comments

I don't believe anything Elon says

[NEDHead]

Despite all the evidence to the contrary

Re:"short flights"

[bobbied]

To be fair here.. Musk is describing TESTING of the spacecraft by sending it on short flights, near earth. This makes sense. You crawl, walk and THEN run.

You really don't want to commit a group of people to a year long voyage to Mars and back in an untested spacecraft. You want to make sure the spacecraft isn't going to kill it's occupants because of some unfixable systems failure. So, you test it in orbit, short trips around the moon and THEN commit to a Mars round trip.

Re: "short flights"

[bill_mcgonigle]

This is the BFS ship which will ride on the BFR rocket for Earth to Mars launches, but also able to do SSTO in Mars gravity for the return trip.

They are going to be doing short (2-3 miles up) test SSTO-style launches (and landings) either at Boca Chica or from ship-to-ship by the end of next year. Most of the people who have been working on FH have been reassigned to work on BFR/BFS exclusively.

Re:Living so many years with the fear

[93 Escort Wagon]

Of humanity being wiped out entirely and in so many different ways. No generation before us lived with that fear...

You must be young, given you believe that.

Re:"short flights"

[Gavagai80]

He already owns the most powerful rocket on the planet, so he's won a marathon. This is about plans for the next one.

Re:Probably a bit ambitious, but still an improvem

[ColdWetDog]

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

  -- Douglas Adams