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Elon Musk Renames Big Falcon Rocket To 'Starship' (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the has-a-nice-ring-to-it dept.

On Twitter, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the transportation portion of the company's Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS), will now be called Starship, while the booster portion will be called Super Heavy. The Verge reports: Plans for the 387-foot Big Falcon Rocket were officially revealed back in September. Eventually, the company hopes that it will replace the company's existing Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon rockets. The craft is currently being developed at the Port of Los Angeles, at an expected cost of $5 billion and will be capable of taking up to 100 tons of cargo or 100 passengers as far as Mars.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the company hopes to start doing uncrewed launch tests of the new rocket in late 2019. If all goes well, Musk believes that this could be followed by an initial uncrewed flight to Mars in 2022 with a crewed flight taking place as early as 2024. A mission to fly around the moon with a private passenger on board is planned for 2023. However, given that the Falcon Heavy took nearly twice as long to complete as expected, and that only five percent of SpaceX's resources are currently spent on the Starship, it's best to view these plans as an aspiration.

3 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. So, should the company building the rocket ... by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... now be known as the Starship Enterprise?

  2. Re:Big F by enriquevagu · · Score: 5, Informative

    Like DVD, KFC or BP, the term BFR doesn't formally stand for anything.

    That's funny. I was going to correct you with the meaning of those acronyms we all know, and when looking for sources I found that you're actually right. Thanks for the info.


    •    
    • DVD was initially supposed to be "Didital Video Disc", and later renamed "Digital Versatile Disc", and eventually nobody agreed on it and it was officially renamed to simply "DVD" (three letters), with many other unofficial meanings.

    •    

    • KFC were the initials of Kentucky Fried Chicken until 1991. From the previous link: Dieting trends had made “fried” a dirty cuss, and the plan was to banish it from view. Voila: KFC.

    •    

    • BP used to be The British Petroleum Company plc, but after many acquisitions it simply became BP plc in 2001.
  3. Re:Big F by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's him! The person who checks their facts before posting! Get him off the internet!!! :-)