Despite its hectic schedule launching satellites this past year, SpaceX has been steadily working on a larger project, one that could be its defining mission.
In line with that, CEO Elon Musk took to social media early Christmas eve to share a photo of a new rocket.
Elon Musk/Twitter
The photo was that of the SpaceX Starship, previously dubbed the 'BFR'. It's the massive rocket SpaceX wants to use to send people on lightning fast international flights through space, as well as to send them to Mars.
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The design makes this spacecraft fare more powerful than the original Falcon Heavy, which itself is currently the most powerful rocket in service anywhere. The Starship will have a liftoff thrust of 5,400 tons, far more than the Falcon Heavy's 2,500 tons. In the photo, you can see that just the nose cone stands multiple stories tall.
As an aside, Musk also says the exterior of the Starship will be "too hot for paint". Instead, it'll feature a stainless steel mirror finish to maximise reflectivity.
According to Musk's claims, SpaceX will begin testing the new rocket in 2019 with "hopper" flights. These will just test the system's rockets, launching it up into the air and then straight back down. However, they plan to have the rocket in operation as early as 2020. Musk says their chances of taking the Starship into orbit that year are "60 percent and rising rapidly."
That's a timeline they'll need to stick to for once, given that SpaceX sold tickets on its maiden launch to Japanese billionaire Yukazu Maezawa. He, and a few other local artists of his choice will be the first civilians to take a trip around the moon, currently pegged for 2023.
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Additionally, Musk had last year boasted he expected to send two unmanned ships to Mars by 2022 and a third manned one by 2024, all part of his big plan to colonize the red planet.