Elon Musk took to the stage at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia on Thursday night to further his push for travel to — and colonization of — Mars. But it was a rocket that won’t leave Earth’s orbit which grabbed much of the attention.
Musk, and his company SpaceX, finished his presentation with a plan to develop rocket travel between any city on Earth. The rocket, nicknamed BFR for Big F—– Rocket, will be capable of taking passengers between any two cities in less than an hour. It touts that most travel will be less than a half hour.
The video Musk showed advertised flight times between New York City and Shanghai of 37 minutes and a maximum speed of nearly 17,000 mph.
And it won’t be expensive. Musk says the cost for a passenger should only be about the same as economy class on an aircraft.
Don’t plan your summer vacation next year around the BFR, though. The concept is still completely theoretical.
Musk said he eventually plans to pivot from his current work on multiple types of rockets to working solely on the BFR. But that won’t come until SpaceX has sent manned missions to Mars — and the timetable for sending people to Mars isn’t until 2024.
The presentation also focused on other uses for the BFR, including for use going to the moon and building a permanent base.