The billionaire entrepreneur Mr Musk has made no secret of his desire to get humans to Mars.
Dubbed the ‘Real Life Tony Stark’, the South African-born businessman posted a snap of the space suit design to social media site Instagram.
And Mr Musk revealed the space suit has already gone testing to withstand the pressures of space travel.
The photo was accompanied by the caption: “First picture of SpaceX spacesuit. More in days to follow. Worth noting that this actually works (not a mockup). Already tested to double vacuum pressure. Was incredibly hard to balance esthetics [sic] and function. Easy to do either separately.”
The suit looks a lot more lightweight than and of Nasa’s bulky astronaut attire and boasts a futuristic looking helmet with large, black visor.
The term “double vacuum pressure” initially sparked confusion.
But Reddit user RyanW1019 explained the term meant Mr Musk had tested to see if the space suits will survive if exposed to vacuum.
He said: “‘Double vacuum pressure’ just means they tested a 2 atm [atmosphere] pressure difference between the suit and the environment.
“This allows them to be extra sure that the suit won’t rupture if it is exposed to vacuum.”
As it stands, Mr Musk’s SpaceX appears to be leading the charge in the race to get people to Mars.
SpaceX has the financial clout to reach Earth’s next door neighbour and is aiming to get people to the Red Planet by around 2030, with the first people there being tasked with beginning to build a new civilisation.
In a recent report outlining his intentions, Mr Musk said that if each SpaceX flight carries 100 people and there are 1,000 flights, then “it would take 40–100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining civilisation on Mars”.