At the September 29th International Astronautical Congress in Australia, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled a system for the Big Falcon Rocket (aka “Big Freaking Rocket” or BFR), originally developed for Martian travel but which will now first be adapted for international travel, whereby most flights which today take from 5 to 14 hours will now take less than half an hour, with the promise of being able to transport passengers to anywhere on the planet in under an hour.
Its tanks topped with liquid oxygen fuel, the BFR will make it possible for everyone to fly into space in short trips between major cities for the equivalent of “a full fare economy in an aircraft”.
The same way that the development of the BFR was subsidized by SpaceX’s successful satellite launching business, the proceeds from this futuristic Earth-to-Earth aviation venture will be used to subsidize Musk’s obsession of creating a colony Mars. Current plans are to start sending two cargo ships to Mars in 2022 to supply a manned mission to the Red Planet in 2024.
“It’s 2017 — I mean, we should have a lunar base by now,” Musk deadpanned. “What the hell is going on?”
