Tag: BFR
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Sizing up billionaire Elon Musk’s big bet on SpaceX’s Big Frickin’ Rocket of the future
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s BFR super-rocket docked to the International Space Station. (SpaceX Illustration) SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s rocket roadmap just got much bigger than Mars. Now the question is, who else will follow the map? The first answers to that question may well start emerging next week, when government officials and space industry…
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The Moon, Mars, & around the Earth – Musk updates BFR architecture, plans
Speaking at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, Elon Musk has laid out a much anticipated update to SpaceX’s Mars colonization plan – including a slightly scaled back version of the BFR vehicle introduced last year. Included in this update, excitingly, was the announcement of the company’s aim to establish a human base…
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ITS Propulsion – The evolution of the SpaceX Raptor engine
With the spaceflight community still in awe at the unveiling of the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), SpaceX has set itself some lofty long-term goals. However, while the realization of the plan is up for debate, the presentation has at least revealed some of the key specifications of the system, not least the Raptor engine. The…
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SpaceX reveals ITS Mars game changer via colonization plan
SpaceX’s Elon Musk has made his landmark speech, finally revealing details of his plans to make humanity a multiplanetary species. In a keynote speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk outlined a monster rocket and huge spacecraft capable of transporting at least 100 people to Mars – a planet Musk appears to have ambitions…
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Battle of the Heavyweight Rockets – SLS could face Exploration Class rival
With the recent announcement the Space Launch System (SLS) has become challenged by her schedule, the NASA rocket may soon find herself in a battle with a commercial “alternative”. SpaceX’s super powerful Exploration Class rocket is targeting crewed missions to Mars up to 10 years ahead of SLS – although both vehicles continue to avoid being…