{"id":17930,"date":"2019-09-29T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T16:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacexs-elon-musk-lays-out-a-fast-and-furious-plan-for-starship-super-rocket\/"},"modified":"2019-09-29T00:01:52","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T16:01:52","slug":"spacexs-elon-musk-lays-out-a-fast-and-furious-plan-for-starship-super-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacexs-elon-musk-lays-out-a-fast-and-furious-plan-for-starship-super-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk lays out a fast and furious plan for Starship super-rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Elon
SpaceX CEO stands in front of a darkly gleaming Starship Mk1 prototype as he outlines his plan for testing and launching the spaceship. (SpaceX via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk set a revved-up timeline tonight for testing and building a fleet of Starship rocket ships that he says would eventually take people on trips to the moon, Mars and other deep-space destinations.<\/p>\n

Standing in front of SpaceX\u2019s newly constructed Starship Mk1 prototype at the company\u2019s South Texas facility, Musk said he expected the first 12-mile-high test flight to take place in a month or two.<\/p>\n

His timeline called for building up to four more versions of the super-rocket and conducting the first orbital launch within six months. The next version, dubbed Starship Mk2, is already taking shape at SpaceX\u2019s Florida facilities.<\/p>\n

The first crewed orbital mission could take place as early as next year, Musk said.<\/p>\n

In the past, even Musk has acknowledged that his timelines tend to be overly optimistic, but tonight he suggested that\u2019s a feature, not a bug.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the schedule\u2019s long, it\u2019s wrong,\u201d he told a crowd of journalists, employees and fans. \u201cIf it\u2019s tight, it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
SpaceX\u2019s Starship Mk1 prototype stands alongside a first stage of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 1 rocket, which had its first successful orbital launch in 2008. If you look closely at this picture from SpaceX\u2019s Boca Chica facility, you can see people to the left of the Starship rocket. (SpaceX via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A hurry-up schedule certainly worked for producing the Starship Mk1, a 165-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide prototype that looks like the shiny, pointy-topped rockets envisioned in the 1950s. It took shape over the course of mere weeks, following up on last month\u2019s \u201cshort hop\u201d test of a smaller prototype nicknamed Starhopper.<\/p>\n

That prototype was equipped with one of SpaceX\u2019s methane-fueled Raptor engines, and rose to a height of 500 feet at Boca Chica. Starship Mk1 triples the oomph, with three Raptors.<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s talk was a follow-up to big-picture presentations that Musk delivered at the International Astronautical Congress in 2016 in Mexico, and in 2017 in Australia. As he did in those earlier talks, Musk laid out the rationale for spending billions of dollars on a launch system capable of carrying people to Mars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many troubles in the world, of course, and these are important and we need to solve them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we also need things that make us excited to be alive. \u2026 Space exploration is one of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n