{"id":18647,"date":"2018-02-06T19:29:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T11:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/elon-musk-marvels-at-falcon-heavys-triumph-looks-ahead-to-bigger-rocket\/"},"modified":"2018-02-06T19:29:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T11:29:39","slug":"elon-musk-marvels-at-falcon-heavys-triumph-looks-ahead-to-bigger-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/elon-musk-marvels-at-falcon-heavys-triumph-looks-ahead-to-bigger-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk marvels at Falcon Heavy\u2019s triumph, looks ahead to bigger rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Elon
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk meets the press at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 SpaceX\u2019s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, says that even he was surprised by how successful the first flight of his company\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket turned out to be, and that it boosted his confidence about building an even bigger rocket ship that could someday send settlers to Mars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal to me,\u201d Musk admitted tonight during a post-launch news conference at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, which provided the base of operations for today\u2019s test flight.<\/p>\n

Musk said half-jokingly that he had visions of a catastrophic failure. \u201cI had this image of a giant explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the road and a Tesla logo landing somewhere,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cBut fortunately, that\u2019s not what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, SpaceX provided the first demonstration of what is now the world\u2019s most powerful rocket in operation, and created a viral sensation by sending a Tesla Roadster sports car into a long, looping orbit that will go out beyond the orbit of Mars, with the driver\u2019s seat occupied by a \u201cStarman\u201d mannequin wearing a standard-issue SpaceX spacesuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt taught me, like, crazy things can come true,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n

On a more serious note, Musk was gratified by the performance of the Falcon Heavy\u2019s triple-barreled booster, created by joining together a modified Falcon 9 rocket core with two previously used cores. The two flight-tested cores made synchronized landings after separating from the center core, and the center core narrowly missed executing an at-sea landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can imagine large numbers of those, just coming in and landing, taking off, landing, doing many flights per day,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it gives me a lot of faith for our next architecture, our interplanetary spaceship.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yzbFqLOjP4E<\/p>\n

That spaceship, known as the BFR (which could stand for \u201cBig Falcon Rocket\u201d or \u201cBig F**king Rocket\u201d), could start going into short-hop flight tests next year, Musk said. Those hops could take place at a space complex that NASA is building near Brownsville, Texas. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of land with nobody around, so if it blows up, it\u2019s cool,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n

Within three or four years, the BFR spaceship could start making trips in low Earth orbit, and within a decade or so, it just might offer regular passenger service to Mars.<\/p>\n

It sometimes sounded as if Musk was already shifting his focus from the Falcon Heavy to the BFR.<\/p>\n

\u201cFalcon Heavy opens up a new class of payload. It can launch more than twice as much payload as any other rocket in the world, so it\u2019s kind of up to customers what they might want to launch,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can launch things direct to Pluto and beyond. \u2026 It can launch giant satellites, it can do anything you want. You could send people back to the moon if you did a bunch of launches of Falcon Heavy and did orbital refilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that putting two or three Falcon Heavy missions together would equal the capability of the Apollo era\u2019s Saturn V rocket, which still holds the record for the most powerful rocket ever built.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t recommend doing that, because I think the new architecture, the BFR architecture, is the way to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The success of Falcon Heavy and the rise of the BFR could spark more innovation elsewhere in the space industry, Musk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to encourage other countries and companies to raise their sights and say, \u2018Hey, we can do bigger and better,’\u201d he said. \u201cWhich is great. We want a new space race. Races are exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Musk had to say on other topics:<\/strong><\/p>\n