Elon Musk plans to build a new Starship rocket every 72 HOURS to colonise Mars
BILLIONAIRE SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed he wants to build a new Starship rocket every 72 hours so he'll be able to colonise Mars.
Musk recently added over 250 employees to SpaceX in two days as he plans to expand the company to reach his goals.
An reporter visited SpaceX in Texas the day after a major Starship prototype exploded during a test.
They reported that Musk insisted the prototype was never really designed to fly and that staff knew about problems with the weak welding on the craft.
It was also revealed that SpaceX is building a factory at its Texas site that aims to make a Starship rocket every three days.
Musk told the : "I think we need, probably, on the order of 1,000 ships, and each of those ships would have more payload than the Saturn V—and be reusable."
Musk's plans seem even more extreme when you take in that no reusable rocket currently exists.
Not only do the SpaceX team need to create this world first but they'll also need a huge storage facility for the many rockets they plan on making.
Musk has previously claimed that humanity must colonise the Red Planet in order to save itself from World War Three.
He is already hoping to send three tourists on a trip to the International Space Station next year.
SpaceX's Starship, a gigantic rocket capable of trips into deep space, is tipped to carry out the company's first trip there.
The craft is 387ft-tall and could carry up to 100 at a time.
What is SpaceX?
Here's what you need to know...
- SpaceX is a cash-flushed rocket company that wants to take man to Mars.
- It was set up by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk in 2002 and is based in Hawthorne, California.
- SpaceX's first aim was to build rockets that could be landed back on Earth and re-used.
- Musk hoped the technology would make flying and operating space flights far cheaper.
- SpaceX now uses its reusable rockets to fly cargo to the International Space Station for Nasa.
- The company will take astronauts up to the ISS for the first time in 2020.
- Other future missions involve carrying tourists and astronauts to the Moon.
- Musk has repeatedly said he believes humanity must colonise Mars to save itself from extinction.
- He plans to get a SpaceX rocket to the Red Planet sometime in the 2030s.
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In other space news, video emerged this week of a SpaceX rocket exploding on take-off following a dramatic pressure failure.
Lettuce has been successfully grown in space.
And, the most detailed panorama ever snapped from the surface of Mars has been unveiled by Nasa.
Would you like to go to Mars? Let us know in the comments...
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