Elon Musk unveils BFR (Big Freaking Rocket) and outlines its practical applications
Very cool presentation at this year's International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2017).
In a nutshell, he makes the case that this new design will be economically and technical feasible. All resources that currently go into Stage 1 booster, Stage 2 and Dragon Capsule, would be dedicated to this new BFR vehicle.
Here are 7 highlights:
It would be fully reusable.
Propellant refueling occurs in orbit
O2 (Oxygen) and CH4 (Methane) propellants would be sourced from CO2 and H2O (on Mars, and in future also on Earth)
Able to dock with the International Space Station, and delivery satellites into orbit for Space X customers (revenue gain as cost per flight is lowest of any rocket due to full re-usability
Building a Lunar Base (can reach Moon and back on one full tank).."because it's 2017 already!"
First Cargo mission to Mars aspiration target: 2022, with manned mission to follow in 2024 (start building Mars Colony)
Demo of use case for travel on Earth: most long routes complete in less than 30 minutes - anywhere on Earth in less than 1 hour
this is awesome and thank you for the highlights.
Elon is such a crazy kid i tell you.