Elon Musk Unveils Starship to Take People to Mars, Colonize Other Planets
Elon Musk unveiled the Starship he intends to use to take people to Mars.
Musk announced the Starship in September 2016 as a way to colonize Mars and “make humanity a multiplanetary species.” On September 28, 2019, he unveiled his latest prototype of it to the world during a presentation at Sapce X’s testing facility near Boca Chica, Texas. He said he hopes to make it to orbit in six months, with test flights coming within one to two months.
“This giant ship will do the same thing that Grasshopper did,” he said. “So, this thing in gonna take off, fly to 65,000 feet—about 20 km—and come back and land in about 1-2 months. So, that giant thing, it’s really gonna be pretty epic to see that thing take off and come back.”
The 120-ton stainless steel Starship will have a length of approximately 164 feet and will allegedly be able to lift a payload of up to 150 tons. It will be stacked on top of a large rocket called the “Super Heavy,” which adds 37 Raptor engines to the ship’s six existing engines, and an additional 223 feet of length to the Starship.
Musk has said that he believes we can build a sustainable colony on Mars by 2050.