Elon Musk is about to unveil SpaceX's new Mars spaceship prototype in Texas. Here's what we know so far.
- Space X is developing a new rocket system called Starship at the southern tip of Texas.
- After building and launching a 60-foot-tall prototype called Starhopper, SpaceX has constructed a roughly 164-foot version called Starship Mk 1. Final Starships may stand about 40 stories tall and ferry 100 people to Mars at a time.
- Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, plans to update planet Earth on Saturday about the company's latest design and efforts to populate space.
- SpaceX has live-streamed all of Musk's prior presentations from the company's YouTube channel, and this one should be no different. Sources suggest his talk should begin around 8 p.m. ET.
- Musk has shared new photos and information about Starship ahead of his upcoming presentation from Boca Chica, Texas.
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Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, is scheduled to update planet Earth on his latest designs for Starship: an ambitious new super-heavy rocket system.
Musk first presented on the basic concept behind Starship three years ago. But he and his engineers have since worked through a few versions of the super-heavy launch system. Musk has also changed its name with each evolution; past titles include "Mars Colonial Transporter," "Interplanetary Transport System," and "Big Falcon Rocket."
If built, a full-scale Starship may stand about 40 stories tall and one day ferry 100 people to Mars at a time. Starship's most impressive feature would not just be its gargantuan size, though: It may be the world's first fully reusable orbital rocket system.
Read more: SpaceX is eyeing these 9 places on Mars for landing its first Starship rocket missions
All other rockets, including NASA's now-retired space shuttle and SpaceX's own partly reusable launcher, the Falcon 9 rocket, waste millions of dollars worth of hardware per launch. (The rocket parts crash into the ocean, burn up in Earth's atmosphere, or are lost to space.) If nothing gets trashed, Musk's thinking goes, the cost of getting into orbit could drop 100- to 1,000-fold.
"I'm confident moving to Mars ... will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k," Musk tweeted in February. "Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want."
But the devil is in the details when it comes to rocket science, and Musk is slated to discuss them from SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica Village, located at the southeastern tip of Texas, on Saturday evening.
The company has livestreamed every one of Musk's prior presentations about the system from its YouTube page, and this time should be no different. Sources suggest his talk should begin around 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local time).
Read more: New documents reveal SpaceX's plans for launching Mars-rocket prototypes from South Texas
Musk has hinted the backdrop for the event will be Starship Mark 1 (Mk 1), which is a roughly 164-foot-tall spaceship prototype that workers have built out of stainless steel panels over the past few months. The craft follows the construction and several launches of a 60-foot-tall prototype, called Starhopper.
Leading up to his presentation, Musk has shared new photos and information of Starship Mk 1 on Twitter, revealing some of the critical design changes he might explain.
Here's a look at what we now know about the next version of Starship.