Space for 100 passengers on Elon Musk’s rocket

Speculative plans from billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk may mean cheap travel anywhere in the world in under an hour.

Elon Musk. Picture: Dylan Coker.

Speculative plans from billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk may mean cheap travel anywhere in the world in under an hour, if the ­SpaceX chief executive and newly minted South Australian power mogul is to be believed

Mr Musk unveiled design specs for the mammoth “BFR” spaceship in Adelaide yesterday, which he expects will take about 100 people at a time to the moon and Mars, and plans to send six advance ships, two with crew, by 2024.

He said with BFR people could travel anywhere on Earth within an hour using the BFR, but the most common long-distance trips could be completed within half an hour.

Mr Musk said the goals were “aspirational”, and SpaceX is yet to launch anyone into space.

Some in the space industry cast doubt on Mr Musk’s lofty aspirations with Gilmour Space Technologies founder and CEO Adam Gilmour telling The Australian the plans were unrealistic.

“He’s got to sort out the money and the timeline,” Mr Gilmour, a former banker, said. “I’m confident humanity can do something like this, but there is no way Elon can do it in time, and where’s the money coming from?

“Some aspects of this are just totally missing the mark. He’s gone way too aggressive on super- cool technology, not enough on the financials of it.”

Mr Musk was also in Adelaide to launch the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in Jamestown, which he claims will go some way to solving South Australia’s blackouts. The battery is yet to be turned on.

Mr Musk told the International Astronautical Congress he was confident he could complete the BFR ship and be ready for a launch in five years.

He had hinted he would show off “something really special” at the event, which has drawn about 5000 people to talk space and the future of mankind.

Aside from attempting to shake up air travel, Mr Musk said the BFR would also be able to service the International Space Station as well as establish human colonies on the moon and Mars.

If the BFR manages to land on the Martian surface successfully, it would be the heaviest vehicle to ever land there in one piece.

The rocket, which will stand 100m tall with 31 engines to lift a payload of more than 4000 tonnes into space, will replace ­SpaceX’s old models.

“We want to make our current vehicles redundant, we want to have one booster and ship that replaces (current models) Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon,” he said.

“All our resources will turn towards building BFR with the revenue we get from launching satellites and servicing the space station,” he said.

He said the BFR would be ­SpaceX’s biggest rocket but also its cheapest, and SpaceX is considering up to 30 launches in 2018, which is about half of all launches that occur each year across Earth.

Mr Musk showed the design for a ship that has 40 cabins for two-to three people each, about 100 on each flight to Mars, including common areas, a galley and a solar storm shelter. He hopes to make a first Mars rendezvous with two cargo ships in 2022.

The reporter travelled to Adelaide as a guest of Sky and Space ­Global.