The head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that the first test flight of a spacecraft designed to explore Mars is scheduled for 2019. This, as reported by CNBC, the businessman said, speaking at a technology fair in Austin, Texas.
“We are building the first Mars or interplanetary spacecraft, and I think it will be able to make short flights in the first half of next year,” Musk said, while acknowledging that the dates he calls “sometimes” are shifting.
SpaceX plans to send the first cargo ship to the Red Planet in 2022. The ultimate goal of Musk's company is to plant seeds on Mars to create conditions for the emergence of a human colony there. SpaceX's BFR reusable rocket system is expected to be capable of interplanetary travel, and a single flight will cost less than $ 5-6 million.
“I think that when we build it (the ship. - Ed.), We will be able to show that other companies and countries can do the same. They certainly don’t believe it, but if we do that, they will come into play,”Musk added.
In the future, according to the head of SpaceX, it will be possible to build glass domes, power plants and create all conditions for life on Mars. After the infrastructure appears on the Red Planet, according to Musk, "an entrepreneurial boom will begin, because Mars will need everything from foundries to pizza."
In early February, SpaceX's new Falcon Heavy launch vehicle successfully launched Elon Musk's sports car into space. At the wheel of the car sat a dummy, nicknamed "the star man" - in honor of one of the songs by David Bowie. After entering orbit, the passenger celebrated this by listening to two Bowie songs - Life on Mars? and Space Oddity.
Initially, the car was supposed to go on a multi-month flight towards Mars and pass it at a short distance from the surface. But after the launch, the trajectory took the car towards the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
