SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made another bold statement regarding his dream to colonize Mars. He said the BFR will be ready by next year for "test flights," and he’s targeting to put 1 million people on Mars. (Credit: SpaceX)
Maui Hermitanio reporting in Tech Times. The report says that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at SXSW in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. He announced that his spaceship to Mars will be ready by next year.
After successfully sending an electric car into deep space, the SpaceX CEO is setting his sights on fulfilling his lifelong dream to colonize the Red Planet and sending Earth's citizens to Mars.
Speaking before a stoked crowd of fans, the businessman said SpaceX is doing well in building the ship and booster of the BFR, the company's rocketship targeted for travel to Mars.
"I think we will be able to do short flights, short up and down flights, probably in the first half of next year. This is a very big booster and ship," says Musk, CEO of SpaceX.
Musk had a surprise question-and-answer session with SXSW attendees.
1 Million People On Mars
In September 2016, Musk first revealed his plan to send people to Mars in case of an apocalyptic disaster, like a nuclear war, on Earth.
"We want to make sure there's enough of a seed of civilization somewhere else to bring civilization back and perhaps shorten the length of the dark ages. I think that's why it's important to get a self-sustaining base, ideally on Mars, because it's more likely to survive than a moon base," Musk said at the SXSW.
The setting up of Mars Base Alpha and the colonization of Mars will have four stages — scouting missions, putting up of a full-scale fuel factory, crewed missions to Mars, and actual colonization.
Content and image source credit: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/222813/20180312/spacexs-mars-spacecraft-ready-by-2019-elon-musk-wants-to-put-1-million-people-on-mars.htm