SpaceX boss Elon Musk says Mars rocket could make short trips as early as next year

SpaceX's gigantic Falcon Heavy rocket successfully blasted off from its launch pad
SpaceX
Fiona Simpson12 March 2018

SpaceX founder Elon Musk says he could start short test flights of his Mars mission spaceship as early as next year.

The Tesla boss’s privately funded mission aims to send a rocket to the Red Planet by 2022.

During a surprise question and answer session in Austin, Texas, on Sunday billionaire Mr Musk told crowds: “We are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think we’ll be able to short trips, flights by first half of next year."

He told attendees at the annual technology and culture festival SXSW that he hoped his bid would encourage other companies to venture into space travel.

He added: “In the short-term, Mars is really about getting the spaceship built.

SpaceX Falcon launch - In pictures

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“They currently don’t think it’s possible, so if we show them that it is, they’ll up their game and build interplanetary transport vehicles, as well.”

Mr Musk, who launched his cherry red Tesla convertible into orbit last month on the back of his Falcon Heavy rocket, denied Mars travel would be an “escape hatch for rich people”.

He said of aspiring space travellers: “For the early people that go to Mars, it will be far more dangerous. It kind of reads like (Ernest) Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers: Difficult, dangerous, good chance you’ll die. Excitement for those who survive.”

Joking with the audience, he also added that he is inspired by Kanye West.

Thousands gathered to watch the launch of Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on February 6.

Despite overshooting its orbit around Mars the launch is still said to have paved the way for commercial space travel.

Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla launched into space
AFP/Getty Images

Business magnate Musk, who runs the private rocket company Space X, said that before lift-off in Florida he had half-expected disaster.

“I had this image of a giant explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the road, the Tesla logo landing somewhere,” Mr Musk said.

However, apart from one of the three booster rockets failing to land, as planned, the launch itself went like clockwork.

The $100,000 car is the first wheeled vehicle in space apart from moon buggies.

A space-suited mannequin was at the wheel, named “Starman” after the David Bowie song. A sign on the dashboard repeated the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy mantra “Don’t panic!” while Bowie’s Life On Mars? plays on a loop on the radio. One of the circuit boards on the car has the message “Made on Earth by humans.”

Stunning footage of the launch showed the rocket blast off as its monstrous engines roared during take-off at 3.45pm EST (8.45 UK time).

Before revealing the rocket exceeded the planned orbit, Mr Musk said the rocket was due to go into a huge oval orbit around the Sun that will take it close to Mars in about six months’ time before heading back towards Earth.

He added that it could be shuttling between Earth and Mars for a billion years.

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