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Space

SpaceX Kickstarts Work On New Mars Rocket

By Marc Selinger

Friday, September 29th, 2017

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SpaceX Kickstarts Work On New Mars Rocket

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk speaks during an April 25, 2014, press conference in Washington. Photo: SpaceX.

SpaceX has begun “serious development” of a new rocket that it plans to use to start colonizing Mars in the 2020s, company founder Elon Musk announced Sept. 29.SpaceX has already ordered tooling and started erecting a facility to assemble the rocket, Musk said at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia. The company has also been testing a new main engine, the Raptor.The rocket will be fully reusable, with the booster returning to Earth about 20 minutes after launch. The…

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