SpaceX to Phase Out Everything But Its Mars-Colonizing 'BFR' Rocket

SpaceX plans to eventually phase out the big rocket, which has yet to fly, as well as the Falcon 9 booster and Dragon capsule to concentrate on the Mars-colonizing BFR system, company founder and CEO Elon Musk announced Friday (Sept. 29).
The move should make it possible for SpaceX to afford the BFR's development, he said. [The BFR: SpaceX's Mars-Colonization Architecture in Images]
"If we can do that, then all the resources that are used for Falcon 9, Heavy and Dragon can be applied to this system," Musk said at the 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, where he unveiled SpaceX's latest Mars-colonization architecture. "That's really fundamental."

This doesn't mean that SpaceX will be focused exclusively on Mars after the BFR — a huge, reusable rocket-spaceship combo — is up and running. The new system will be flexible, and the company will therefore use it for all manner of missions, from lofting satellites to resupplying the International Space Station to cleaning up space junk.
Musk also envisions the BFR (whose name is short for Big F***ing Rocket) helping humanity set up an outpost on the moon, and perhaps even ferrying people from place to place here on Earth.
"Most of what people consider to be long-distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour," Musk said. Such point-to-point Earth jaunts would likely cost about as much per seat as an economy-class airplane ticket, he added in an Instagram post on Friday.
SpaceX aims to launch the first BFR Mars cargo mission in 2022 and send the first people toward the Red Planet in 2024, Musk said during his IAC talk. But that doesn't necessarily mean all of the company's old-guard gear will be grounded by then.

SpaceX plans to eventually phase out the big rocket, which has yet to fly, as well as the Falcon 9 booster and Dragon capsule to concentrate on the Mars-colonizing BFR system, company founder and CEO Elon Musk announced Friday (Sept. 29).
The move should make it possible for SpaceX to afford the BFR's development, he said. [The BFR: SpaceX's Mars-Colonization Architecture in Images]
"If we can do that, then all the resources that are used for Falcon 9, Heavy and Dragon can be applied to this system," Musk said at the 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, where he unveiled SpaceX's latest Mars-colonization architecture. "That's really fundamental."

This doesn't mean that SpaceX will be focused exclusively on Mars after the BFR — a huge, reusable rocket-spaceship combo — is up and running. The new system will be flexible, and the company will therefore use it for all manner of missions, from lofting satellites to resupplying the International Space Station to cleaning up space junk.
Musk also envisions the BFR (whose name is short for Big F***ing Rocket) helping humanity set up an outpost on the moon, and perhaps even ferrying people from place to place here on Earth.
"Most of what people consider to be long-distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour," Musk said. Such point-to-point Earth jaunts would likely cost about as much per seat as an economy-class airplane ticket, he added in an Instagram post on Friday.
SpaceX aims to launch the first BFR Mars cargo mission in 2022 and send the first people toward the Red Planet in 2024, Musk said during his IAC talk. But that doesn't necessarily mean all of the company's old-guard gear will be grounded by then.

spacex_spacex_launch_project_elon_musk_nasa_102993_1024x600jpg
"Some of our customers are conservative, and they want to see BFR fly several times before they're comfortable launching on it," Musk said. "So what we plan to do is to build ahead and have a stock of Falcon 9 and Dragon vehicles, so that customers can be comfortable — if they want to use the old rocket, the old spacecraft, they can do that, because we'll have a bunch in stock. But all of our resources will then turn towards building BFR."
The BFR is an updated version of the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) architecture that Musk announced at last year's IAC, in Guadalajara, Mexico.
When stacked together, the BFR rocket and spaceship will stand 348 feet (106 meters) high. The rocket will be the most powerful ever built, capable of launching 150 tons to low-Earth orbit; the spaceship will likely carry about 100 people to Mars on each trip. Both vehicles will launch and land many times over the course of their operational lives.
Such reusability is key to making Mars settlement economically feasible, Musk stressed.
The newly announced BFR system is a bit scaled-back compared with the ITS concept that Musk unveiled last year; the rocket will feature 31 Raptor engines rather than 42, for example. But the most important change in the architecture involves the eventual phaseout of the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon, the billionaire entrepreneur said.
SpaceX believes a fully and rapidly reusable rocket is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access. The majority of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which flies only once. Compare that to a commercial airliner – each new plane costs about the same as Falcon 9, but can fly multiple times per day, and conduct tens of thousands of flights over its lifetime. Following the commercial model, a rapidly reusable space launch vehicle could reduce the cost of traveling to space by a hundredfold.
While most rockets are designed to burn up on reentry, SpaceX rockets can not only withstand reentry, but can also successfuly land back on Earth and refly again.

World’s First Orbital-Class Rocket Reflight
In March 2017, SpaceX achieved the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched a geosynchronous communications satellite on March 30, 2017, from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first stage for the mission previously supported a space station cargo resupply launch for NASA in April 2016. Following stage separation, the first stage successfully returned to Earth for a second time, landing on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic ocean. This successful reflight represents a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid rocket reusability.

First Stage Landings
Prior to the firest reflight of a Falcon 9, SpaceX successfully landed multiple rocket first stages. On December 21, 2015, Falcon 9 delivered 11 communications satellites to orbit, and the first stage returned and landed at Landing Zone 1 -- the first-ever orbital class rocket landing.

SpaceX plans to eventually phase out the big rocket, which has yet to fly, as well as the Falcon 9 booster and Dragon capsule to concentrate on the Mars-colonizing BFR system, company founder and CEO Elon Musk announced Friday (Sept. 29).
The move should make it possible for SpaceX to afford the BFR's development, he said. [The BFR: SpaceX's Mars-Colonization Architecture in Images]
"If we can do that, then all the resources that are used for Falcon 9, Heavy and Dragon can be applied to this system," Musk said at the 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, where he unveiled SpaceX's latest Mars-colonization architecture. "That's really fundamental."

This doesn't mean that SpaceX will be focused exclusively on Mars after the BFR — a huge, reusable rocket-spaceship combo — is up and running. The new system will be flexible, and the company will therefore use it for all manner of missions, from lofting satellites to resupplying the International Space Station to cleaning up space junk.
Musk also envisions the BFR (whose name is short for Big F***ing Rocket) helping humanity set up an outpost on the moon, and perhaps even ferrying people from place to place here on Earth.
"Most of what people consider to be long-distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour," Musk said. Such point-to-point Earth jaunts would likely cost about as much per seat as an economy-class airplane ticket, he added in an Instagram post on Friday.
SpaceX aims to launch the first BFR Mars cargo mission in 2022 and send the first people toward the Red Planet in 2024, Musk said during his IAC talk. But that doesn't necessarily mean all of the company's old-guard gear will be grounded by then.

spacex_spacex_launch_project_elon_musk_nasa_102993_1024x600jpg
"Some of our customers are conservative, and they want to see BFR fly several times before they're comfortable launching on it," Musk said. "So what we plan to do is to build ahead and have a stock of Falcon 9 and Dragon vehicles, so that customers can be comfortable — if they want to use the old rocket, the old spacecraft, they can do that, because we'll have a bunch in stock. But all of our resources will then turn towards building BFR."
The BFR is an updated version of the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) architecture that Musk announced at last year's IAC, in Guadalajara, Mexico.
When stacked together, the BFR rocket and spaceship will stand 348 feet (106 meters) high. The rocket will be the most powerful ever built, capable of launching 150 tons to low-Earth orbit; the spaceship will likely carry about 100 people to Mars on each trip. Both vehicles will launch and land many times over the course of their operational lives.
Such reusability is key to making Mars settlement economically feasible, Musk stressed.
The newly announced BFR system is a bit scaled-back compared with the ITS concept that Musk unveiled last year; the rocket will feature 31 Raptor engines rather than 42, for example. But the most important change in the architecture involves the eventual phaseout of the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon, the billionaire entrepreneur said.
SpaceX believes a fully and rapidly reusable rocket is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access. The majority of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which flies only once. Compare that to a commercial airliner – each new plane costs about the same as Falcon 9, but can fly multiple times per day, and conduct tens of thousands of flights over its lifetime. Following the commercial model, a rapidly reusable space launch vehicle could reduce the cost of traveling to space by a hundredfold.
While most rockets are designed to burn up on reentry, SpaceX rockets can not only withstand reentry, but can also successfuly land back on Earth and refly again.

World’s First Orbital-Class Rocket Reflight
In March 2017, SpaceX achieved the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched a geosynchronous communications satellite on March 30, 2017, from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first stage for the mission previously supported a space station cargo resupply launch for NASA in April 2016. Following stage separation, the first stage successfully returned to Earth for a second time, landing on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic ocean. This successful reflight represents a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid rocket reusability.

First Stage Landings
Prior to the firest reflight of a Falcon 9, SpaceX successfully landed multiple rocket first stages. On December 21, 2015, Falcon 9 delivered 11 communications satellites to orbit, and the first stage returned and landed at Landing Zone 1 -- the first-ever orbital class rocket landing.

Then, on April 8, 2016, during a resupply mission for NASA, a Falcon 9 first stage successfully landed on SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. This first stage was notably reflown in March 2017, representing the first-ever reflight of an orbital-class rocket stage. The ability to recover first stages at sea is an important component of SpaceX’s reusability program because certain missions do not leave enough fuel margin for the first stage to return all the way back to land.

SpaceX will continue to attempt landing Falcon 9 rockets either on land or on the drone ship at sea on almost all missions going forward. These technical achievements are made possible by innovative engineering upgrades to the vehicle, including grid fins, cold-gas thrusters, and landing legs.
Ocean Landings
Prior to successfully landing a Falcon 9 first stage, SpaceX had twice reentered a Falcon 9 first stage from space and landed it in the ocean. From there, SpaceX moved on to attempt using the drone ship as a landing platform during January and April 2015 missions. While the rocket did not stick the landing on these first two attempts, SpaceX gathered important data each time that would ultimately lead to a successful landing.

Grasshopper and F9R Test Programs
SpaceX’s initial reusability tests using the Grasshopper and F9R test vehicles took place in 2012–2014 at SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas. The Grasshopper Vertical Take Off, Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle was essentially a Falcon 9 first stage with one Merlin 1D engine and attached steel landing legs. In 2012–2013, Grasshopper completed a series of eight flight tests with landings, the highest reaching 744 meters high. Following the retirement of Grasshopper, SpaceX began testing the F9R development vehicle, which had three Merlin 1D engines for additional thrust. F9R completed successively higher tests in 2014 topping out with a 1000m test using steerable grid fins. These overland tests provided invaluable information for future flight testing during orbital missions, ultimately leading to the first rocket landing in 2015.