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Tokyo To Delhi In 30 Minutes? Elon Musk Might Make That Possible
Swarajya Staff
Oct 02, 2017, 06:16 PM | Updated 06:16 PM IST
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SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk on Friday (29 September) unveiled plans to send cargo by rockets to Mars and ferry humans between major cities on Earth in five years. The proposed interplanetary transport system, codenamed BFR (Big F*****g Rocket) would be scaled down for use on Earth where it could carry out multiple tasks to raise funds for the Mars trips.
The most important thing… is that I think we have figured out how to pay for (BFR),” Musk told a packed auditorium at a global gathering of space experts in Adelaide. “Which is to have a smaller vehicle, it’s still pretty big, but one that can… do everything that’s needed in the greater Earth orbit activity. I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and launch in about five years,” he added. At least two cargo ships would land on the Red Planet in 2022, with the key mission of finding the best source of water — currently mooted as a way to power rocketsElon Musk
Musk said that engineers had started work on the entire system and that construction of the first vehicles will start in the next six to nine months. The rockets would carry power, mining and life-support systems to Mars with four ships humans and supplies set to take off in 2024. The trips would be funded by satellite launches, servicing space stations and lunar missions.
Along with these, he also announced plans to use rockets to transport people on Earth, thereby reducing travel time between major cities to half an hour. The journey from Bangkok to Dubai would take 27 minutes, and from Tokyo to Delhi in 30 minutes, Musk calculated. The reduced time would be due to lack of obstruction in outer space, he added.
There’s no weather… and you can get to most long-distance places in less than half-an-hour. If we are building this thing to go to the Moon and Mars, then why not go to other places on Earth as well.Elon Musk
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