What is so Exciting about SpaceX's BFR?

Everything you need to know about the SpaceX BFR project

Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket managed a successful takeoff in early 2018, orbiting the Earth with a Tesla car inside and completing its in-space maneuvers, albeit with a bumpy landing. The company can rest on its laurels, right? Hardly.

  
From article, (the BFR will be way more capable than just the Falcon Heavy — which is a very exciting rocket, but it’s not exactly meant for squishy little humans. There’s a good reason that the Heavy only took a Tesla car up into orbit, and not any passengers—it’s not made to sustain life, and if it sees action in the future it will probably be an automated supply transport that would ferry materials to Mars that people would use for survival.

When it comes to the BFR specifically, the goal is to attach a rocket to a spaceship and fly them both around, something that SpaceX thinks will take around $10 billion to accomplish. The spaceship half will contain a fully featured living quarters; it could have up to 40 cabins, a galley, and a shelter for passengers to climb into during a solar storm. It’ll be able to dock with another BFR in Earth orbit as well, Ars Technica notes.

But all of that is theoretical, projects measured not in years but in SpaceX years, which tend to take a little longer than real world time. For now, SpaceX is mostly concerned with getting a viable rocket working. The spaceship part will probably come along in a couple years.

The Moon: The first long-term goal may be to head over to the moon and, you know, check up on it. The moon gets tossed around as a potential goal because it’s a lot safer target than Mars, both literally and financially. There are also plans to orbit the moon with a Dragon rocket, which may well be merged with BFR if SpaceX wants to keep focused. If the BFR isn’t looking quite ready for a Mars flight in several years, then it’s safe to bet that it will at least try to go to the moon.

Mars: The Mars plan is surprisingly detailed, even at this early juncture. The first Mars flight would confirm water resources and scout out potential hazards, while scanning for the best places to build power plants, mine minerals, and so on. The second flight would include a bare-bones crew that would start to build structures and produce reserves of fuel. Once a base is established, SpaceX intends to start a full-blown colony, with a final goal of transporting millions of people to a Mars habitat.

Like we said, ambitious.

Earth transport: In the near future, you can at least expect the BFR to rocket its way around the Earth. Part of Musk’s goal is to use the BFR as a transportation option that allows people to zoom nearly anywhere on our planet in about 30 minutes. Plus, early tests of this transportation project are far easier and safer than trying for a full orbital test.

So where is BFR right now?

Things are looking pretty good! The success of the Falcon Heavy was a very important step, and Elon Musk has pushed the gas pedal down on BFR development for now, although SpaceX has acknowledged that it may pursue different projects in the future, depending on how things go.

Look for the next big milestone in 2019, when SpaceX plans to test early prototypes of the BFR in the atmosphere. If these tests go well, we can expect a much more exciting orbital test in 2020 and potentially a Mars flight in 2022. Of course, keep in mind that the Falcon Heavy itself was subject to delays and pushed-back dates, so this is more of a hopeful plan than a promise.)

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