Musk renames Mars rocket 'Starship' and says 'later versions' will travel to new star systems
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has renamed his Mars rocket for the third time, calling it Starship, and revealed that it will travel to other star systems.
The SpaceX founder said on Monday night that his space tourism company plans to rebrand its largest ship, that has not been built yet, as later versions plan to reach locations outside the orbit of the Sun.
Mr Musk had previously named his Mars spaceship the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT), then the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), then the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), and is now calling it simply Starship.
The rocket is expected to be able to transport a million passengers to Mars, as well as send Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and an assortment of artists around the moon and back.
The name reveal comes as the Tesla chief executive also announced he had redesigned the spaceship. The rocket fuel boosters that will be used to propel the spaceship from the Earth will be called Super Heavy.
Renaming BFR to Starship
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2018
The Starship aims to be a long-haul interplanetary spaceship that will replace Mr Musk’s other SpaceX rockets, including the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
While the Starship has not yet been made, Mr Musk has said it will take its first passenger Mr Maezawa around the moon by 2023.
Mr Musk last September revealed the founder of Japanese online clothing retailers Zozotown would be among those on SpaceX's first commercial flight. The trip is expected to take a week and could be tested within the next "two to three years".
