Elon Musk Hints Updates on SpaceX's BFR Are Coming Soon

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plan to travel to Mars is still years away, but people want to know more about it. The billionaire gave a small, quick update on his Twitter account about one of the key pieces to make a journey to the red planet a reality.

The SpaceX BFR is the craft that will make the trip to Mars. At 348 feet, saying it’s huge is an understatement as it’s the size of national monuments. With that size, it will take some time to build, but Musk decided to give a little tease about the giant rocket in a tweet on Saturday. When asked by a Twitter user when there would be more info about the BFR, Musk tweeted it would be “about a month or so.”

While this might seem to be positive news and in one month’s time details about the BFR will be revealed, remember, this is Elon Musk. He’s said multiple times in the past how he’s optimistic when it comes to timelines. The Tesla Model 3 is the most recent example of that positivity as dates for when the vehicle would be sent to those who purchased it and when Tesla would reach its goal of 5,000 cars per week ended up being way off.

The BFR consists of two components: the first stage booster and second stage ship. Consisting of 31 Raptor engines, the booster will be powered by a new system using liquid oxygen and methane to create a liftoff thrust of 5,400 tons. The ship section will have a large cargo area that could potentially fit more than 200 people.

SpaceX plans its first mission to Mars to happen sometime in 2022. These initial missions will be uncrewed to set the groundwork for the actual crewed missions in 2024.

Along with making a BFR, SpaceX also worked on a new version of its Mr. Steven, the ship used to retrieve its Falcon rockets after launch.