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Only a handful of artists and a Japanese billionaire will make a trip to the moon with SpaceX. But the photo will not only be televised; you will have the opportunity to experience Earth in virtual reality.
This is the message from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about the upcoming private flight of entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, which Musk unveiled to the world on Monday, September 17th. Maezawa will embark on a journey around the moon on SpaceX's new Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), and he plans to take between six and eight artists for the race. The flight, called Lunar BFR Mission, could be launched as early as 2023, and we can all watch it live and in VR, Musk said.
"The lunar mission will be delivered in high definition VR" Musk announced on Twitter Tuesday (September 18), "then you will feel like being there in real time less a few seconds for the speed of light." This reference to the speed of light is apparently a nod to the ever-weak signal shift to cross the 238,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) between the Earth and the Moon. [How SpaceX’s Passenger Moon Flight Will Work]
Illustration of an artist representing a violinist playing in weightlessness in the Big Falcon Rocket of SpaceX. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company will offer a live, high definition and virtual reality webcast of its first moonlighting. Credit: SpaceX
There could even be entertainment. "Maybe one of the invited artists has chosen to play in. There will be no obligation to do that," Musk said. after displaying the artwork of an artist of a violinist performing a potential mission, her dress flowing in weightlessness behind her.
When asked how SpaceX could accomplish the Herculean feat of providing high definition real-time VR, Musk said the company's new Starlink communication satellites could handle the load.
The lunar mission will be broadcast in high definition, you will have the impression of being in real time less a few seconds for the speed of light.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2018
"Yeah, Starlink should be active by then," he wrote. SpaceX is developing a constellation of over 4,000 Starlink communications satellites to provide broadband Internet access around the Earth. The first two prototypes of Starlink satellites were launched earlier this year.
The Lunar BFR mission will send Maezawa and his artist guests around the moon using SpaceX's BFR booster and crewed spaceship, the Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS). The BFR-BFS launch system will be the largest rocket in the world once assembled, with a height of 387 feet (118 meters). It is designed to be fully reusable and able to launch up to 100 people and 110 metric tons (100 metric tons) of freight in the space.
SpaceX has used the BFR-BFS launch system as a central element of the company's March Colony plan, an ambitious goal to send explorers to Mars and build a new home on the Red Planet. The crewed spacecraft, said Musk, will be able to land on Mars, the moon and any other planetary body, and could also make point-to-point journeys on Earth.
The BFR booster will separate from its crewed spaceship and return to Earth as today's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters from SpaceX.
In the long run, there will be thousands and possibly millions of missions and everyone can go
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2018
A Twitter fan asked Musk if SpaceX would consider a contest or a draw to allow members of the general public, and not just the ultrarichists, to go on a trip to the moon.
"In the long run, there will be thousands and possibly millions of missions and everyone can go there" Musk wrote on Twitter.
And these flights could come with some comfort from the Earth. A Twitter user suggested that the BFS could use a bar.
Musk, it seems, agrees.
"Spacebar" he has answered.
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @ tariqjmalik. follow us @ Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+ Original article on Space.com.
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