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Elon Musk is changing the name of the space flight system colonizing Mars by SpaceX.
The vast duo of reusable spaceships SpaceX is building to transport people to the red planet and other celestial destinations will no longer be called BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) and BFS (Big Falcon Spaceship ").
"Rename BFR Starship," Musk announced via Twitter last night (November 19). [The BFR in Images: SpaceX’s Giant Spaceship for Mars & Beyond]
"Technically, two parts: Starship is the spaceship / top floor and Super Heavy is the rocket booster needed to escape the deep gravity of the Earth (useless for other planets or moons)," added the billionaire entrepreneur in another tweet.
Musk had a hard time finding a name for his Mars space flight architecture. He called the initial concept the Colonial Transporter of Mars, then changed his nickname to Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) in 2016. ITS became the BFR-BFS in September 2017, when Musk revealed an updated design for the combo.
If "Starship" sounds like an ambitious nickname, you're not alone; A Twitter user noted that the vehicle will have to move to another star system to really earn its name. To which Musk replied: "Later versions will be."
More than the name of the Super Heavy-Starship system is changing. In September of this year, Musk unveiled an important new design for the architecture, which gives the spaceship an appearance very similar to the vehicle used by the cartoon character Tintin. Then, just a few days ago, he announced that SpaceX was working on a new design iteration, which he describes as a "radical change" and "deliciously counterintuitive", without providing details.
The SpaceX Mars rocket will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and the spacecraft will be able to carry about 100 people per trip. Together, the vehicles will help bring people to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter Moon Europa, Saturn satellite Enceladus and everywhere else in the solar system, in accordance with Musk's plan.
If all goes well, the first crewed flight to Mars with the system could come in the mid-2020s, said Musk.
SpaceX also plans to transfer all of its activities to the Super Heavy-Starship system. Together, both vehicles can do everything the company can do in the foreseeable future, from launching satellites to clearing space, to carrying passengers on very fast city-to-city journeys, on earth.
Originally published on Space.com.
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