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SpaceX is almost ready to start testing the BFR, its developmental rocket designed to support a human mission on Mars. The company is working to complete its test site in Boca Chica, Texas, where the rocket will perform "jump tests" of a few hundred kilometers before embarking on the red planet. A representative confirmed Friday that the company has now received the latest ground storage system.
The rocket is a key component of SpaceX's future projects, which plans a human mission on Mars as early as 2024 and a human mission around the Moon in 2023. SpaceX says the construction of the Texas facility is unfolding faster than expected, with more than 300,000 cubic yards Sean Pitt, the company's communications specialist, told KRGV: "The ongoing construction of our launch pad in South Texas is going well. SpaceX has now received the last major ground system tank needed to support the first test flights of the Big Falcon spacecraft. "
See more: Elon Musk: Chronology of SpaceX BFR: sending humans to the moon and beyond
"Jump tests" are the first step in these missions. CEO Elon Musk described the plan as follows: "Fly, turn around, accelerate very hard and test the heat shield hot, because we want a highly reusable heat shield, able to absorb the heat from the speeds of the aircraft. Interplanetary entry. If successful, the company will switch to high-altitude and high-speed flights as early as 2020. These tests will come alongside the booster tests. The company will then perform a number of full test flights before sending humans on a BFR. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who plans to bring a group of artists around the moon on the BFR, could be one of the first passengers not subject to the test.
The Texas facility is gradually taking shape. In July, Local news reported that SpaceX had taken delivery of a 95,000 gallon liquid oxygen tank, capable of holding about 20 tankers. The company also built a 600-kilowatt solar generator and two ground station antennas, which can be used to track crewed Dragon missions to the International Space Station.
Musk can publish more details on these tests when he visits the SpaceX subdirectory during the next week to answer questions from fans.
Until then, the company has produced a number of visuals on the future bases of Mars.
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