Elon Musk unveiled his plans to build a city on Mars on Friday, but he also announced that the rockets used to get there could be repurposed for travel a lot closer to home.
The BFR, as it’s called, would travel at speeds approaching 17,000 mph. In theory, the rocket could reach any destination on Earth within an hour. Most trips would take less than 30 minutes, the head of Tesla and SpaceX said during his presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said on Friday that his company, SpaceX, has begun work on an Interplanetary Transport System. (Photo: PETER PARKS via Getty Images)
A trip from New York to Los Angeles, which currently takes between 5 and 6 hours, would be reduced to 25 minutes. The 15-hour flight from New York to Shanghai would take just 39 minutes.
An animation released by SpaceX showed the rockets leaving from and arriving on offshore platforms just outside of each city.
Earlier in the presentation, Musk said BFR trips to Mars would carry about 100 people. However, he also said the BFR cabin had the capacity of an Airbus A380, which can hold more than 850 passengers.
Musk didn’t offer a timetable for when such speedy travel may be available.
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1927
The official opening of an airline passenger service between Boston and New York took place when the first two women to make the night trip alighted from the air mail plane in New York on April 5, 1927. The fare was $25 per person.
1935
Passengers sitting in their seats inside the cabin of a 21-passenger airplane making daily trips between New York City and Chicago circa 1935.
1939
Passengers boarding Pan American clipper ship at Port Washington, NY circa 1939.
1940s
Passengers, seated two to a row, talk with their inflight neighbors aboard a Mainliner Convair aircraft as the flight attendant works at the back of the plane in the late 1940s.
1949
Stewardess Jane Driscoll lights a cigar for airline passenger Carl Graulein, 68, of East St. Louis, as he prepares to depart for his native Germany aboard an American Airlines overseas flight on Nov. 10, 1949.
1947
A model poses walking off the Pan American Clipper 'Challenge' Lockheed 1049 airliner circa 1947.
1955
Passengers enjoy a relaxing smoke on a Transocean Air lines Boeing 377 Stratocruiser circa 1955.
1960
A family walking down airplane stairs.
1961
Passengers getting off of a tardy chartered plane on Oct. 1, 1961.
1974
Miami-bound passengers on National Airlines go through a baggage check.
1977
Passengers taking a bus to get to a connecting flights in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
1980
Passengers board an Aloha Airlines plane named after Hawaiian monarch 'Queen Liliuokalani' at Honolulu airport in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 2, 1980.
1984
Just for special snow days, United Airlines now has signs and lines to handle passengers with cancelled flights. They had four lines going and about six agents handling the frustrated travelers on Nov. 12, 1984.
1994
Airplane passengers look through windows at airplanes being de-iced and plows at work at La Guardia airport on Feb. 11, 1994.
1995
Shuttle by United travels most frequently between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Sep. 7, 1995.
2001
Travelers stand in line at the United Airlines terminal at O''Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois on June 18, 2001.
2002
Passengers wait in line at the low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines ticket counter at Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida on Dec. 13, 2002.
2004
Passengers arrive at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Nov. 23, 2004 in Los Angeles, California.
2007
Northwest airlines passengers check in at Detroit Metropolitan Airport May 31, 2007 in Romulus, Michigan.
2011
Airline travellers stand in line to get to the United airlines ticketing counter at Newark Airport in Newark, New Jersey on Aug. 29, 2011.
2013
Passengers prepare to board their flight at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013.
2013
Passengers aboard a US Airways flight take their baggage from the overhead bin as they depart the plane in Phoenix, AZ on Oct. 7, 2013.
2016
Passengers walk through the Delta Airlines Inc. terminal at LaGuardia Airport in the Queens borough of New York, U.S. on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016.
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