The Martian architecture will opt more for functionality.
During a recent Q&A session on Reddit, Elon Musk detailed SpaceX’s Mars plans. The CEO of the company talked about the Martian architecture, the first unmanned mission, and the duties of the first humans who will set foot on the Red Planet.
Sunday, October 23rd, Elon Musk participated in an “Ask Me Anything” Q&A session hosted by popular social media website Reddit. During the talks, Musk was asked about details of the upcoming Mars mission.
While some users were interested in the type of fuel that the Interplanetary Transport System would use, others wanted to learn more about Martian architecture and the names of the spacecrafts that will make the journey.
According to Musk, the architecture of the Red Planet will rely on functionality. The first colonists must take down the previous unmanned spacecrafts and build a basic settlement complete with habitation modules and a liquid oxygen and methane factory.
At the moment, the most important objective related to Martian architecture is SpaceX’s attempt to build a rocket that will land without creating an additional crater on the surface of the planet. To that extent, Musk’s crew is working on the Falcon 5 Block 9, the most stable version of the spacecraft so far.
“Falcon 9 Block 5 — the final version in the series — is the one that has the most performance and is designed for easy reuse, so it just makes sense to focus on that long term and retire the earlier versions,” Musk responded to a user.
It seems that the first Falcon 9 Block 5 spacecraft will enter production in the following moths. A first test flight is scheduled for the next six to eight months.
Gwynne Shotwell, the president of SpaceX, declared earlier this month that the Falcon 9 updated version would last for approximately ten trips. Musk is even more optimistic stating that he believes that the booster engines will run indefinitely as long as the spacecraft does not miss any maintenance appointments.
The CEO of SpaceX is also not very pleased with the name of the ITS.
“I think we need a new name, ITS is just not working,” he wrote.
While the first spacecraft will bear the name of Heart of Gold, the next ships are lacking an official name, and the billionaire entrepreneur is open to suggestions.
Image source: Wikipedia
