Elon Musk has released a photo on Instgram of the SpaceX main body tool.
Elon Musk described the SpaceX BFR in a talk last September. It will be 106 meters tall by 9 meters wide. It will be able to launch 150 tons and will be 100% reusable and will be able to rapidly relaunch.
The SpaceX BFR will use Raptor engines. The engine will operate at 25 MPa (250 bar; 3,600 psi) of chamber pressure and achieve 30 MPa (300 bar; 4,400 psi) in later iterations. The engine will be designed with an extreme focus on reliability for any single engine. The top part of the BFR called the spaceship can land with either of two engines. The BFR Spaceship is trying to achieve landing reliability that is on par with the safest commercial airliners.
* Rendezvous and docking will be automated.
* There will be on-orbit propellant transfers from BFR tankers to BFR spaceships.
* A spaceship and its payload will be able to transit to the Moon or fly to Mars after an on-orbit propellant loading.
* Heat-shields will be reusable.
* The BFR spaceship will have a pressurized volume of 825 m3 (29,100 cu ft), with up to 40 cabins, large common areas, central storage, a galley, and a solar storm shelter for Mars missions.
Manufacturing the BFR
Construction of the initial BFR vehicle will be in a new factory to be built on the Los Angeles waterfront in the San Pedro area. In March 2018, SpaceX indicated that it would manufacture its next-generation, 9-meter-diameter (30 ft) launch vehicle and spaceship at a new facility the company will construct in 2018–2019 on Seaside Drive near Berth 240. The company has leased an 18-acre site for 10 years, with multiple renewals possible, and will use the site for manufacturing, recovery from shipborne landings, and refurbishment of both the BFR booster and the BFR spaceship.
SpaceX main body tool for the BFR interplanetary spaceship https://t.co/WbTITI6WSu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2018
Here is the description from 2017
Elon Musk described using the Spacex BFR to replace the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon.
* They tested the carbon fiber cryo fuel tank to failure
* they have had 42 main engine tests of the Raptor engine
* they are going to get propulsive landing perfect
* the landing will land so precisely will they will not need legs for the next version
* launch rate is growing exponentially
They will build ahead with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy and have a stock of those for customers that will want to see BFR fly a few times before using it.
They will put all resources to BFR.
He talks about using the rockets to fly anywhere on Earth in under an hour.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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