Elon Musk shows off SpaceX’s massive Starship test rocket

This is just a test prototype. But the engine components will be used for Space X's Super Heavy rocket
to power a 100-passenger starship to Mars.

That test rocket won’t be flying through space though — it will be used for suborbital test flights. “Orbital version is taller, has thicker skins (won’t wrinkle) & a smoothly curving nose section,” Musk said in another tweet.

The Starship rocket is intended to be a key component of Musk’s plan to land on — and one day colonize — Mars. The plan is for the 100-passenger Starship to be blasted into space by SpaceX’s upcoming “Super Heavy” rocket, which itself may take its first test flight later this year. The Starship will then land on Mars, and take off and return to Earth. Musk has said he hopes to launch a Mars mission by the early 2020s.


The engines are expected to be test-fired next month, and Musk has said he expects the first Starship test flights in March or April.

 Elon Musk via Twitter
Elon Musk tweeted this image of SpaceX's new Starship rocket.