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In a surprise appearance at the SXSW conference and festival in Austin, Texas, the entrepreneur said that his company’s BFR rocket, which is designed to carry objects towards Mars, will be ready for a test flight by the end of next year.
The company’s goal is to kick-start a drive by humans to colonise Mars. “We are building the first Mars, or interplanetary, ship, and I think we'll be able to do short trips, flights by first half of next year," said Musk, during a Q+A session where he answered questions from fans, who had queued for hours to get tickets.
Musk admitted that his timelines can sometimes be a little off – he first launched SpaceX in the early 2000s with similar promises which took a decade to come to fruition.
The South African-born technology giant, who made his fortune from Paypal and other internet companies before moving into the automotive, aerospace and energy sectors, said he hopes a successful launch will encourage other companies to join in the fun.
“The biggest thing that would be helpful is just general support and encouragement and goodwill,” Musk said. “I think once we build it we'll have a point of proof, something that other companies and countries can go and do. They certainly don't think it's possible, but if we do they'll up their game.”
He said that, if we are to colonise Mars, we will need “everything from iron foundries to pizza joints”.
Musk also talked about his other ventures, including Tesla and The Boring Company, which hopes to build the tunnelling infrastructure required to support the ambitious Hyperloop transport concept. He also reiterated his view that it’s artificial intelligence, not nuclear weapons, that poses the greatest threat to our survival as a species.
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