SpaceX is one step closer to getting humans to Mars with a successful test-fire of its Raptor interplanetary transport engine.
It was the first time SpaceX successfully fired the engine, which the company says could eventually make its way to other planets. CEO Elon Musk announced the news on Twitter today, promising more details on the Raptor and his company's ambitions on Tuesday.
SpaceX propulsion just achieved first firing of the Raptor interplanetary transport engine pic.twitter.com/vRleyJvBkx — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2016
Musk has long said he wants to travel to (and die on) Mars. If all goes well, SpaceX will get an unmanned capsule to the Red Planet by 2018. It could then send humans to Mars as early as 2024 depending on how its testing goes.
SpaceX's Mars spaceship, initially dubbed the Mars Colonial Transporter, recently got a name change because it "Turns out MCT can go well beyond Mars," Musk tweeted last week. He later settled on Interplanetary Transport System.
Look for more details tomorrow, when Musk speaks at the International Astronautical Congress event in Guadalajara, Mexico. Tune in at 1:30 CT on SpaceX.com/Mars.
In March, NASA fired up its Space Launch System (SLS) for the very first time. The "largest, most powerful rocket booster ever built" produced 3.6 million pounds of thrust in two minutes of awesome. The SLS will be responsible for lifting NASA's deep-space Orion crew vehicle into space, carrying astronauts to destinations like Mars and near-Earth asteroids.