In case you haven't noticed, flying to Mars aboard a SpaceX Starship interplanetary rocket won't be free of charge. Think of Starship as a passenger jet, but one that travels between Mars and Earth.
And you'll need to pay your way to Mars, just like you need to buy a ticket to get on a plane.
Right now, a seat aboard Starship costs upwards of $500,000, said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and this figure is only a rough estimate. That means only the super rich will be among the first to set foot on and colonize, the Red Planet.
Not so fast. Musk wants as many people as possible to make the trip to Mars within the next few decades. As with airlines on Earth, the cost of a seat on Starship will depend on volume or the number of passengers on a spaceflight. One Starship can accommodate 100 passengers, so that's $55 million in passenger revenue for SpaceX on a fully booked spaceflight.
"(Price) very dependent on volume, but I'm confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k. Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want," tweeted Musk last week.
Starship will be launched towards Mars by a massive first stage booster named "Super Heavy." After releasing Starship into Earth orbit, Super Heavy will return to Earth, make a vertical landing and launch again.
Musk has always said the fast and repeated reuse of both Starship and Super Heavy is key to his ambition for very affordable spaceflight. Cutting costs is also key and the decision to build Starship out of stainless steel instead of using very expensive carbon-composite material is another step towards affordable spaceflight.
"This will sound implausible, but I think there's a path to build Starship/Super Heavy for less than Falcon 9," tweeted Musk later on.
SpaceX plans to launch its first Mars missions using Starship and Super Heavy in the mid-2020s. As of today, however, SpaceX is building working prototypes for both vehicles at its plant in Texas.
Six Raptor engines will give Starship the power to fly to the Moon, Mars, asteroids and elsewhere. Starship is designed to be recovered and re-used after landing, much in the same way as the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. It's a methane-fueled rocket engine burning cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
