MUSK SHOWS OFF ‘STARSHIP’ ROCKET

It may look like something straight out of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century or Tintin’s Destination Moon but, according to Elon Musk, the photographs he posted of his latest SpaceX creation are very much real.

Musk, CEO of SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla, revealed that assembly of the “Starship Hopper” rocket was complete and that images of the shimmering, stainless steel construction were “not a rendering.”

The Tintin comparison is not an accident. In September last year, SpaceX revealed the new design of the “Big Falcon Rocket,” now simply know as “Starship,” stating, “I love the Tintin rocket design, so I kind of wanted to bias it towards that.” Musk added: “If in doubt, go with Tintin.”

True to his word, the 120 foot-tall “hopper” is a tubular, pointy-topped rocket with three tail fins that serve as landing pads. It is an important building block of the controversial entrepreneur’s grand plan to land on and eventually colonize Mars. This version of the Starship Hopper is not yet ready for space flight but will be used for takeoff and landing tests.

Musk hopes it will be ready for its first test flights in March or April.