SpaceX proposal: 'Fly to most places on Earth in under 30 mins' using rockets

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Friday, September 29, 2017
SpaceX proposes rocket travel to get around Earth
SpaceX's Elon Musk is proposing rocket travel around Earth, and he said it would cost the same as an airplane flight.

SpaceX's Elon Musk is proposing rocket travel around Earth, and he said it would cost the same as an airplane flight.

The company released a video of what it would look like, and Musk captioned it on Instagram: "Fly to most places on Earth in under 30 mins and anywhere in under 60. Cost per seat should be about the same as full fare economy in an aircraft. Forgot to mention that."

SpaceX plans to make the Earth trips using a new rocket nicknamed BFR for Big F----- Rocket. He said the rocket's maximum speed is 27,000 km (more than 16,000 miles) per hour.

Musk made the announcement at the end of his presentation at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, about the company's proposal to colonize Mars.

The inspiration behind the Earth trips came from a simple question.

"If we're building this thing to go to the moon and Mars, then why not go to other places on Earth as well?" he asked the at the IAC.

Before you get too excited, Musk said he won't focus on the Earth trips until after the company sends a manned mission to Mars, which is projected to happen in 2024. And the Associated Press said of the Earth-to-Earth trips, "The technical and commercial feasibility of this new venture is yet to be determined."

The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.