Los Angeles could soon be home to SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket (BFR).
It seems like every week, we get an announcement from SpaceX about its plans for space and about its rockets.
SpaceX is going full force to prove that the company is serious about advancing space exploration and quickly.
In late March, the company signed a 30-year lease for an 18-acre site at the Port of Los Angeles. SpaceX setting up shop there will bring around 700 jobs to the area.
In a statement, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said:
SpaceX has called the Port of Los Angeles home to our west coast recovery operations since 2012…
The Port will play an increasingly important role in our mission to help make humanity multi-planetary as SpaceX begins production development of BFR — our next generation rocket and spaceship system capable of carrying crew and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
The company won’t have to pay rent for the facility for more than two decades, in addition to receiving $40 million in rent credits for renovations and upgrades to the facility.
But SpaceX will need approval from the LA Board of Harbor Commissioners because it’ll be building the 200,000-square-foot facility on a historic site. The site was used after World War II to build Victory ships that would bring U.S. soldiers home.
The board is expected to approve the deal tomorrow, April 19th.
So, let’s dive a little deeper into the rocket itself…
About the BFR
The BFR holds a special place in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s heart because of his desire to create a colony of humans on Mars.
After seeing the success of Falcon Heavy, Elon Musk knew that it was time to go all in and begin dedicating the company’s engineering talent to developing the BFR.
SpaceX’s design for the BFR has it as 348-feet long and able to carry up to 50 tons of payload. The rocket is designed to take humanity to the Moon, Mars, and possibly beyond…
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “This vehicle holds the promise of taking humanity deeper into the cosmos than ever before.”
It’s true. And the reality is getting closer and closer.
According to recent designs of the BFR, it’ll have a 19-story booster on the bottom, which will help to rocket the 16-story spaceship into orbit.
And it’ll be designed to burn liquid methane. Liquid methane can be manufactured on other planets and moons in the solar system.
This fuel choice is also intended to be fully reusable. So, this fuel route was a natural choice for the engineers.
Last month, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, Musk said SpaceX had already begun the construction of its first BFR ship.
He said, “We are building the first ship, or interplanetary ship, right now. And we’ll probably be able to do short flights, short up and down flights, during the first half of next year.”
This new 200,000-square-foot space will be what actually makes the BFR a reality. But once the rocket is built, it’ll be too big to safely transport by roads.
Shotwell said, “The rockets, once complete, would be too large for responsible transport by road and thus must be transported by barge or ship.”
The company is planning for a waterfront launch site at Boca Chica Village, Texas.
Should SpaceX succeed in building the BFR, it’ll forever change the entire rocket industry and the ways in which we look at transportation.
Until next time,
Jennifer Clark
Pro Trader Today