SpaceX Falcon 9 gains X-Wing style Hypersonic Fins

Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend: "Testing operation of hypersonic grid fins (x-wing config) going on next flight."

"Grid fins are stowed on ascent and then deploy on reentry for 'x-wing' style control."

"Each fin moves independently for pitch/yaw/roll."

Another tweet: "Autonomous spaceport drone ship. Thrusters repurposed from deep sea oil rigs hold position within 3m even in a storm."

And still another: "Base is 300 ft by 100 ft, with wings that extend width to 170 ft. Will allow refuel & rocket flyback in future."

In sum, Musk is showing off rockets with 'X-wings' and landing pads in the sea, said The Verge; Dante D'Orazio wrote about the Tweets on Sunday: The latest version of SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket has a set of four independently adjustable fins.

"The grid fins are designed to deploy only after takeoff, when they'll work together with thrusters to help the rocket maneuver itself into position for those spectacular vertical landings."

UPI noted the fins are referred to with 'x-wing config.' for the shape they make jetting out in four separate directions.

Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch said the fins "could help spacecraft navigate upon re-entry after delivering personnel or cargo to an orbiting space station." The new modifications to the rocket should make atmospheric navigation easier, he added.

As Musk also revealed, SpaceX is developing seafaring spaceport drones for landing, as TechCrunch put.

These could be a safe and reliable targets for landing spaceships and, Etherington said, also mean that re-entering craft are away from any populated areas.

This is an autonomous spaceport platform, using thrusters from oil rigs. The Verge said that the spaceports at sea are designed to give the reusable rockets a place both to land and refuel before taking back off for space.

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones.

It is the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in December 2010, said the SpaceX site.

The company made more history in May 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, exchanged cargo payloads, and returned safely to Earth.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Raising Money At A Valuation Approaching $10B

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the commercial space transportation startup founded by Elon Musk with ambitions to land people on Mars, is said to be raising investment that values the company somewhere south of $10 billion.

SpaceX has responded sayng: “SpaceX is not currently raising any funding nor has any external valuation of the magnitude you reported been done.”

SpaceX continues to make advances with its own spacecraft and rack up more agreements for future commercial and government launches.

The company also faces stiffer competition from other commercial firms that are looking to compete more aggressively in the new space race.

The latest capital infusion includes a large secondary investment, which appears to be somewhere in the region of $200 million.

This confirms some of the details published in April this year by Quartz, which cited a source reporting that the company might be raising between $50 million and $200 million.

According to CrunchBase, SpaceX has raised $245.5 million in private backing, with the last round disclosed in December 2012.

In its first 10 years of operation, SpaceX generated $4 billion in contracts (that includes funding from NASA between $400 million and $500 million).

The manifest for upcoming launches lists just under 40 missions planned between now and 2018.

For satellite operators looking for launch vessels, part of the attraction of SpaceX has to do with price.

Launches currently cost under $60 million for a low-Earth orbit launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 craft.

But it is working on more efficient technology for the rockets, including reusability, with some success already with return landings.

If successful, the projection is that a launch could cost as little as between $5 million and $7 million.

In tandem, SpaceX is also pursuing its Mars ambitions. One big step on that trajectory is the development of spacecraft capable of carrying humans and cargo.

Manned test missions involving the Falcon Heavy and the Dragon are planned in the next two to three years.

Space Tourism: Industry view exploration and space's new frontiers

Main shuttles and private companies developing suborbital travel with data on flights.

With spacecraft that can carry tourists into orbit and connect Paris to New York in less than two hours, the new heroes of space travel are not astronauts but daring captains of industry.

This new breed of space pioneers are all using private money to push the final frontier as government space programmes fall away.

Times have changed. Once the space race was led by the likes of the US space agency NASA that put the first man on the moon in 1969.

Today it is entrepreneur Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla electric cars and space exploration company SpaceX, who wants to reach Mars in the 2020s.

The furthest advanced, and most highly-publicised, private space project is led by Richard Branson, infamous English hedonist and founder of the Virgin Group.

His so-called shuttle, SpaceShipTwo, will be launched at high altitude from a weird-looking four-engined mothership, which can carry two pilots and up to six passengers, before embarking on a three-hour suborbital flight.

Branson and his sons will be the first passengers aboard the shuttle when it is expected to launch later this year.

His company Virgin Galactic was given the green light in May by the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to carry passengers from a base in New Mexico, which is named "Spaceport America," the stuff of science fiction.

File picture shows the WhiteKnightTwo, which carries Virgin's SpaceShipTwo into high altitude, prior to a flight at Spaceport America, northeast of Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico

Profitable at $250,000 a ticket 
The $250,000 (190,000 euro) price of a ticket has not deterred more than 600 people, including celebrities such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, from booking their seats.

XCOR Lynx spaceplane
The US spaceflight company XCOR is more affordable, offering a one-hour suborbital flight for $100,000 (74,000 euros) on a shuttle that takes off from the Mojave Desert in California. XCOR have already sold nearly 300 tickets.

Michiel Mol

"The first prototype is being assembled. Hopefully, the test flights will begin before the end of the year, and commercial flights before the end of 2015," Michiel Mol, an XCOR board member, told reporters.

It plans four flights a day and hopes its frequency will eventually give it an edge on Virgin Galactic.

But the new space business is not just about pandering to the whims of the rich, it also hopes to address a market for launching smaller satellites that weigh less than 250 kilograms (550 pounds).

"There is no dedicated launcher for small satellites," said Rachel Villain of Euroconsult, a global consulting firm specialising in space markets.

"Everyone has been looking for years for the Holy Grail of how to reduce costs, other than to send them as passengers on big launchers."

Virtual photo of XCOR Aerospace's Lynx during a press conference in Beverly Hills, California, on December 2, 2008

'Smarter, cheaper, reusable'
"These new players are revolutionising the launch market," said aeronautical expert Philippe Boissat of consultants Deloitte.

"They are smarter, cheaper, and they are reusable and don't leave debris in space."

Which is exactly what one newcomer, Swiss Space Systems (S3), proposes. With a shuttle on the back of an EADS Airbus A300, its founder Pascal Jaussi wants to start launching satellites before going into intercontinental passenger flights.


The 37-year-old former test pilot claims he can cut the price of a 250-kilogram satellite launch to eight million euros (almost $11 million), a quarter of what it now costs.

"Satellite makers wanting to launch groups of weather and surveillance satellites have already filled our order books," he said.

The first test flights are planned for the end of 2017, and the first satellite launches will begin at the end of the following year from a base in the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago off northwest Africa.

For passenger travel, the new space companies have to be passed by the regulators who currently control air travel.

At the moment a passenger plane covers the 5,800 kilometres (3,600 miles) between Paris and New York in seven hours. At Mach3 speed, the S3 shuttle will do the same trip in one-and-a-half hours.

"We hope to have a ticket price comparable to a first-class transatlantic fare. It should never be more than 30,000 Swiss francs (24,700 euros, $33,100)," he said.

Boissat of Deloitte is already looking further ahead.

"These suborbital flights will produce a new generation of fighter pilots at the controls of space shuttles sent up to protect satellites or neutralise ones that pose a threat," he predicted.

Video of the SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage reentry and landing following successful delivery of six ORBCOMM satellites to orbit. 

This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.

After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position. 

The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight. 

Going forward, we are taking steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video on future launches.

SpaceX today released video from the Falcon 9 first stage flyback and landing video from the July 14 launch of six ORBCOMM advanced telecommunications satellites.

This was a test of the reusability of the Falcon 9′s first stage and its flyback and landing system.

It splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, and SpaceX called it a "soft" landing, even though the booster did not survive the splashdown.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted on July 14 that the rocket booster reentry, landing burn and leg deployment worked well, but the hull of the first stage "lost integrity right after splashdown (aka kaboom)."

He later reported that detailed review of rocket telemetry showed the booster took a "body slam, maybe from a self-generated wave."

SpaceX today said last week's test "confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity."

This video is of much higher quality than the video from the first soft landing test in the ocean, back in April of this year following the launch of the CRS-3 mission for the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Even though the booster has not been recoverable from either test (the April test saw too rough of seas to get the booster) SpaceX said that they received all the necessary data "to achieve a successful landing on a future flight.

The booster tipping over is the nominal procedure (in water), but the booster did touch down in a vertical position; additionally, as seen in the video, the landing legs deployed perfectly, and the flyback boosters performed flawlessly.


Screenshot from the SpaceX webcast of the Falcon 9 launch on July 14, 2013.

"At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment," SpaceX said in today's press release.

"However, our next couple launches are for very high velocity geostationary satellite missions, which don't allow enough residual propellant for landing. In the longer term, missions like that will fly on Falcon Heavy, but until then Falcon 9 will need to fly in expendable mode."

The next attempt for a our next water landing will be on Falcon 9′s thirteenth flight, a launch to the ISS for the fourth resupply mission, but they indicated the test would have a "low probability of success."

That flight is currently scheduled for no earlier than September 12, 2014. The next big challenge comes in flights 14 (another ORBCOMM satellite launch) and 15 (Turkmen satellite), where the booster will attempt to land on a solid surface. Those flights are currently scheduled for NET October and November of 2014.

SpaceX Elon Musk Transporting people to Mars within 10 years

Entrepreneur and inventor Elon Musk has some travel suggestions that are out of this world.

The SpaceX CEO known as the brains behind the Tesla electric car says he wants to take humans to Mars during the next decade.

Speaking to CNBC this week, the South African-born billionaire said that his main goal at this moment is to perfect technology that would make space travel possible in the not-so-distant future.

In less than 12 years' time, he said, Musk wants to make the red planet a must-stop travel destination for interstellar tourists. Soon after, though, he hopes that Earth's neighbor will be able to host humans for the long haul.

"I'm hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years, I think it's certainly possible for that to occur," he said during an interview on CNBC'S "Closing Bell" on Tuesday.

"But the thing that matters long term is to have a self-sustaining city on Mars, to make life multi-planetary."

Another long term issue, Musk added, is raising the capital that's required to make both visiting and inhabiting Mars an obtainable goal.

He told CNBC that the 10-year plan he's aiming for is already too long-term to attract hedge fund managers willing to invest, but at this rate that could soon change.

"We need to get where things are steady and predictable," Musk added. "Maybe we're close to developing the Mars vehicle, or ideally we've flown it a few times, then I think going public would make more sense."

For now, Musk has set his sights on some goals that are a little easier to obtain. Namely, he told CNBC that he thinks an achievement more within reach would be the development of an electric car battery affordable enough to fully revolutionize the automobile industry.

"I am feeling really good about being able to produce a compelling mass-market car in about three years," said Musk, but first he hopes to find a way to sell a battery for one of those vehicles for under $5,000.

Previously, Musk told Wired magazine back in 2012 that he's been dreaming for a decade of a way to put a man on Mars, but the price-tag has proven to be problematic, to say the least.

"Since 1989, when a study estimated that a manned mission would cost $500 billion, the subject has been toxic. Politicians didn't want a high-priced federal program like that to be used as a political weapon against them," Musk told Wired at the time.

"But the United States is a nation of explorers. America is the spirit of human exploration distilled."

Musk made Elon Musk plans to take people to Mars within 10 yearss earlier this week when his electric car company, Tesla, announced it won't pursue patent lawsuits against any competing automobile makers that want to works off its patents.

"The mission of the company is to accelerate the widespread adoption of electric cars. If Tesla acts as the catalyst for other manufacturers...that will have been achieved,"Tesla spokesperson Simon Sproule told reporters.

SpaceX: Inside Elon Musk's Dragon V2 Spaceship (Video)

In an event worthy of a Hollywood premiere, billionaire inventor Elon Musk unveiled – quite literally – his new manned Dragon Version 2 spacecraft Thursday night (May 29).

The SpaceX plant is located in the old Northrop Grumman facility, adjacent to the Hawthorne Municipal Airport but you'd never guess it upon entering.

While the place was dressed for the occasion, it is clearly a stunning workplace, especially for an aerospace company.

The bars were staffed and libations flowed freely. Hors d' oeuvres were everywhere. The crowd, an assemblage of VIPs, current and future customers and reporters numbered many hundreds.

Employees were also well represented, recognizable by their event-specific black polo shirts with a celebration of Dragon V2 emblazoned across the front and back.

Dance club lighting and music with a thumping beat completed the festive atmosphere. Anticipation built until about 7:30 p.m., when, to loud applause and rock-concert cheers, Musk took to the stage wearing a velvet blazer and a broad smile.

"Welcome, everyone, to Hawthorne, headquarters of Space Exploration Technologies," Musk began. "We are here to unveil Dragon Version 2…"



"When we first created Dragon Version 1, we didn't really know how to create a spacecraft; we had never designed a spacecraft before."

He said that this first version of the craft had a conventional approach to landing, using parachutes to splash down off the California coast.

"An important step from that is to land anywhere, on land, propulsively," Musk said. "That's one of the things Dragon Version 2 will be able to do."

He described the landing accuracy of the new system to be equivalent to that of a helicopter. "That's something that a modern spaceship should be able to do."

After a few more comments, and after a classic launch countdown accompanied by disco lighting, he gestured to the curtained stage behind him, and the cover fluttered away to more applause, cheers and whistles.

There, in picture-perfect lighting and with a foggy mist rolling out from underneath, was the Dragon Version 2.

Comparison to the first version was easy and immediate since the first Dragon to return from orbit was hung overhead, scarred sides and heat shield clearly visible.

Version 2 is markedly larger, sports three large windows on and to each side of the hatch, and, most remarkably, four landing legs sprouting from the bottom.

The manned version of SpaceX's Dragon capsule will land using thrusters on Earth, as shown in this artist illustration. 

Credit: SpaceX 

Musk narrated a portion of his unveiling inside the Dragon Version 2 spacecraft, May 29, 2014. The control panel in front of him swings up and completely out of the way for easy entrance and egress. 

Credit: Rod Pyle

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to Unveil Manned Dragon ‘Space Taxi’ on May 29

SpaceX Dragon cargo freighter berthed to the International Space Station during recently concluded SpaceX-3 mission in May 2014. 

An upgraded, manrated version will carry US astronauts to space in the next two to three years. 

Credit: NASA

SpaceX CEO, founder and chief designer Elon Musk is set to unveil the manned version of his firms commercial Dragon spaceship later this week, setting in motion an effort that he hopes will soon restore America's capability to launch US astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS) by 2017.

Musk will personally introduce SpaceX's 'Space Taxi' dubbed 'Dragon V2' at what amounts to sort of a world premiere event on May 29 at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, according to an official announcement this evening (May 27) from SpaceX.

"SpaceX's new Dragon V2 spacecraft is a next generation spacecraft designed to carry astronauts into space," according to the SpaceX statement.

The manned Dragon will launch atop the powerful SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from a SpaceX pad on the Florida Space Coast.

Dragon was initially developed as a commercial unmanned resupply freighter to deliver 20,000 kg (44,000 pounds) of supplies and science experiments to the ISS under a $1.6 Billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA during a dozen Dragon cargo spacecraft flights through 2016.

Musk is making good on a recent comment he posted to twitter on April 29, with respect to the continuing fallout from the deadly crisis in Ukraine which has resulted in some US economic sanctions imposed against Russia, that now potentially threaten US access to the ISS in a boomerang action from the Russian government:

"Sounds like this might be a good time to unveil the new Dragon Mk 2 spaceship that @SpaceX has been working on with @NASA."

"No trampoline needed," Musk tweeted. The 'Dragon V2' is an upgraded, man rated version of the unmanned spaceship that can carry a mix of cargo and up to a seven crewmembers to the ISS.

Dragon is among a trio of US private sector manned spaceships being developed with seed money from NASA's Commercial Crew Program in a public/private partnership to develop a next-generation crew transportation vehicle to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS by 2017, a capability totally lost following the space shuttle's forced retirement in 2011.

NASA astronauts and industry experts check out the crew accommodations in the Dragon spacecraft under development by SpaceX. 

The evaluation in Hawthorne, Calif., on Jan. 30, 2012, was part of SpaceX’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 agreement with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. 

Credit: NASA

Since that day, US astronauts have been totally dependent on the Russian Soyuz capsules for ferry rides to orbit and back.

The Boeing CST-100 and Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser 'space taxis' are also vying for funding in the next round of contracts to be awarded by NASA around late summer 2014.

All three company's have been making excellent progress in meeting their NASA mandated milestones in the current contract period known as Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative (CCiCAP) under the auspices of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Second US Judge Lifts Temporary Injunction on Russian Rocket Engine Purchases

An RD-180 engine and Atlas 5 first stage arrive at the launch pad in Florida.

Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

U.S. federal judge on Thursday (May 8) lifted an injunction that temporarily barred the U.S. Air Force and United Launch Alliance from buying Russian-made rocket engines for launching launch national security missions that had been issued out of concern that the purchases violated sanctions against Russian leaders.

In issuing the temporary injunction April 30, Judge Susan Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims cited the possibility that money from the transactions could wind up in the hands of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees Russia’s space industry.

Rogozin is one of 11 senior Russian officials sanctioned by the U.S. government following Russia’s incursions into Ukraine.

The engine in question is the RD-180, which is built by NPO Energomash of Russia and sold to ULA by RD-Amross, a joint venture between Energomash and United Technologies Corp.

The engine is used on the first stage of ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket, one of two vehicles operated by the company.

Braden specified that the injunction would stand pending a determination by the U.S. Treasury, Commerce and State departments that RD-180 purchases did not specifically violate the sanctions.

In letters filed with the court May 6, officials with those departments said no decision had been made to specifically label NPO Energomash as a Rogozin-controlled enterprise.

Additionally, "to the best of our knowledge, purchases from and payments to NPO Energomash currently do not directly or indirectly contravene" the sanctions, Bradley Smith, chief counsel for the Treasury Department, said in a letter to the court.

The State Department's letter echoed that sentiment, while Commerce deferred to the other agencies.

Based on those letters, Braden wrote May 8, she was dissolving the temporary injunction.

"If the Government receives any indication, however, that purchases from or payment of money to NPO Energomash by ULS, ULA, or the United States Air Force will directly or indirectly" violate the White House sanctions, the government must inform the court immediately, she wrote.

US Court awards Injunction to Elon Musk, stopping import of Russian rocket engines

A US court has blocked a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing from buying Russian-made rocket engines, after private rocket operator SpaceX filed a lawsuit protesting the contract.

The preliminary injunction against the deal between the US Air Force and United Launch Systems (ULS) was issued late Wednesday by Judge Susan Braden of the US Court of Federal Claims.

The ruling blocks ULS, its parent company United Launch Alliance, and the Air Force from making payments to any entity subject to the control of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

That includes NPO Energomash, the Russian state-owned company that makes the rocket engines that power ULA launches of US government and national security satellites.

Rogozin heads Russia's defense industry and space program, and is on a US sanctions list over the crisis in Ukraine.

SpaceX on April 28 filed a legal protest against the contract, which guaranteed the purchase of 36 rocket cores from ULA to be used in national security launches, on the basis that it was struck without any competition from other companies.

The deal was part of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Program, which is the fourth largest program in the defense budget at a cost of $70 billion, according to court documents.

However, it was unclear how much money was at stake in the ruling. The injunction would not apply to any purchase orders placed or money paid prior to April 30, the court documents said.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told reporters last week that the Air Force's awarding of a contract without allowing other companies to compete was "not right" and raised the possibility that the deal could be a violation of sanctions.

The injunction did not address the issue Musk raised of fair competition, and could be lifted if the US Treasury, Commerce Department or State Department reviews the deal and finds it does not violate sanctions.

SpaceX sues US Air Force over allocation of contracts

SpaceX on Friday filed suit against the US Air Force for awarding billions of dollars to a single company for national security launches, and said the contracts might even violate sanctions against Russia.

The US military spends billions yearly with United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint operation of aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch government satellites.

The Atlas V and Delta IV rockets are powered by Russian engines, which has raised concern among some lawmakers that such reliance is dangerous in a time of escalating tensions over Ukraine.

"This is not right," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told reporters, describing the policy of "uncompeted procurement" by the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.

"SpaceX has decided to file suit and protest the Air Force EELV block buy," Musk said.

Musk claims his aerospace company SpaceX was unfairly shut out of a contract for rocket launches he says he can do for less money.

The process "essentially blocks companies like SpaceX from competing for national security launches," said Musk at a press conference in the US capital.

The suit was filed in the US Court of Federal Claims, he added. Musk said ULA rockets cost four times the amount of SpaceX's. "To add insult to the wound, the primary engine is made in Russia," said Musk.

"The person who heads Russian space activities is (deputy prime minister) Dmitry Rogozin, who is on the sanctions list. So it seems pretty strange, like, you know, how is it that we are sending hundreds of millions of US taxpayer money at a time when Russia is in the process of invading Ukraine?" Musk asked.

"It would be hard to imagine some way in which Dmitry Rogozin is not benefiting personally from the dollars that are being sent there," he added.

"On the surface of it is seems there is a good probability of some sanctions violation."

"This is not SpaceX protesting and saying these launches should be awarded to us. We are just protesting and saying these launches should be competed," Musk said.

Musk alleged the United Launch Alliance contract is costing taxpayers "billions of dollars, for no reason" because SpaceX could provide launch rockets more inexpensively.

SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract to launch a dozen unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station, delivering equipment and supplies.

Sunday humour about space travel and technology: Scott Adams, Dilbert

A little Sunday humour about space travel and technology. Credit: Scott Adams, Dilbert 

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Adds Landing Legs

A look at the landing legs SpaceX is mounting on its Falcon 9 rocket for the company's next cargo mission to the International Space Station, which is slated to launch on March 16, 2014.

Credit: Elon Musk /SpaceX

Putting landing legs on the Falcon 9 rocket, which is slated to blast off on March 16, marks another step in SpaceX's quest to develop a fully reusable launch system but current plans don't call for the Falcon 9 to actually touch down on the legs after next month's liftoff, said SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

Elon Musk

"Mounting landing legs (~60 ft span) to Falcon 9 for next month's Space Station servicing flight," Musk said Sunday (Feb. 23) via Twitter, where he posted a photo of the rocket.

"However, F9 will continue to land in the ocean until we prove precision control from hypersonic thru subsonic regimes."



SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract to make 12 robotic supply runs to the space station for NASA using Dragon and the Falcon 9.

The company has already completed two of these flights successfully; the March 16 flight will initiate contracted mission number three.

But the company's ambitions extend far beyond low-Earth orbit. Musk has said that he established SpaceX primarily to help humanity become a multiplanet species, and he hopes the company plays a prominent role in getting a Mars colony up and running.

One key to making such big dreams a reality is developing a fully and rapidly reusable launch system, which Musk has said could lower the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100.

Toward that end, SpaceX has been testing a reusable rocket prototype called Grasshopper, which has a made a series of higher and more complicated flights over the past year and a half.

Billionaire Elon Musk Unveiling Mysterious 'Hyperloop' Transport System

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stands next to the company's Falcon 9 rocket, which blasted SpaceX's Dragon capsule into orbit in December 2010.

Credit: SpaceX

How would you like to zip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes, on the cheap and on your own schedule?

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says it can be done, and he's going to tell us how next month.

Elon Musk, the visionary behind electric-car firm Tesla and the private spaceflight company SpaceX, has been teasing us for a year about something he calls the "Hyperloop."

This new solar-powered travel technology, Musk says, would go twice as fast as an airplane and be completely crash-proof.

The Hyperloop would also be a cheap way to get around, with tickets costing much less than a seat aboard a plane or train. And there would be no scrambling to make a set departure time — you'd be sent on your way whenever you showed up at the station.

Musk has described the Hyperloop as a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table," inspiring speculation about passenger-packed pods being blasted pneumatically through vacuum tubes.

A diagram of such a system drawn up by self-described "tinker" John Gardi "is the closest I've seen anyone guess so far," Musk tweeted on July 15.

But Musk has mostly remained mum, keeping details about the Hyperloop to himself.

He has said he will publish a design of the concept by Aug. 12, so we'll all just have to be patient for a few more weeks.