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- SpaceX/YouTube
Tech billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars with a million people in an effort to protect humanity from certain doom.
To that end, on Tuesday afternoon during a keynote talk at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk will unveil his ambitious plans to establish a human settlement on the red planet.
But before the event, which is broadcasting live on YouTube, SpaceX revealed a new video of its new Interplanetary Transport System (ITS).
Based on that clip, here’s how Musk’s ambitious plan to launch dozens of people at a time to the red planet might work.
First, passengers load into a giant spaceship on top of the ITS.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Musk has said on Twitter that the ITS is 12 meters (39 feet) wide and 122 meters (400 feet) tall.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Source: Twitter
The giant ITS will launch from a futuristic-looking version of NASA’s Cape Canaveral, Florida, launchpad 39A — the same one used by Apollo 11 astronauts to get to the moon.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
At the bottom of the rocket are 42 separate rocket engines, presumably the Raptor design Musk unveiled on September 26.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Those ignite with 28.7 million pounds of thrust — nearly four times greater than NASA’s Saturn V rocket that took Apollo astronauts to the moon.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
The enormous first-stage rocket booster detaches itself, deploying an unnamed spaceship to low-Earth orbit.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Meanwhile, the booster heads back to Earth…
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere…
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- SpaceX/YouTube
…And lands back at the launchpad — similar to SpaceX’s recyclable Falcon 9 rocket boosters. This prevents the need to trash them in the ocean, allowing their reuse, plus saving money and time.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
A propellant tanker is loaded on top of the booster and soon launches back into orbit.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Then, in orbit, the tanker refuels the spaceship.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
The tanker heads back to Earth for a future launch…
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- SpaceX/YouTube
…While the spaceship continues on to Mars.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Once fueled up, the spaceship deploys fan-like blades of solar panels, which provide 200,000 watts of power.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
The finned spaceship begins making its way to Mars at a clip of 62,600 mph, setting up a multi-month journey to the red planet.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
Once the giant spaceship arrives, it begins its descent to Mars.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
The spaceship partly slows down while plowing through the red planet’s atmosphere, generating 3,000 degrees of heat.
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- SpaceX/YouTube
It then fires retro-rocket boosters…
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- SpaceX/YouTube
…Makes a soft landing…
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- SpaceX/YouTube
…And lets its passengers walk onto the new territory of Mars.
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- SpaceX/YouTube