Elon Musk reveals new engine intended to help colonize Mars

Elon Musk tweeted this image of a Raptor engine being treat fired at the SpaceX testing facility in McGregor, Texas. The new engine is intended to move people and cargo form Earth to Mars

For years space aficionados have been talking about a proposed new rocket engine powering a huge interplanetary rocket. It’s been given joke names like the BFD or the Very Large Booster. But this is serious: a new deep space transport system that can move dozens of people and/or hundreds of tons of cargo from Earth to Mars in preparation for starting a colony that Musk sees as essential for long-term human survival. Up to now the hardware specs were almost all speculation. But over the weekend some concrete details of the colonization plan and the rocket engine that will help make it a reality were released:

Musk has been has been fairly vague on Raptor specifications so far, but tweeted a few extra details after last night's tests, confirming production goals and chamber pressure. Previously the SpaceX CEO has indicated that Raptor engines will deliver about 500,000 pounds of liftoff thrust — about as much as the Space Shuttle's main engines — and will use liquid methane rather than kerosene. Full-scale Raptor engines first arrived at SpaceX's testing facility in McGregor, Texas, earlier this year, but lots still isn't known about the technology, including how many will be used to launch SpaceX's interplanetary spacecraft, the BFS.

On Tuesday Musk is slated to release a full-on plan detailing the steps to actually begin colonizing the Red Planet at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. Check back here for details and bookmark the SpaceX press page to stay abreast of those exciting events!