Elon Musk reckons one day we will be able to travel anywhere on earth within an hour for the same price of a plane ticket.
In fact, a journey from London to New York would take just 29 minutes.
The Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX owner made the promise at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Australia.
Musk told the audience that he was refocusing SpaceX to work on one type of vehicle – called the BFR – which he said it would start building next year.
BFR is also capable of Earth to Earth transportation. Anywhere on Earth in under an hour → https://t.co/XxUeN9KBKp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2017
The ships would also be able to travel to Mars and the billionaire hopes it can start sending people to Mars in 2024.
He first laid out his ambitious plans in 2016 but returned this year with more detail. For example, the ships have been scaled back to just 106 metres in height and 9 metres wide.
“We’ve already started building the system. The tooling for the main tanks is being ordered, and the facility is being built. We’ll start construction of the first ship by around the second quarter of next year, within six to nine months,” Musk told the audience.
He added that by developing one ship – the BFR – which can go to Mars as well as take people around the world, it would make the project affordable for the company and the customers.