Elon Musk is developing a vehicle that could be a game-changer for space travel. Starship, as it's known, will be a fully reusable transport system capable of carrying up to 100 people to the Red Planet.
The founding ethos of Elon Musk's private spaceflight company SpaceX was to make life multi-planetary. This is partly motivated by existential threats such as an asteroid collision big enough to wipe out humanity.
Settling other planets would place some of the eggs in other baskets, sparing human civilisation if one of them were to experience a cataclysm.
In 2016, the entrepreneur outlined his rationale at an international conference in Mexico: "History is going to bifurcate along two directions. One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event," he said.
"The alternative is to become a spacefaring civilisation and a multi-planet species, which I hope you would agree is the right way to go."
Musk has often spoken about his dream of building cities on Mars. He believes that settlements would need large numbers of people in order to become self-sustaining.
Starship: An overview
At launch, the spacecraft, called Starship, will sit atop a rocket called Super Heavy.
The combined system will stand 120m (394ft) -tall and is also referred to as Starship.
Let's take the spacecraft first. With its nosecone and landing fins, the stainless-steel vehicle resembles the rocket-ships from the golden age of science fiction.
At the rear of the 50m (160ft) -long craft are six highly efficient Raptor engines, developed over the course of a decade by SpaceX. The combustion takes place in stages, and the engine's design cuts the amount of propellant that's wasted.
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