SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has suggested that the company ’s young Mars rocket engine may be quick for testing by early 2019 .

This new garden rocket is telephone the Big F*cking Rocket ( BFR ) , details of which were let on by Musk inSeptember last yr . It ’s a giant recyclable bird that SpaceX finally require to use to colonize Mars , carry 100 hoi polloi at a fourth dimension .

And speaking in a Q&A at the South by South West ( SXSW ) league   yesterday , March 11 , in Austin , Texas   Musk said they were already build the first BFR . “ I   think we ’ll be capable to do scant flight , sort of up - and - down flights , in all probability some prison term in the first half of next year , ” he said .

It ’s not entirely clear what he mean here , but it ’s possible he ’s referring to light “ grasshopper ” tests , standardized to what the ship’s company did with its Falcon 9 rocket years ago , before reusable flights commence . He ’s not suggesting they will start out BFR flights to Mars in 2019 , as some places are reporting .

Musk has been bang for his rather ambitious timelines , which he acknowledged . “ multitude have differentiate me that my timelines historically have been optimistic , so I ’m trying to recalibrate to some degree here , ” he state .

In January the company launched its huge newFalcon Heavy rocketfor the first meter , which is now the most powerful rocket currently in operation . However , Musk has advise that the BFR will become SpaceX ’s main rocket engine in the nigh - future , exchange both the Falcon Heavy and the Falcon 9 .

“ What ’s astonishing about the ship , accept we can make full and rapid reusability work is that we can reduce the cost , borderline toll per flight of steps , dramatically , ”   he order , noting they were direct for a launch price of $ 5 - 6 million . " It is the fundamental breakthrough that ’s needed . "

In a panel discussion for HBO’sWestworldTV show , Musk also revealed a short highlights reel of the Falcon Heavy launching , which include previously unobserved footage of the third booster of the Falcon Heavy champion crashing into the ocean .

Muskalso saidthat both SpaceX and Tesla were animated only “ by the skin of their tooth ” , name to a period in 2008 when he was struggling to fund both companionship . Since then , however , they have gone from strength to metier , with Tesla presently rolling out its new Model 3 mass - food market galvanic car .

We first heard that the BFR might fly in 2019earlier this year , when Musk said SpaceX had already “ decided to focus our future development on the BFR . ” Now it expect like Musk is doubling down on that promise . We ’ll have to hold back and see if SpaceX can hold fast to this deadline but , if all go to design , we might see the BFR for the first prison term in a year .