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Today, Musk gave his fans an extra-large Christmas gift on his personal Twitter - the Starship Mars spacecraft prototype.

Starship's predecessor is the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which Musk renamed in November this year, and also renamed the booster to the Super Heavy booster.

Moreover, Starship will begin test flights in April next year, slightly earlier than expected. SpaceX originally planned to wait until the end of next year, but recently received $500 million in funding to speed up the process.

What does Starship look like?

Starship has not yet been completed. Musk calls this prototype a test hopper and only shows its "head".

We can now see the diameter of the rocket, but it is still a long way from its final altitude.

The completed Starship is approximately 9 meters wide and 55 meters high, and consists of a two-stage rocket with a 66.9-meter-high booster.

Musk hopes that Starship will be able to transport 100 people and 150 tons of cargo to the surface of Mars at a time in the future.

△ Size comparison of Starship and Falcon 9 rocket

Starship will fly farther and carry more cargo, so it will be larger and more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo to the moon.

Musk said on Twitter that the test prototype is made of stainless steel, similar to the material used in Atlas rockets in the 1950s.

The previous Falcon 9 rocket was made of lighter carbon fiber. Why use heavier materials now? Because Starship will face long-term space flight, so it must be more durable.

Although heavier than carbon composites, stainless steel can maintain its strength at high temperatures, and stainless steel surfaces do not need to be painted. "Rocket surfaces will overheat due to paint," he tweeted, adding that stainless steel surfaces allow for maximum reflectivity.

Musk's "Mars Complex"

Since founding SpaceX, Musk has repeatedly expressed his desire to colonize Mars, and now it is being realized step by step.

Sending an electric sports car into space

On February 6 this year, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket was successfully launched in Florida, sending a Tesla Roadster electric sports car into space.

However, the final destination of the Roasdter electric sports car is not the surface of Mars, but the small asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, where it will eventually float and become an artificial asteroid.

Manned circumlunar flight

In September, Musk announced the "last iteration" upgrade of Starship's predecessor, BFR, and SpaceX's first private customer, Yusaku Maezawa . In 2023, the Japanese tycoon will invite eight friends to fly into space together for a week-long trip around the moon.

At that time, Musk also envisioned using carbon fiber composite materials to build the BFR rocket.

Mars colonization by 2025

Due to Musk's frequent changes of orders, the timing of SpaceX's launch of a manned rocket to Mars is still uncertain.

On October 31 this year, Musk said he hoped to use BFR to send the first group of people to the surface of Mars in six years. In November, he said on Twitter that humans could colonize Mars as early as 2025.

At that time, SpaceX's Starship spacecraft will travel back and forth between the Earth and Mars, enabling people to fly to Mars and helping people on Mars return home.

But Musk may not plan to come back. He once said that he would prefer to die on Mars.