SpaceX is looking to build floating spaceports to use for both hypersonic Earth travel and missions to Moon and Mars.
A job advert this week revealed the US private space company is looking to take onboard more staff at its Offshore Operations in Brownsville.
The new hires will be expected to work towards developing and building floating spaceports as launch sites for SpaceX’s ‘Super Heavy’ class rockets.
The company intends to use these Spaceports to not only deliver payloads to the Moon or Mars but also as part of its strategy to offer super-fast point-to-point travel on Earth. Blasting those willing to pay around the Earth in under an hour.
SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon & hypersonic travel around Earth https://t.co/zLJjz43hKw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2020
So far SpaceX has only shown renders of their future plans for hypersonic Earth travel and little information had been given on where potential travelers might set off from.
SpaceX believes that by relying on their reusable rocket designs they will be able to decrease the cost of travel to levels at which a hypersonic system becomes commerically viable.
The idea itself is not new and is – at least in theory – simple. By skirting the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere you reduce not only the length of a flight but also fuel costs.
CEO Elon Musk also fueled rumours that the company could be planning to refurbish oil platforms as landing sites in response to questions on Twitter; as well as tinting that hyper-sonic communters could be shuttled from land to the launch sites using a hyperloop system.
While little information is available beyond the job posting; it shows that SpaceX is progressing in its plans quicker than its critics expected.