--- title: "Elon Musk Just Changed the BFR’s Name for a Fourth Time" description: "Elon Musk changed SpaceX's Mars-bound rocket project for a fourth time to \"Starship.\" But will it ever get off the ground?" date: "2018-11-20" modified: "2018-11-20" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-bfrs-name-fourth-time-starship" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "bfr" - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" --- # Elon Musk Just Changed the BFR’s Name for a Fourth Time ![Elon Musk tweeted that the BFR will now be called "Starship." It's already the fourth name change for the ambitious project to get people to Mars.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Beam Me up, Elon Until yesterday, SpaceX's futuristic and extremely ambitious rocket — which it says could carry [100 passengers to Mars]() — was called the Big Falcon Rocket. But on Monday, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that its name was changing to "Starship." That marks the fourth name change since SpaceX announced the craft more than [five years ago](). Before mid-2016, it was [referred to]() as the "Mars Colonial Transporter." In mid-2016, it [turned]() into the "Interplanetary Transport System." In September 2017 it was dubbed the "BFR," for Big Falcon Rocket — though its codename [reportedly contained]() a certain expletive in place of "falcon." https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1064740713357750272 ## Super Heavy In a follow-up tweet, Musk [points out]() that the "Starship" itself is the "spaceship/upper stage" while the gigantic rocket booster required to leave Earth's gravitational pull will be called "Super Heavy." The latter is likely a reference to the SpaceX's Falcon Heavy booster, currently the rocket with the [highest payload capacity]() of any rocket in operation. ## "Delightfully Counter-Intuitive" The news comes after Elon [tweeted]() that the BFR's new design will be "delightfully counter-intuitive." We have yet to see what that meant. Elon also announced that SpaceX [scrapped plans]() for a "mini-BFR" that would upgrade an existing Falcon 9 rocket to test the BFR's lightweight heatshield and control surfaces capable of hypersonic flight. For now, we'll have to wait to see if all of this amounts to a rocket capable of taking passengers around the Moon any time soon. READ MORE: [Elon Musk renames his BFR spacecraft Starship]() \[BBC\] More on the BFR: [The New Render of Elon Musk’s BFR Means It Might Have Some Dope Features]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()