Elon Musk To Test 'Trickiest' Part Of Mars Spacecraft

Climate change and other doomsday conspiracies have led tech mogul Elon Musk to share plans of launching a million people to Mars and beyond.

In a 63-minute presentation, he showed off parts of his Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) including its intricate renderings of rockets and spaceships. Unfortunately, the time wasn't enough for Musk to explain a lot of technical details, which is why he took on Reddit on Sunday to answer fan questions.

There had been several revelations regarding Musk's plans, including the fact that there is an important SpaceX test planned "in the coming weeks." Among these tests include filling up an enormous carbon-fibre fuel tank that is essential for his spaceship to work - especially considering that this is to be the spaceship's core structure around which everything is built.

Business Insider noted that the tank should be able to withstand incredible pressures and stresses, as well as blistering cold temperatures - otherwise, it could pose a danger to those onboard as it could leak or worse, explode.

Carbon fibre is lighter than most metal alloys, but it does shrink less and is actually stronger than most. However, the material is not the easiest to work with, especially considering the size needed to create the spaceship.

There is little that Musk revealed during his Reddit AMA, however, there are a few tidbits that could prove helpful, including the fact that the technology used should help the spaceship hold without leaking, and without a sealing linker. He also noted that early tests have been "promising."

No news surfaced regarding the pressure to be used on the giant tank, either, although there had been theories of SpaceX filling it with plain old air, or flammable methane gas that will help propel it to Mars. SpaceX representatives have declined to provide more details regarding the test, however it will stand to reason that they will try to get more data regarding its performance in the coming weeks.