So you really thought all this SpaceX extravaganza was to send humans to Mars? Well, think again! We just got word about Elon Musk and the US military planning a high-tech 7,500 miles per hour weapon delivery system anytime/anywhere in the world in under an hour.
More precisely, SPaceX is currently developing a hypersonic rocket that will be used to deliver weapons for the Department of Defense, i.e. Elon Musk’s generous idea of transporting people from NY to Shanghai, China in 40 minutes using intercontinental rockets will instead be replaced by transporting weapons for the US military.
It seems like regardless of what scientists invent, you’ll end up with a weapon after all’s said and done. Last week, SpaceX signed a contract with the Pentagon. The contract is about a joint venture between the two entities to develop a hypersonic rocket capable of transporting up to 80Â metric tons of cargo including weaponry anywhere in the world in under 60 minutes.
The 7,500 miles per hour rocket will be 15 times fasters than the US C-17 Globemaster, i.e. the most technically advanced military transport aircraft in service today, which costs $218 mil and can reach a mere 590 mph.
Initial tests of the new SpaceX rocket are set to begin in 2021. Currently, Elon Musk’s company is assessing the technical challenges and the costs of the project. There’s another aerospace company involved in the project, Exploration Architecture Corporation respectively; the new contract comes only days after Elon Musk’s company closed a  $149 million contract to build missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon.
Photo Credit: Reuters