SpaceX could launch Starship Mars rocket from ocean platform as soon as 2022
The company's rocket could begin point-to-point flights around Earth soon This dramatic render shows Starship and Super Heavy launching on a cloudy day. SpaceX SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk hopes to have a launch platform in the Gulf of Mexico ready for Starship testing at some point in 2022. So far the company has conducted all test flights of its next-generation Mars rocket system from its development facility on shore in the tiny Texas community of Boca Chica, a place Musk has been campaigning to re-christen as Starbase, Texas . Last year a SpaceX subsidiary purchased two former deep water oil rigs, renamed them Phobos and Deimos after the moons of Mars, and began converting them to offshore launch pads. Musk's hopes Starship will carry humans to Mars later this decade. On Sunday, Musk tweeted an update, announcing that "ocean spaceport Deimos is under construction for launch next year." Ocean spaceport Deimos is under construction for launch ne