SpaceX sent a request to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to test Starship, the first version of the spacecraft that, according to the plan of Elon Musk, will ever deliver the colonists to Mars, HighTech + reported.

Elon Musk confirmed this by quoting a message from the Teslarati resource, which notes that the company is preparing to upgrade the test site in Boca Chica.

According to Musk, the Starship Orbital Class will be tested. And his first test will be much more like a full-fledged flight than the jumps of the Starhopper prototype: the program provides for a climb to a height of 20 km and subsequent landing on one of the prepared sites.

This is a very fast-moving program, which is being implemented in a short time, especially by the standards of state-space programs. However, if you remember that the first commercial launch of Musk’s Starship intends to be completed before the end of 2021, the company has very little time.

SpaceX flight to Mars is the most ambitious of the announced projects, and NASA called it one of the most complicated engineering in history.