Referring to the biblical patriarch Noah who built an ark that survived the great flood on Earth, Musk said his spacecraft models would be “modern Noah’s arks”, which can save “life from calamity on Earth “.

“Making life multiplanetary expands the scope and scale of consciousness. It also allows us to safeguard the biosphere, protecting all life as we know it from calamity on Earth,” he tweeted.

“Humanity is the steward of life, because no other species can transport life to Mars. We cannot let them down,” he added.

When one user asked Musk “what’s the plan,” he replied, “Build 1000+ spaceships to carry life to Mars. Basically, (very) modern Noah’s Arks.”

SpaceX is developing Starship to take people and goods to the moon, Mars and beyond. The vehicle consists of two elements: a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship.

Both Starship and Super Heavy are designed to be completely and quickly reusable, and both will be powered by SpaceX’s new Raptor engine – 33 for Super Heavy and six for Starship.

Musk said earlier that Mars colonization and deep space exploration will see their costs reduced due to its reuse.

NASA also sees considerable promise in Starship. The US space agency has selected the vehicle to be the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts to the moon within the next few years.

However, the Starship program has not yet received the green light from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA last week delayed the completion of its environmental review of the Starship an additional two weeks until June 13.

While SpaceX has conducted a number of high-altitude test flights of prototype spacecraft at the Starbase site in South Texas, its plan to launch the system’s first-ever orbital test mission needs approval. by the FAA and a host of other regulatory agencies.

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