CAMERON COUNTY, Texas — Standing under the towering profile of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket, CEO Elon MuskHe presented Thursday his proposal for building the vehicle he considers to be the “holy-grail” in space travel.

Musk stated, “This is some crazy stuff,” to an audience of guests and employees. “In fact, hard to believe it’s real — except you, know, it’s right there.”

Last year witnessed a breakthrough in private human spaceflight that was made possible by multiple companies. including SpaceXBut the image of billionaires flying in rockets was ridiculed by many. Musk started his presentation by justifying the importance of space transportation. He said that it is necessary for security and a bright future, and to inspire children about the future.

“One of the rebuttals I will sometimes hear is … what about all the problems on Earth?” Musk was curious.

Musk said, “I fully agree that the vast majority should be dedicated to solving issues on Earth,” Musk added, saying “more than 99 percent of our resources” should focus on terrestrial problems, while “maybe half of a %” should be space-focused.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket is nearly 400 feet tall. It was designed to transport cargo as well as people and other groups beyond Earth.

Musk described the rocket’s importance in setting up a human presence at other planetary bodies such as Mars or the moon. Musk further argued against space travel being frivolous by stating that travelling to Mars was “far from an escape hatch” and that “it will prove extremely dangerous and difficult.”

Although it may not seem necessary, public support is vital to Musk’s vision for SpaceX’s future. SpaceX is a private company that raises billions through investors. But, it has already won many taxpayer-funded Starship contracts. The federal regulators need to approve SpaceX before the company can launch Starship from its southernmost Texas facility.

Musk stated that SpaceX’s cost effectiveness is “objectively” the greatest in rocket development history. Musk stated, “We’re talking about a rocket with twice the thrust and mass of a Saturn V.” [rocket that launched the Apollo moon missions], and is also designed to be fully reusable … for a development cost that is, I don’t know, between five and 10% of the Saturn V.”

Musk said that it would be better for the environment to make a “fully-reusable” vehicle. Rockets have been discarded following each launch.

SpaceX has seen its prices drop steadily the cost of its current fleet of Falcon 9 rockets to below $30 million per launchThis is done by landing the highest-priced part of the rocket at once and reuse it many times. Musk believes that even though Starship will have a large development budget and be much more expensive to launch than the current-generation rocket, it is still a far cheaper option.

Musk stated, “I am highly confident that it will be lower than $10 million.”

Starship’s ability to launch as much mass as possible in orbit is the key to cost efficiency. SpaceX also has the goal to reuse every booster and rocket completely, something Musk says can be compared to commercial airline travel.

SpaceX’s Starship prototype Starships have successfully passed multiple high-altitude test flights, but the next step for SpaceX will be to fly into space. Although this milestone had been expected to be achieved last year, SpaceX’s development has been stalled and an orbital flight test remains awaiting regulatory approval. SpaceX will need a license from Federal Aviation Administration. The regulator is expected to finish a critical environmental assessment within a month.

“Might be a few bumps along the road but … I feel at this point highly confident that we’ll get to orbit this year,” Musk said.

Starship’s current technical challenge is to develop its second generation Raptor engine, which powers its booster and rocket. Seven Raptor engines are required for each Starship, while 33 engines will be needed by Super Heavy boosters.

A crisis in Raptor engine development late last year led to the departure of a SpaceX executive due to severe problems, with Musk saying on Thursday that Raptor is the “problem I’m spending the most time personally” working on, alongside development of “full self-driving” at Tesla.

Musk claimed that Raptor 2’s engines were “an almost total redesign” when compared with the previous generation. But they are more efficient and powerful. Raptor 2 is also less expensive to make, Musk said. Production is increasing. Musk claims that the company is close to producing a Raptor II engine every day.

Musk stated that SpaceX must continue to work on Starship’s interior design and life support system development. SpaceX has contracts to transport both NASA astronauts as well as private passengers to the Moon in the coming years. However, the company “is not focusing too much” currently. SpaceX has 18 astronauts safely reached low earth orbit thanks to its Dragon spacecraft’s life support system.

Musk explained that while this will become important later on, Musk’s current focus is to get into orbit.