SpaceX has carried out its first test of the Raptor rocket engine, being built to transport humans to Mars.
Elon Musk announced to his 4.19 million Twitter followers that his private firm had fired up the engine in a static test at their facility in Texas.
He shared the first public photograph of the Raptor engine spitting out fire, as well as the mach diamonds in the supersonic exhaust.
If everything goes according to plan, the engine would help fire a launch vehicle to take people to the red planet in the coming years.
It was only last week that the SpaceX founder revealed that his ‘Mars colonial transporter’ would need to be renamed as it had the potential to go much further than originally planned.
Musk is set to outline his full plans to colonise Mars at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico on Tuesday.
We’re glad things are looking a little more successful this time round: earlier this year, Musk shared photos of a SpaceX rocket crash landing in the Atlantic Ocean after a premature engine shutdown.
So when can we buy a ticket?