http://www.zerohedge.com/technology/watch-live-worlds-most-powerful-rocket-launch-classified-payload-space-force
What Musk has done for a 'heavy' launch rocket is to strap together mutiple Falcon 9 boosters. So this is a HUGE rocket with massive lift capability, well beyond his normal rockets. The article said it was the first such launch in 3 years...
This is, I believe, how he is going to power the rocket to the moon and, eventually, StarShip (to Mars).
Anyway, I think Musk really is going to Mars, and likely this decade. Musk once said that if he didn't get to Mars before 2030 he had serious concerns about humankind's future. This comment is turning rather prescient, as the 2020s continue their sickening gyre).
BTW, have you noticed how approximately EVERY company/endeavor Musk has promoted seems to fit together with an eventual Mars colonization?
Even "The Boring Company", arguably Musk's least interesting company, builds his experience in constructing massive underground chambers and passageways -- which is absolutely required in order to possibly live on Mars (solar radiation, lack of air, temperature extremes, etc...AND WATER! (which provides oxygen and hydrogen, needed to breath but also to build fuel for the rockets, etc. using SOLAR power)
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/water-on-mars-the-story-so-far/
And did you hear THIS news? A meteor impact less than a year ago, has revealed huge BOLDERS OF FROZEN WATER NEAR THE EQUATOR: http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a41819807/marsquake-reveals-meteor-strike/,
This could be really decisive, as habitation near the equator is required for SOLAR gain. But Mars water was previously believed to only be at the frozen poles!
Yeah, Musk seems like he is all over the place...but the directions align if you think in terms of getting humans to Mars as a requirement to save humanity. I have heard, and have even promoted, the argument that Mars is "impractical". But he keeps going, and the massive hurtles keep getting addressed with almost every new thing he does (not so sure about Twitter...unless you view it as something required to keep humanity from war and to build necessary public support for an attempt which will require public funding as it will cost TRILLIONS to attempt at scale.
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