Elon Musk to detail updates and new uses for SpaceX’s interplanetary rocket

Elon Musk revealed the Spaceship Interplanetary Spaceship and Rocket at last year’s International Astronautical Congress (embedded below), detailing a very ambitious plan to get humans to Mars – and to help them stay there and colonize, and even commercialize, the red planet. This Friday, he’ll reveal updated details on SpaceX’s interplanetary plans.

Last year’s presentation detailed Musk’s Mars ambitions in more detail than ever previously revealed, including the physical design of the rocket and spacecraft that would ferry cargo and crew to the planet. It also showed a bit of information about how he hoped to pay for the trip, though a lot of that was still left an open question by the end of the plan. Mostly, Musk hoped to decrease costs exponentially through advances like the reusable rocketry that it such a massive part of SpaceX’s business model.

Musk teased not only “major improvements” to be revealed at this year’s IAC, along with some new, “unexpected applications” of the interplanetary launch system. These are the ones to watch: The big focus last year was still on how SpaceX intended to pay for the incredibly ambitious plan, and additional applications of the tech, including for potentially lucrative commercial purposes, could help.

We may also get some more info on SpaceX’s proposed plan to launch and operate its own constellation of satellites providing low-cost broadband around the world, which is another way the company hopes to drive revenue. SpaceX recently filed for a trademark likely related to this project. We’ll have all the news on TechCrunch as it happens.