March 12 (UPI) -- Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Sunday that he is on track to launch a spacecraft for Mars by next year.
"We are building the first ship, or interplanetary ship, right now," Musk said during a question and answer session at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. "And we'll probably be able to do short flights, short up and down flights, probably some time in the first half of next year."
Musk said that his ship -- the Big Falcon Rocket -- will be capable of greatly reducing the average cost of a spaceflight as far as Mars in large part because it will be reusable.
"This question of reusability is so fundamental to rocketry," Musk said. "It is the fundamental breakthrough that's needed."
After a series of short flights, Musk said he hopes to have a cargo mission land on Mars by 2022.
Musk said the goal is to begin a human colony on Mars and the first spaceflights there will begin to plant those seeds.
"Once you can get there, the opportunity is immense," Musk said. "We're going to do our best to get there and then make sure there's an environment in which entrepreneurs can flourish."
In September, Musk said the Big Falcon Rocket could also one day be used for travel to different points on earth, with the possibility of flights from New York City to Shanghai taking less then 40 minutes.
