BFR/BFS/ITS Naming speculation thread

[Lar]

In the IAC 2017 presentation Elon Musk admitted that SpaceX doesn't have a good name for the new booster and ship. Last year's "ITS" was apparently abandoned. Our "ITSy" wasn't taken up either.  This thread is designed to collect speculation about the names as it was getting into other discussions. Mods may move posts here from elsewhere as they are identified.

Note that this thread is primarily for discussion of the system name, not names for individual boosters or ships although the thread was seeded with some of those posts initially.

[Nibb31]

BFR is the what Musk called the whole system. We don't have individual names for the various spacecraft and the booster at this point.

I don't think there was any ambiguity that the OP is referring to the BFR spacecraft visiting the ISS and not the booster.

[KelvinZero]

BFR is the what Musk called the whole system. We don't have individual names for the various spacecraft and the booster at this point.

I don't think there was any ambiguity that the OP is referring to the BFR spacecraft visiting the ISS and not the booster.

Lar might have been indirectly pointing out that only the BFR is "big". The "BFS" is about the weight of the shuttle.

Im interested in naming though.
As far as I can tell, the most official is (like you say)
BFR = the entire system (eg "BFR for point to point")

And these terms have also all been used in the presentation:
Booster = the big first stage
Crew Ship = crew variant of upper stage
Cargo Ship = cargo variant of upper stage
Tanker = propellant-only variant of upper stage.



Just a suggestion: (edit: no doubt someone with more experience has already done a better job of this)

Make BF the preference to everything, then have
BFR (everything),
BFBooster: just the first stage.
BFCrew, BFCargo, BFTanker: various ship variants

(If we replace Crew with Ship, then we could use acronyms for everything: BFR (BFRS, BFRC, BFRT), BFB, BFS,BFC,BFT.)

And in future, the BF prefix might change to something else. A big bird like "Roc" or whatever they com up with.

(or why not "Taurus".. or "Fairmont" , )

[Alastor]

I think we may need a naming thread for this new rocket, just so that this naming debate (to which there is no good answer, as even SpaceX don't seem to know exactly how to call what yet) doesn't spill everywhere.
As far a I know, the only terminology used by SpaceX so far has been BFR for either the whole system or parts of it, so I'll stick to that.

Anyway, on to a more interesting and topic-relevant discussion, what we're talking about here is that big thing that's supposed to go to the moon, mars and beyond, and that could transport cargo and crew to LEO as well if we want it to.

I don't think the fact that there would need a lot of paperwork is a big obstacle right now to have this debate, since the spaceship design isn't even finished yet.
The time constraints might indeed mean that said spaceship won't exist in time to go to the ISS due to it's expected retirement date, although I fully expect the ISS to remain in space until there is a solid schedule for a replacement to be built.

If it were to go to the ISS, though, couldn't the BFR do the maneuvers itself if it's too big for the ISS to perform them ? Or couldn't they perform these maneuvers together ?

Although I also like the idea of it performing as its own station, some experiments might need to run for much longer that the ship would stay in space. Since it's not build to be a station, I don't think it would be possible for a BFR to serve as a permanent station as well.

It may however indeed be a way to enable and facilitate the building of a much bigger station which would be better suited to be mated with such a big ship. You could have more crew, but also bigger experiments, which would be pretty cool.
I don't think the idea of having the cargo version of BFR send up a D2 or some other type of capsule would ever be a very desirable option. It would only be wasted space, weight, fuel and money to have a spaceship inside a spaceship. If you buy the ability to bring up such a huge amount of volume and mass, you want to make use of it. Even if it's cheap.

[spacenut]

I think each ITS ship should have a name like ITS Enterprise, or ITS Columbia.  Tankers could have other names, like ITS Dallas or something like that.  Cargo ships could have other names also.  like ICS (Interplanetary Cargo Ship) Halsy.  Since they will be reused, naming the ITS ships should be done.  Boosters probably should be just numbered, like BFB (Big fricking booster) 001. 

[Ludus]

I think each ITS ship should have a name like ITS Enterprise, or ITS Columbia.  Tankers could have other names, like ITS Dallas or something like that.  Cargo ships could have other names also.  like ICS (Interplanetary Cargo Ship) Halsy.  Since they will be reused, naming the ITS ships should be done.  Boosters probably should be just numbered, like BFB (Big fricking booster) 001.

USCSS Nostromo

[rakaydos]

I think each ITS ship should have a name like ITS Enterprise, or ITS Columbia.  Tankers could have other names, like ITS Dallas or something like that.  Cargo ships could have other names also.  like ICS (Interplanetary Cargo Ship) Halsy.  Since they will be reused, naming the ITS ships should be done.  Boosters probably should be just numbered, like BFB (Big fricking booster) 001.

Scorpius, slayer of Orion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius#Mythology

[Lar]

I don't quite know what was wrong with ITS as a name for the whole system and see no reason not to use BFR for the booster and BFS for the ship.

[Darkseraph]

Falcon series of rockets is allegedly named after The Millennium Falcon from Star Wars..

So in keeping with Star Wars references perhaps they could call BFR, Millennium. The would be suitably grandiose for a gigantic rocket described as being revolutionary rather than evolutionary while also indicating this is a 21st Century spacecraft. As such, the first stage would be The Millennium Booster and the upperstage ship would be The Millennium Spaceship.

[John Alan]

I don't quite know what was wrong with ITS as a name for the whole system and see no reason not to use BFR for the booster and BFS for the ship.

You know... I agree...
ITS still describes the system as a whole... It's purpose
BFR for the Booster... It is a Big F-in Rocket that gets things outta the thick of the Gravity well...
BFS for the spaceship... It flies in Space...It's Big F-in...

As for the rest of the topic...
I think Boosters should be numbered... they are never "manned" in a stand alone sense...
BFR1001 seems like a good starting point.

BFS... I'm mixed on this...
BFS's that can be manned... Yes name them... BFS Columbia... BFS Enterprise... whatever the consensus is.
Will aid in radio comm just like ships at sea...
And Humans like to name the ships they can ride in... fair enough...

Never manned cargo BFS... CARGO 7... CARGO 31... I'm thinking numbers...
The railroads tend to group like loco units in number blocks...
So Maybe Cargos used for Starlink sats all start at 100... CARGO 100... CARGO 106
GEO deliver setups a different block... CARGO 200... CARGO 209
The point with this number system is you instantly sense purpose and age

I think Tankers should be numbered too... TANKER 9... TANKER 27 (like fire fighting water bombers)
They are never manned... so number them too... you never call over to someone on one do you?...

In summary... if there is life support systems aboard... name it
No air... number it...

My two cents on topic... 

[ZachF]

Naming the (individual) boosters after weightlifting exercises would be pretty funny.

"Squat" "Benchpress" "Curl" "Deadlift" etc.

EDIT or after synonyms for "Throw"

"Throw" "Hurl" "Chuck" "Toss" etc.
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/throw?s=t

[ZachF]

I also like "Phoenix" for the spaceship, for multiple reasons, with individual ships having their own names.

[Nibb31]

SpaceX names have all been based on birds of prey (Merlin, Kestrel, Falcon...) or dragons (Dragon, Draco). There are plenty of names available in those themes.

They should just call it the Lammergeier and get on with it.

[sanman]

I too thought the ITS name seemed fine before, and wasn't sure why Musk/SpaceX were backing away from it after having coined it. I likewise thought the original MCT name was also fine, and it seemed like Musk only switched from that to ITS after Bezos gave his speech talking about industrializing the solar system.

But now, the newer revised BFR is more versatile and multipurpose than before, so it won't just be an Interplanetary Transport Ship or a Mars Colonial Transport.

The ship is supposed to be able to do Earth-to-Orbit, Earth-to-Moon, Earth-to-Mars, cis-lunar, Moon-to-Mars, etc,
and is even touted to do Point-to-Point suborbital flight on Earth. That's about as generic and all-purpose as we'll need for this century. Maybe the name should likewise be similarly as broad and vague as possible. What would be nice, of course, is something that rolls off the tongue easily and has a nice ring to it.


I'm also suspecting that Musk is backing away from the ITS name precisely because he still plans to make the original BFR (or something bigger) down the road, and intends for that to fulfill the dedicated Interplanetary Transport role, and to bear that name.

[Dave G]

I don't quite know what was wrong with ITS as a name for the whole system and see no reason not to use BFR for the booster and BFS for the ship.

The average Joe doesn't know the difference between the rocket and the spaceship, but they know what BFR means.

Basically, this comes down to marketing, and getting the most attention in the media. Musk seems to be good at that.

[Jcc]

SpaceX names have all been based on birds of prey (Merlin, Kestrel, Falcon...) or dragons (Dragon, Draco). There are plenty of names available in those themes.

They should just call it the Lammergeier and get on with it.

Eagle?

Any way, I think BFR/BFS will eventually be officially retired as a code name, and something more socially acceptable will be adopted, which could have been ITS, but this has apparently been walked back. Why? Maybe they thought it would be perceived as inappropriate if the design is really for Mars, with a secondary application for the moon.  Chris Hadfield said to him BFR stands for "a Bit Farfetched Rocket."

[KelvinZero]

Ironic, all this effort to find the iconic name for something we hope to become the 747 of spaceflight

[Jcc]

Ironic, all this effort to find the iconic name for something we hope to become the 747 of spaceflight

Maybe it's the Dreamliner of space flight.

[Dave G]

Any way, I think BFR/BFS will eventually be officially retired as a code name, and something more socially acceptable will be adopted...

For more polite conversation, they can say it means "Big Falcon Rocket".

[AlexP]

Well, if all goes to plan with it, the name is going to be taught in classrooms for the next few hundred years I'd imagine. Gonna need something more memorable and suggestive of adventure than an acronym. Could call it Olympus given the size of the vehicles and the apparent mountain to climb in getting there. And the Mars link... but then again Greek has been done a lot at this point.

Loved his idea last year of naming the first landed (crew?) Mars ship the Heart of Gold, but whether that went out with the 42 engines I'm not sure.

[Robotbeat]

"Now, class, who can tell me what BFR stands for?"
😂

[KelvinZero]

Ironic, all this effort to find the iconic name for something we hope to become the 747 of spaceflight

Maybe it's the Dreamliner of space flight.

These names all tend to become ironic in the future. I expect there will be a time when the Dreamliner is right at the bottom of the scale of dreaminess.

It will be nice to have a name for the project but I look forward to it becoming just a number, like the 747.

In terms of names, I think rather than something that underlines it's massiveness (that will become ironic) the name should underline that it is the beginning of a new class.

Think a 100 years from now, looking back. What would you call this first real rocket ship, no longer the biggest or baddest?

Two names that people have suggested earlier:
"Millennium", could be a good name for the rocket that redefines spaceflight at the start of this millennium.
"Phoenix", with it's relationship to birth.

[TomNTex]

Condor 31

[docmordrid]

SpaceX names have all been based on birds of prey (Merlin, Kestrel, Falcon...) or dragons (Dragon, Draco). There are plenty of names available in those themes.

They should just call it the Lammergeier and get on with it.

Eagle?
>

Pouakai (Maori: giant Haast's Eagle)

Osprey

Peregrine

Thunderbird (Algonquian Tbirds have an X like shape)

[Zed_Noir]

Somewhat tongue in cheek. The BFR should be henceforth known as the "JUGGERNAUT"


Definition of juggernaut from the Merriam-Webster dictionary

1: a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path

2 chiefly British: a large heavy truck
    (should appeal to Chris B) 


Even better "Juggernaut" is also a Marvel Super Villain character 

[Dave G]

On another thread, we discussed using the name Godzilla.

I guess it would all depend of whether the owners of the Godzilla trademark thought it could help their marketing.

[AlexP]

Maybe they can continue the trend of naming after things from sci fi shows.

BFS - Tiny Rick
BFR - Pickle Rick
Mars City - Citadel of Ricks

[M.E.T.]

I think they should move away from quirky and/or humorous names such as OCISLY, JRTI and Heart of Gold. ITSy was even worse, in my view. Stick to serious names such as Falcon, Merlin, Raptor etc. Big F*%$#! Rocket similarly makes the whole thing sound as if it is half a joke and not to be taken seriously.

Go for names in the line of Apollo, Atlas, Ares, Gemini and the like. Something that sounds awe inspiring. Not something that sounds silly and self deprecating.

[KelvinZero]

Not "Monty Python's Flying Circus" then? 

I disagree though. I don't think it needs just the right name to inspire awe or credibility. IMO right now Elon is happy for serious people in the business to ignore it while generating viral publicity using goals that won't actually be relevant until the battle is already won. This will (we should all hope) be the new paradigm that sweeps all those pretentiously named throw away rockets into the dustbin of history.

I think the project name should represent that it is in a different class, and a totally different naming convention is one way of doing that. Humour is one way of doing it.

Remember that the 747 was also commonly called the Jumbo Jet. That is what success sounds like.

[KelvinZero]

Random thought: The SpaceX Swan.

Rocket names at the moment are the biggest gods or aggressive bird of prey. Once you have named something the biggest or baddest, where do you go with naming then? Why not change the paradigm? This rocket does not need to out-brag its peers. It has no peers. The next rocket may be bigger.

It is not size that defines this rocket. It is also sort of graceful in it's landing manoeuvre and it's wings. These are more unique aspects that separate it from what has come before.

This is a fairly iconic image from early SciFi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_Swan


I haven't read that series, I mainly remember it from The Terran Trade Authority book series, where it was described as a luxury passenger liner from memory.

Also, unlike previous rockets, perhaps it is not the massive booster you should think of as the primary component. Instead you want a word to describe the ship, so you should be thinking of a name suitable for a passenger vessel that looks like a graceful white bird with black wing tips (and possibly that lands on water)

I tried to look for a white bird with black wing tips, but apparently most birds come in a variety of colours. Who Knew? :-). I only found examples like Snow Goose, Whooping Crane.

[QuantumG]

similarly makes the whole thing sound as if it is half a joke and not to be taken seriously.

[..] Not something that sounds silly and self deprecating.

I prefer to say "disarming". While you're giggling at the name you're not giggling at the idea.

[MichaelBlackbourn]

Shotwell just called it the Big Falcon Rocket. There it is.

I hope the name sticks.

[Patchouli]

These names all tend to become ironic in the future. I expect there will be a time when the Dreamliner is right at the bottom of the scale of dreaminess.

It will be nice to have a name for the project but I look forward to it becoming just a number, like the 747.

In terms of names, I think rather than something that underlines it's massiveness (that will become ironic) the name should underline that it is the beginning of a new class.

Think a 100 years from now, looking back. What would you call this first real rocket ship, no longer the biggest or baddest?

Two names that people have suggested earlier:
"Millennium", could be a good name for the rocket that redefines spaceflight at the start of this millennium.
"Phoenix", with it's relationship to birth.

The name Falcon also was a nod to Starswars so Millennium makes sense and Phoenix could be a nod to Startrek.

I think a funny joke name would be the Penguin since the ship part kinda looks like one though a good non joke name while still staying in the bird theme maybe Hawk,or Eagle.

[CraigLieb]

Given that Greek Gods were invoked with the Apollo program naming,
might it be appropriate to allocate another, possibly appropriate Greek God for this program.
I suggest Mars.

[envy887]

Given that Greek Gods were invoked with the Apollo program naming,
might it be appropriate to allocate another, possibly appropriate Greek God for this program.
I suggest Mars.

The Mars rocket.

I find this to be the perfect name. SpaceX already reportedly uses "the Mars vehicle" or just "Mars" internally, I think it would be a great official name.

[GreenShrike]

"Mars" is a bucketload of confusion waiting to happen. Now "Ares" I could see, except... well...

I'd stick with the raptor-based naming scheme; from what I've read, the some of the biggest raptors are condors, and the biggest falcon is a gyrfalcon.

Eagle is sadly common in naming, but hawk less so. I'm fond of goshawk, and fonder of sparrowhawk, though apparently sparrowhawks are on the small side for hawks.

Sparrowhawk, of course, leads to Earthsea, and thence to, I think, one of the most appropriate names to capture Musk's vision: Sparrowhawk's boat, the Look Far -- but that's more a ship name than a class name.

I wonder if Elon's read any Le Guin?

[bob the martian]

Planet Express Ship.

[kaoru]

Mars is the Roman name for Ares, God of war.  However, Ares had several divine offspring:

DEIMOS (God of fear) and PHOBOS (God of panic) are Mars' moons...
NIKE (Goddess of victory) is obviously taken...

That leaves:

ANTEROS (God of unreciprocated love).
ENYALIOS (God of war) is just confusing.
EROS (God of love) doesn't send the right message.
HARMONIA (Goddess of harmony).

ANTEROS is the only name that fits... since a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with the BFR.

[envy887]

"Mars" is a bucketload of confusion waiting to happen. Now "Ares" I could see, except... well...
...

Ares is right out. What's confusing about Mars? Saturn, Jupiter, and Neptune are all rocket names that nobody seems particularly confused by.

[TaurusLittrow]

I'm on the side of the stuffed shirts on this one. Something that reeks with dignity and solemnity.

The Olympian god names have been done to a fare-thee-well so I suggest mining the names of their predecessors, the Titans.

For instance, Kronos ("Elon time" tie-in, but a checkered family history) or Prometheus (carried the gift of fire to mortals and also, I believe, was the name of the rocket in an Arthur C. Clark short story) or Zeus (the biggest baddest one of them all).

I also like Talos, just because of the Star Trek TOS pedigree.

[Ludus]

These names all tend to become ironic in the future. I expect there will be a time when the Dreamliner is right at the bottom of the scale of dreaminess.

It will be nice to have a name for the project but I look forward to it becoming just a number, like the 747.

In terms of names, I think rather than something that underlines it's massiveness (that will become ironic) the name should underline that it is the beginning of a new class.

Think a 100 years from now, looking back. What would you call this first real rocket ship, no longer the biggest or baddest?

Two names that people have suggested earlier:
"Millennium", could be a good name for the rocket that redefines spaceflight at the start of this millennium.
"Phoenix", with it's relationship to birth.

The name Falcon also was a nod to Starswars so Millennium makes sense and Phoenix could be a nod to Startrek.

I think a funny joke name would be the Penguin since the ship part kinda looks like one though a good non joke name while still staying in the bird theme maybe Hawk,or Eagle.

Millennium makes sense for the new series. It’s a follow up to Falcon from Star Wars. It would be nice if Disney/Lucas blessed it. Millennium is also a reference to the idea of making humanity spacefaring in the third millennium. It has a grand classic vibe. After Millenium it would be nice to start off a consistent naming system for models or iterations. Block 1.0.

[Ben the Space Brit]

I wonder if Musk will name them all after Culture worldships?

[CraigLieb]

Then again he could name the big ITS ship "Pony"
So the 9 meter version would be ....

... My little pony.
 ( ducking and running now ...)
 

[octavo]

I wonder if Musk will name them all after Culture worldships?

General Systems Vehicles you mean? I hope so!

[sanman]

Why not give it a more functional name, that's representative of its capabilities?

MT-150 (Manned Transport, 150 tons)
CT-150  (Cargo Transport, 150 tons)
or something like that

Then that can later give way to the MT-500, CT-500, etc

Referring to things in that way then instantly gives you the relevant info you need (ie. how much does it carry)

[QuantumG]

Apparently it's Big Falcon Rocket for now

[RobW]

I think they should stick with what they've got. Call it Big Falcon Rocket, but keep BFR -

the "SpaceX BFR-150" affectionately known as the "Big Falcon" or "Falcon-150" The number is the notional tons to orbit, but any number to disambiguate from Falcon-1 and Falcon-9 (and -Heavy) will do.

F150 would be a fun poke in the eye for Ford, which opposed Model E for Tesla. Cars and rockets are a little different, so I think they'd get away with it from a trademark point of view*

*IANAIPE - I Am Not An Intellectual Property Expert, so YMMV.

[AncientU]

I wonder if Musk will name them all after Culture worldships?

After science fiction writers...

[spacenut]

The first ship to Mars with colonists could be called the BFS Mayflower, or BFS Santa Maria, or BFS Conestoga or something like that. 

[the_other_Doug]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

[QuantumG]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

Wasn't it the first to carry crew?

[su27k]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

That's when ITS is so big there's no realistic way SpaceX can do it alone, so they sort of need a miracle, thus the name.

[the_other_Doug]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

That's when ITS is so big there's no realistic way SpaceX can do it alone, so they sort of need a miracle, thus the name.

Nah -- the Heart of Gold is a reference to a spaceship in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!  The one that Zaphod Beeblebrox steals at its christening ceremony.  The one with the infinite improbability drive.

The Heart of Gold was to be the first ITS to land people on Mars, I believe.  As Q said, the first manned ship in that if-nothing-goes-wrong timeframe that SpaceX is still quoting.  So -- I'd have to think that one of the first of the BFS's to be developed will be the HoG...

[KelvinZero]

Just for completeness, some one has to suggest "SpaceX Bird One" .. at least for the first cargo version.
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/8635/yolt-spectre-bird-one-model-kit-2013

I think a funny joke name would be the Penguin since the ship part kinda looks like one though a good non joke name while still staying in the bird theme maybe Hawk,or Eagle.

There is definite penguinity. I can just imagine them waddling on those little legs.

How about "Emperor".. because they sort of look like emperor penguins.

I sort of like "Eagle".. because it harkens back to the beginning of the space race, and our first (and so far only) HSF vehicle that actually lands on another world. I don't think there is any grounds for confusion. A specific LEM named Eagle and a class of rocket named Eagle are very different.

[QuantumG]

Big Bird actually sounds like a great name. Paint it yellow Elon!

[Zed_Noir]

Maybe SX will sell the naming rights to the first BFS to the highest bidder.

Bezos could make the winning bid!

[geza]

I think they should stick with what they've got. Call it Big Falcon Rocket, but keep BFR -

the "SpaceX BFR-150" affectionately known as the "Big Falcon" or "Falcon-150" The number is the notional tons to orbit, but any number to disambiguate from Falcon-1 and Falcon-9 (and -Heavy) will do.

After F1 and F(5)9, F31(42) would be the logical name. For the booster stage, at least. Why not Dragon 6 for the upper stage? We can keep BFR for the stack.

[CraigLieb]

Sticking with BFR now opens the door later for the 12 meter version being called BFieR
(beefier)

[Archibald]

Big Bird actually sounds like a great name. Paint it yellow Elon!

And the NRO would love it (although the KH-9 is long gone).

[alang]

As I recall The Heart of Gold used the Infinite Improbability Drive thus continuing the self-deprecating humour evident in Of Course I Still Love You.
I wonder if Douglas Adams was inspired by Neil Young's search and perhaps Elon Musk thinks he is getting old as well.
I still don't see what is wrong with the Roald Dahl influenced Big Friendly Rocket. Eminently suitable for classrooms in my humble opinion.

[su27k]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

That's when ITS is so big there's no realistic way SpaceX can do it alone, so they sort of need a miracle, thus the name.

Nah -- the Heart of Gold is a reference to a spaceship in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!  The one that Zaphod Beeblebrox steals at its christening ceremony.  The one with the infinite improbability drive.

Yes, I understand where it comes from, but don't you see it as Elon's way of implying the probability of ITS happening is low, i.e. improbable?

[alang]

Another one for Lar to delete is Kilroy Was Here. A fictional rocket ship that crashed on return to Earth.
Fairly optimistic compared to some of his other names.

[scienceguy]

I agree that we should name it after a science fiction writer. The Niven or Bradbury or something.

[Kang54]

I'm not fond of the various classical names suggested, Phoenix, Mars, Colombia etc. Or rather, not for BFR. They're fine names, and fitting for a  rocket, but they're NASA/old space names.

I think SpaceX should go for something bolder and riskier - just like the BFR itself. Part of me hope it'll just be called BFR, with the ships and boosters being named individually. I really like the Culture ship names, and science fiction writers is also a good idea that hasn't been used so far (to my knowledge).

[Patchouli]

I'm not fond of the various classical names suggested, Phoenix, Mars, Colombia etc. Or rather, not for BFR. They're fine names, and fitting for a  rocket, but they're NASA/old space names.

I think SpaceX should go for something bolder and riskier - just like the BFR itself. Part of me hope it'll just be called BFR, with the ships and boosters being named individually. I really like the Culture ship names, and science fiction writers is also a good idea that hasn't been used so far (to my knowledge).

I think one of them should be named the Bebop.

[Archibald]

Phoenix and Ares are my favorites. Also Selene.

Lunar BFR: Selene

Mars BFR: Ares

[envy887]

Phoenix and Ares are my favorites. Also Selene.

Lunar BFR: Selene

Mars BFR: Ares

I don't think there is any difference.

[blasphemer]

I don't quite know what was wrong with ITS as a name for the whole system and see no reason not to use BFR for the booster and BFS for the ship.

Probably because Earth to Earth transport is not INTERplanetary, as in ITS. BFR is now both an intraplanetary as well as interplanetary system.

Also Elon supposedly does not like acronyms so I dont think the new name will be an acronym.

moar culture ships names:


You Would If You Really Loved Me

Size Isn't Everything (fitting for the biggest rocket ever and also reusable)

Don't Try This At Home

You Call This Clean? (I heard them methane burning rockets are huge narcissists.. refurbishment crews beware)

[Barrie]

A name popped into my head that it needs to poop out 

Falcon Prime.

Derivative of experience with Falcon to date, but not Falcon.

The first of a new class of LVs.

Lends itself to another two-character abbreviation - F9, FH, now FP.

Edit: and not fancy, contrived or obscure.

[vapour_nudge]

In Aus there was a very popular Ford named the Falcon (1960-2016). So out of that I'd propose the Falcon GT or even better, the Falcon GT HO. GT for Gran Tourismo or grand tourer, HO for High Output. Both not far off the mark.
The Falcon was exported to South Africa 👍

[KelvinZero]

I threw in a Ford Falcon pun earlier

(or why not "Taurus".. or "Fairmont" )

[Mangala]

The BFR is design to allow transport to diversified points , short (earth point to point), medium (moon) and far (Mars and Beyond), like was the ship of Ulysses. Somehow, it will allow us to begin a new odyssey as a specie, full of challenges, storms (solar flares) and new worlds to explore and to settle, so the name "Odysseus Class Ship" could fit perfectly, maybe with an individual name for each as they will be reusable, so they will do a lot of journeys, like cruise ships, maybe Jules Verne, Amstrong, Galileo for the moon ships; Bradebury, Burroughs, Robinson for Mars ships; Ulysses, Columbus, Magellan for Earth point to point ships.
In an other point of view, the Portuguese Caravels were the first class of ship capable to do coasting in shoals but also, at the same time, the first ones which allowed to go threw the oceans to explore new worlds and to make new settlements, so the BFR could some how to be compare with the new caravels of this millennium so the name of New Millennium Caravel could be cool, but it would create a new acronym NMC.

[Space Ghost 1962]

Max. For Maxime Faget.

[tater]

Phil Bono needs a nod at some point.

Perhaps as the name of a Limited Contact Unit class, lol.

[Robotbeat]

Phil Bono need a nod at some point.

And our very own Gary Hudson!

[Dave G]

"Now, class, who can tell me what BFR stands for?"
😂

Big Falcon Rocket

[darkenfast]

Bank's Culture Ship name: "I Blame the Parents".

[alang]

Other suitable Banks names:

Zero Gravitas.
An unfortunate conflict of evidence.
Resistance is character forming.

My current favourite is Zero Gravitas. I can see why people would want something more serious but I can easily see Musk going for a fictional name.

[the_other_Doug]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

That's when ITS is so big there's no realistic way SpaceX can do it alone, so they sort of need a miracle, thus the name.

Nah -- the Heart of Gold is a reference to a spaceship in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!  The one that Zaphod Beeblebrox steals at its christening ceremony.  The one with the infinite improbability drive.

Yes, I understand where it comes from, but don't you see it as Elon's way of implying the probability of ITS happening is low, i.e. improbable?

Nope.  It seems an enormous stretch.  In fact, I'm *highly* doubtful Elon thought, when announcing the ITS last year, "Hey -- I know I'm BS'ing everyone like crazy, so I'll create a secret-code name for the first ship, just to wink and let everyone know I have no intention of developing this architecture."

Seems like that's how you're interpreting it, and I cannot imagine that is what happened...

[speedevil]

Whatever happened to Musk's statement that the first ITS ship would be named the Heart of Gold?

That's when ITS is so big there's no realistic way SpaceX can do it alone, so they sort of need a miracle, thus the name.

Nah -- the Heart of Gold is a reference to a spaceship in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!  The one that Zaphod Beeblebrox steals at its christening ceremony.  The one with the infinite improbability drive.

Yes, I understand where it comes from, but don't you see it as Elon's way of implying the probability of ITS happening is low, i.e. improbable?

As time goes on, in the chapter where the improbability drive is introduced, the probability rises over time, ending at 1:1.

Three to one… two… one. Probability factor of one to one. We have normality. I repeat: we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.

[mikelepage]

I wonder if Musk will name them all after Culture worldships?

After science fiction writers...

Semantically, he's already started naming ASDS's after Culture worldships, so if the PTP vision comes to pass there are going to be a lot of floating launch platforms in semi-sheltered bays, and they'll want those names for that.

One new thing that any naming system has to deal with is the potential for mixing and matching between ships and boosters, the same way you mix and match between pilots and vehicles.  Which is what makes me think the ships will be named after people, and given Elon's love of big Sci Fi, I think it will be BFS Banks, BFS Asimov, BFS Heinlein, BFS Adams, BFS Clarke, etc.

The boosters will generally remain in a given location, so I think they will be named after the location (e.g. BFR Chicago, BFR Melbourne etc).  For locations with more than one booster it might be BFR Boca Chica I, BFR Boca Chica II, etc.

And Big *Falcon* Spaceship/Rocket is fine for classrooms.

[tdperk]

BFS Chesley Bonestell.

It's gotta happen.

[oiorionsbelt]

Boomerang F%@king Rocket.

[darkenfast]

First ship on Mars: The Robert A. Heinlein!

[Cheapchips]

While I'm all for the Culture references, having the first ship to land on Mars be called Meatf#@ker probably isn't the best idea. 

[QuantumG]

While I'm all for the Culture references, having the first ship to land on Mars be called Meatf#@ker probably isn't the best idea. 

I wouldn't put it past Elon though... would you?

[Zed_Noir]

While I'm all for the Culture references, having the first ship to land on Mars be called Meatf#@ker probably isn't the best idea. 

I wouldn't put it past Elon though... would you?

The Golden Rule for space vehicle naming is in effect! 

The One with the most gold gets to make the rules. Gold is the number of voting shares in this case.  Is the SX CTO I reckon. 

[pietro]

The first BFS that lands on Mars should be called "The Elon Musk" so that history gives proper attribution to the Man:). OFC he would not do that so it is upon us to make it happen ;)

[mikelepage]

The first BFS that lands on Mars should be called "The Elon Musk" so that history gives proper attribution to the Man:). OFC he would not do that so it is upon us to make it happen

If all his plans come to pass, I don't think there's any doubt he will be recognised.  Forget the first Mars ship.  The first Mars city will be named after him.

I think it's better that those who inspired the journey be recognised with ship names.

[octavo]

The first BFS that lands on Mars should be called "The Elon Musk" so that history gives proper attribution to the Man:). OFC he would not do that so it is upon us to make it happen

If all his plans come to pass, I don't think there's any doubt he will be recognised.  Forget the first Mars ship.  The first Mars city will be named after him.

I think it's better that those who inspired the journey be recognised with ship names.

According to the new Star Trek show, Musk is rated alongside the Wright brothers and Zephram Cochrane!

[Oersted]

Elon Musk email sent to all SpaceX employees in 2010:

Subject: Acronyms seriously suck.

There is a creeping tendency to use made up acronyms at SpaceX. Excessive use of made up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication and keeping communication good as we grow is incredibly important. Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. No one can actually remember all these acronyms and people don’t want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees.

That needs to stop immediately or I will take drastic action—I have given enough warnings over the years. Unless an acronym is approved by me, it should not enter the SpaceX glossary. If there is an existing acronym that cannot reasonably be justified, it should be eliminated, as I have requested in the past.

For example, there should be no “HTS” [horizontal test stand] or “VTS” [vertical test stand] designations for test stands. Those are particularly dumb, as they contain unnecessary words. A “stand” at our test site is obviously a *test* stand. VTS-3 is four syllables compared with “Tripod,” which is two, so the bloody acronym version actually takes longer to say than the name!

The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication. An acronym that most engineers outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to use. It is also ok to make up a few acronyms/contractions every now and again, assuming I have approved them, e.g., MVac and M9 instead of Merlin 1C-Vacuum or Merlin 1C-Sea Level, but those need to be kept to a minimum.

(https://mannerofspeaking.org/2015/12/17/acronyms-can-seriously-suck/)

[rakaydos]

While I'm all for the Culture references, having the first ship to land on Mars be called Meatf#@ker probably isn't the best idea. 

Until it starts reading your mind *glaces nervously at Neurolink* it's still the GSU Grey Area.

[RDMM2081]

I like something along the lines of either a "Cosmos" or "Galactic" (possible "Galactus") family of BFRs.

I was reading the SES-11 Article this morning and had a little coffee deprived daydream about the Saturn V when it got to the history portion of the story.  It got me thinking that the Saturn V was the biggest rocket ever, and signified in some way an ability to reach all the way to Saturn!  The BFR will be opening an entire new availability to the entire Solar System/Cosmos/Galaxy(too far fetched?) and should have a name that reflects that.

Aside from the family of rockets being named one thing, I can also see how the individual boosters might be named whimsical things, people and companies have been doing that for years, see Virgin America's 747 Cosmic Girl also SpaceX ASDS both having individual names.  The point I'm trying to make is for naming the BFR family of vehicles one thing, and the individuals, well, individually.

[Lar]

Another one for Lar to delete is Kilroy Was Here. A fictional rocket ship that crashed on return to Earth.
Fairly optimistic compared to some of his other names.

Not deleting names in this thread, however silly.

Did delete some namecalling just now, though. BETEO[1][2] please.

I have to give a cheer or 3 (rah, Rah RAH!)[3]  for the RAH[4][2] as the first ship to land on Luna and the RB[5][2] as the first on Mars

1 - Be excellent to each other
2 - INE[6], so I will make up acronyms and initialisms as much as I want... as an IBMer, it's my duty, in fact.
3 - See what I did there?
4 - Robert A. Heinlein
5 - Ray Bradbury
6 - I'm not Elon...

[llanitedave]

Actually, "Be Excellent To Each Other" is as good a name for a ship as any.

[bob the martian]

Actually, "Be Excellent To Each Other" is as good a name for a ship as any.

"The Excellent Adventurer"

[Semmel]

I am not so fond of naming threads .. but here is my suggestion:

Magellan

Because we expect the ship to come back.

[biosehnsucht]

Actually, "Be Excellent To Each Other" is as good a name for a ship as any.

"The Excellent Adventurer"

While we're at it ... 'Bill S. Preston, Esquire' and the 'Ted "Theodore" Logan', 'Princess Elizabeth' and 'Princess Joanna', along with one or two (take your pick) named 'Station', and of course 'Rufus'.

[Dave G]

[Long EZ]

I suggest the "X9". Apple appropriated the letter "i" for its probucts; SpaceX should build on the "X". So it would be the X9 booster and the X9 ship.

[darkenfast]

Another one for Lar to delete is Kilroy Was Here. A fictional rocket ship that crashed on return to Earth.
Fairly optimistic compared to some of his other names.

Not deleting names in this thread, however silly.

Did delete some namecalling just now, though. BETEO[1][2] please.

I have to give a cheer or 3 (rah, Rah RAH!)[3]  for the RAH[4][2] as the first ship to land on Luna and the RB[5][2] as the first on Mars

1 - Be excellent to each other
2 - INE[6], so I will make up acronyms and initialisms as much as I want... as an IBMer, it's my duty, in fact.
3 - See what I did there?
4 - Robert A. Heinlein
5 - Ray Bradbury
6 - I'm not Elon...

Keep this up and you'll be just a footnote in the history books.

[Eric Hedman]

Since ITSy didn't stick.  How about ITYS?  So anytime Elon runs into someone who said he couldn't do it, he can just point to his rocket and say "I Told You So".

[Eric Hedman]

i just googled Itys. In Greek mythology he was the grandson of Ares.  Sounds perfect to me.

[alang]

Elon Musk email sent to all SpaceX employees in 2010:

Subject: Acronyms seriously suck.

There is a creeping tendency to use made up acronyms at SpaceX. Excessive use of made up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication and keeping communication good as we grow is incredibly important. Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. No one can actually remember all these acronyms and people don’t want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees.

That needs to stop immediately or I will take drastic action—I have given enough warnings over the years. Unless an acronym is approved by me, it should not enter the SpaceX glossary. If there is an existing acronym that cannot reasonably be justified, it should be eliminated, as I have requested in the past.

For example, there should be no “HTS” [horizontal test stand] or “VTS” [vertical test stand] designations for test stands. Those are particularly dumb, as they contain unnecessary words. A “stand” at our test site is obviously a *test* stand. VTS-3 is four syllables compared with “Tripod,” which is two, so the bloody acronym version actually takes longer to say than the name!

The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication. An acronym that most engineers outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to use. It is also ok to make up a few acronyms/contractions every now and again, assuming I have approved them, e.g., MVac and M9 instead of Merlin 1C-Vacuum or Merlin 1C-Sea Level, but those need to be kept to a minimum.

(https://mannerofspeaking.org/2015/12/17/acronyms-can-seriously-suck/)

I suffer this kind of knowledge abuse where I work. "Hybrid Cloud" becomes "Hybrid Cloud Solution" (HCS).
Thanks for the link.

[Radical_Ignorant]

It'd be cool if they would stick with Falcon and call it Falcon Millennium. There was Falcon 1, there is Falcon 9, there will be Falcon Heavy, so why not Falcon Millennium.

[nacnud]

The culture ships names have such irreverent variety, love them! Journeying to Mars has so many different horrible ways to die it would be good to keep some levity where it won't hurt. The first manned ship already has a name, the Heart of Gold. For the first unmanned ship may I suggest, BFS Uninvited Guest.

[Peter.Colin]

Falcon 1
Big Falcon Rocket Falcon 9
Big Falcon Rocket Original BFR of IAC 2016
Big Falcon Rocket Falcon 31
Big Falcon Rocket .... There will always be a bigger one

The name of the BFS ship is a difficult one.
Dragon 3 is not fitting

[jpo234]

Falcon 1
Big Falcon Rocket Falcon 9
Big Falcon Rocket Falcon 31
Big Falcon Rocket

EBFR = Even Bigger F Rocket

[jebbo]

Nah, got to be a TLA :-)

EFR = Enormous Falcon Rocket ...

[dror]

Falcon 1
Big Falcon Rocket Falcon 9
Big Falcon Rocket Original BFR of IAC 2016
Big Falcon Rocket Falcon 31
Big Falcon Rocket .... There will always be a bigger one

The name of the BFS ship is a difficult one.
Dragon 3 is not fitting

Theres still room for the extremely and the Overwhelmingly Big Falcon Rockets,
And then there's the ridiculously BFR

[Peter.Colin]

Falcon-X is fitting to SpaceX

And since its the real revolutionary rocket it deserves
this special name

Overwhelmingly Big Falcon-X can be next in line

[Darkseraph]

There's the Gigafactory and the Gigafund so..

other potential names could Gigabooster or Megafalcon


or akin to Falcon9R and Falcon-H, perhaps it could Falcon-M where 'M' can stand for Methane, Mars, Musk, Millennium, Mega, Maltese or whatever suits!

[TripD]

Falcon-A

[Peter.Colin]

There's the Gigafactory and the Gigafund so..

other potential names could Gigabooster or Megafalcon


or akin to Falcon9R and Falcon-H, perhaps it could Falcon-M where 'M' can stand for Methane, Mars, Musk, Millennium, Mega, Maltese or whatever suits!

Falcon-M has landed sounds good, better than Gigabooster has landed.
Falcon-M can also stand for Moon 

[Manabu]

Is there any good technical reason why they chose to make BFR with 31 and not 30 engines in the first stage? Otherwise, I don't understand why they missed the chance to call it Falcon XXX (or Eagle XXX, whatever). It would go well with Elon's general naming preferences, including Tesla lineup and SpaceX own name.

BFR could then be reserved to a line of adult toys they could sell in their store, where the acronym would describe better the function in addition to the size.

[spacenut]

1 engine circled by 6, circled by 12, and again by 12 = 31.  They could probably get more than 12 (probably 24 for 43) on the outside with a stretched booster, but then we are back to very long and skinny like F9.