SpaceX's Elon Musk turns to science fiction in naming Mars ship, other hardware

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – If SpaceX founder Elon Musk's plan to establish a city on Mars sounds like science fiction, then consider the name of his first passenger ship. The answer lies in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," the humorous series about the travels and travails of Earth's last surviving man. Musk is leaning toward the name Heart of Gold, the novels' starship with the Infinite Improbability Drive. "I like the fact that it's driven by infinite improbability," Musk said in presenting his long-awaited Mars colonization plan this past week, "because I think our ship is also extremely improbable." "But the acronym is not the best," he chuckled.