The week-long annual International Astronautical Congress, which concluded Friday in Adelaide., has seen government space agencies and private firms outline their plans to send humans to the Moon and Mars in the next few decades.

This included an agreement between Russian space agency Roscosmos and NASA to work on the first lunar space station as part of a programme called the Deep Space Gateway.

The founder of SpaceX , Inventor Elon Musk said a planned interplanetary transport system, codenamed BFR unveiled ambitious plans Friday to send cargo ships to Mars in five years and use rockets to carry people between Earth's major cities in under half-an-hour.

"I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and launch in about five years," he added. At least two cargo ships would land on the Red Planet in 2022, with the key mission of finding the best source of water currently mooted as a way to power rockets, he said.

The trips would be funded by a range of activities, including launching satellites, servicing the space station and lunar missions, he said.

Musk added that the rockets should also cater to Earth inhabitants by reducing the travel between major cities to less than half-an-hour. A trip from Bangkok to Dubai would take 27 minutes, and from Tokyo to Delhi in 30 minutes, according to his calculations.

"Once you are out of the atmosphere, it would be as smooth as silk, no turbulence, nothing," he said. "There's no weather... and you can get to most long-distance places in less than half-an-hour. If we are building this thing to go to the Moon and Mars, then why not go to other places on Earth as well." he added.