Elon Musk’s SpaceX is sacking 10 per cent of its workforce.

The company will lay off a big chunk of its 6,000-employee workforce, saying it needs to be a “leaner company” to meet ambitious new goals.

“To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company,” the company said in a statement.

“Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organisations. This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team.

“We are grateful for everything they have accomplished and their commitment to SpaceX's mission.

“This action is taken only due to the extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead and would not otherwise be necessary.”

The audacious ambitions of SpaceX include interplanetary space travel, namely putting humans and a city on Mars.

The company has hinted at an unmanned, robotic mission to Mars as soon as 2022, followed by the first human flight to the red planet a few years later.

SpaceX has also unveiled plans to send tourists around the moon.

Yusaku Maezawa, a 42-year-old Japanese billionaire, has been announced as the first lunar tourist.