SpaceX acquires former oil rigs to serve as floating Starship spaceports
SpaceX has acquired two former oil drilling rigs to serve as these floating spaceports. Named Phobos and Deimos, after the two moons of Mars, they are currently undergoing modifications to support Starship launch operations.
SpaceX has long been hinting at future floating launch and landing sites for their Starship launch system. The super heavy lift launch vehicle will have a large blast danger area and pose noise concerns if launched frequently near populated areas. Therefore, sea launch platforms will play a key role in the launch cadence SpaceX plans to reach with Starship, including on-orbit refueling flights for deep space missions and transportation from one place to another on Earth.
Job postings by SpaceX have indicated that work on offshore launch platforms has begun in Brownsville, Texas, near their Starship manufacturing and launch facilities in Boca Chica.
SpaceX purchased the rigs from the bankrupt owner for $3.5 million each. They may have cost around $500 million each to build.
See also: SpaceX's second Super Heavy booster enters production in South Texas
Previously: SpaceX Wants to Build Floating Spaceports for Daily Starship Launches
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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
SpaceX hasn’t given details about its motivation for this seemingly complex and expensive undertaking, other than a reply tweet in which Musk said the launches and landings had to be “far enough away so as not to bother heavily populated areas.” The company’s plan to eventually carry out up to three launches and landings per day would certainly necessitate putting some serious distance between the launch site and people; most of us could only handle about one sonic boom a month, if that.
A wide no-fly zone and road closures go into effect on launch days. And if Starships do eventually shuttle people around Earth or beyond on a daily basis, the takeoff and landing points would need to be conveniently located; going a few miles offshore is likely better in this regard than finding a huge empty swathe of land in, say, New Mexico or Nevada.
Rather than building the launchpads from scratch, it’s possible SpaceX would refurbish existing oil rigs; the bigger rigs are about the size of two football fields, and there are plenty of them in the Gulf of Mexico, though only a couple very near Brownsville. Given the ailing state of the oil industry, especially after the pandemic, it’s likely there will be rigs to be had for cheap.
One outstanding question is what sort of impact the launch pads would have on marine life, especially if something were to go wrong.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Tokolosh on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:03AM (2 children)
Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Terror) are the dogs of Mars, the god of war.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:19AM (1 child)
If by dogs you mean sons, then sure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:24AM
(a punishing attempt on the dogs of war)
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:22AM (6 children)
What are the environmental impacts from launching at sea? Im sure some whale-huggers will find some dying Mackerel, plankton, corals, dolphins or other sea critters that are doomed due to this.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:33AM (4 children)
Launching a rocket from many meters above sea level on a pre-built oil rig can't be any worse than starting a fire in a wildlife refuge [archive.org].
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(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:48AM (3 children)
Tell that to Greenpeace etc, I'm sure they'll be able to find something to take issue with.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @03:00AM (2 children)
When Greenpunks show up you just turn the engines toward their boats. Problem solved. I've met a few of these idiots; total asses, scammers, and scum.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @03:43AM (1 child)
We had Greenpeace bring in their outboard motors for their Zodiak boats for repair, back in the late 90's. All 2 stroke engines. (Honda has made 4 stroke outboard engines since at least the mid 80's, probably earlier (too lazy to look it up))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @04:46AM
I was thinking the rocket engines; but ok maybe the oil rig thrusters might be fine too. ;)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MIRV888 on Thursday January 21 2021, @07:09AM
It was already an oil rig. It's gonna be tough to top that damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @02:33AM
n/t
(Score: 4, Funny) by SomeGuy on Thursday January 21 2021, @04:12AM
So a space organization just set up a Phobos base and Deimos base. What could possibly go wrong? Any space anomalies? Where are they hiding the BFG?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday January 21 2021, @09:24AM (3 children)
so how do they intend to get the big rocket onto the former oil rig platform?
Very big floating crane (tm)?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Thursday January 21 2021, @10:17AM (2 children)
There are cranes on the rigs, very big cranes at the ports, they are hiring crane operators to operate on the rigs, and they have experience moving these things around on barges. And while Starship is gigantic, it doesn't weigh so much in terms of dry mass. It is also set to have its mass cut significantly due to a switch from 4mm to 3mm thick steel. They will test a new 3mm tank soon [teslarati.com], which has just been rolled out to the launch pad [teslarati.com]. This will directly increase the payload to orbit capability if it works.
You may have heard that they want to land Super Heavy boosters directly back onto the launch pad, without using landing legs (a launch tower "arm" will "grab" the rocket as it is landing [teslarati.com]). If that approach works, then they only need to get the booster and possibly the ship to the floating pad once.
A more whimsical idea: just fuel and fly/hop the booster from the land pad directly to the oil rig.
Hopefully a landing failure doesn't destroy one or both of these oil rigs.
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(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday January 21 2021, @10:49AM (1 child)
Oh I wouldn't worry too much about potential destruction. I think the worst that might happen is that they become subject to a rapid unscheduled disassembly...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 21 2021, @01:42PM
Deepwater Horizon was just a test.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 21 2021, @03:33PM (1 child)
Having a landable barge downrange extents the ummph (specific impules?) available from Falcon while still permitting booster recovery.
If the Starship booster has a new landing plan with a tower, these rigs look a bit like barges with towers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday January 21 2021, @04:02PM
They want to launch from the rigs, not just land on them. See the previous story. Thrust and noise generated by full Starship + Super Heavy will be significant. Although they have done a good job at driving away residents of Boca Chica Village, I guess it's not enough. Also, if they decide to do Starship point-to-point airline travel (still seems sketchy), they would need to launch and land from similar offshore platforms near major coastal cities.
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