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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
(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.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(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.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]