SpaceX's New Method Of Landing Starship Booster Somehow SHOCKED NASA...

If SpaceX targets Florida as the primary launch site for the Starship rocket, they have to acknowledge the fact that there might not be enough room for all landing activities. This makes sense. The traffic jam in NASA's main launch sites is common because most of the various companies' rocket operations are concentrated there. So, the solution could be to land the Super Heavy on the drone ship, simulating what SpaceX has done with the Falcon rockets. However, due to its huge size and unique design, there will be significant updates for these barges, which could mimic the design of today's popular ocean drilling rigs. Find out everything in today's episode of TechMap. Although the concept of reusable rockets has appeared since NASA's Space Shuttle era, SpaceX is the pioneer in taking this concept to the peak. NASA's only reusable rocket project, namely the Space Shuttle, ended in a loss when it failed to meet NASA's standards. Since then, we haven't seen any similar counterpart made by the agency. The reason is very simple. In addition to being incompetent, NASA doesn't use enough rockets to make reusability worthwhile because they are not really in the rocket development business. Reusable rockets are only valuable if the frequency of launches is great enough to outweigh the cost of developing and utilizing the technology. SpaceX is totally different. A commercial space company aims to launch a huge amount of rockets into space. Not only succeed, but SpaceX also can leave NASA in the dust when its vehicles have high safety, short turnaround, and of course, low cost. A typical example is the case of the Falcon 9 rocket. The success of the SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable launch vehicle has been one of the most remarkable technological achievements of the last decade. Powered by SpaceX's Merlin engine, the Falcon 9 booster can be reused up to 20 times, with minimal maintenance between flights. Rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 361 times over 14 years, resulting in 359 full successes, 99.45%. To achieve that remarkable achievement, can't help but mention the contribution of ground infrastructure, serving for launch and especially landing. Currently, the Falcon rockets have been launched from the locations that SpaceX leased from NASA, including two in Florida, Cape Canaveral, SLC-40, and Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A, one in California Vandenberg, SLC-4E. In 2025, there will be another option from California Vandenberg, SLC-6. For landing, there are three options, depending on launch requirements, landing on land, landing at sea, and expanding the first stage. If the mass of the payload is not too heavy, meaning the vehicle has a fuel margin for returning to land, of course, return to the launch site, RTLS, is the best option. Less demanding launches from Florida can return to landing zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while less demanding launches from California can return to landing zone 4. But for the mission requiring a huge mass lifted to orbit or to a further destination, such as geostationary orbit or exceeding escape velocity, the rocket will not have enough fuel to return to the launch site, so they can land at sea or as a last resort, throw away the vehicle. You know, full and rapid reusability is always SpaceX's priority to significantly lower the price of space launch services. And the key early component of SpaceX's objective is an autonomous spaceport drone ship, ASDS, serving for the Falcon 9 booster's landing. ASDS is also part of the multi-year reusable rocket development program engineered by SpaceX. So as usual, the concept of a drone ship will also be applied to Starship. Perhaps we have heard a lot about the fact the company bought two deep water oil rigs in 2020 to convert them into floating launch pads for its Starship rocket. Although they sold them in 2023 due to, they were not the right platform, this doesn't mean that SpaceX gave up on landing offshore. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell confirmed that, we really need to fly this vehicle to understand it, to get to know this machine, and then we'll figure out how we're going to launch it. And now, given that Starship's progress has snowballed, it's likely that they are seeking to bring the idea back from the dead. The FAA's presentation about the environmental impact statement for SpaceX Starship at LC-39A released in June, pointed out that the rocket's stages will land offshore as an additional option. Indeed, Super Heavy can downrange on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, while Starship can have a soft landing on a drone ship in the open ocean, between 55 degrees south latitude and 55 degrees north latitude. In this scenario, it's unclear whether Elon Musk will add a couple of landing legs for Starship, but the high possibility is not. If the Little Mermaid sacrificed her voice in exchange for the human legs, what Starship has to sacrifice is its payload capacity. It explains why Musk has vehemently opposed legs for their weight. So, would you like the idea of landing gears on Starship? Share your thoughts. Instead of that, they will redesign the barge to adapt to the huge size and specification of the rocket. Because Super Heavy does not have landing legs, any landing would need a catching structure similar to that at the launch site. Super Heavy is very tall, so would need a very tall catching structure, which would itself need to be afloat and subject to the vagaries of wave motion, as well as the tough weather condition, so it would probably need a very large barge indeed to keep it stable. Unlike relatively shallow water barges and platforms that can be anchored in or supported from the seabed. Perhaps a deep ocean platform is also an interesting option. For example, Chevron's $500 million Petronas platform is situated about 208 kilometers southeast of New Orleans. It is located in water depths of 535 meters. The rig is a compliant tower and is the largest freestanding structure in the world at 613 meters, double the Eiffel Tower. The compliant tower design was chosen for its ability to withstand hurricane conditions and operate in depths of 610 meters. The compliant tower design enables it to move within an envelope of 7.6 meters sway and a 3 meters rotation sway at the surface. To apply for the Starship case, SpaceX needs to redesign a little bit. They have to consider the fact that in deep water with a tall tower, the amount of sway, pitch and roll at 50 or 60 meters above sea level is not going to be insignificant. Even if the legs are partially flooded as changes at sea level, the amount of sway, pitch and roll will be magnified as the height increases above the platform. This will make catching the Super Heavy safely even more challenging and reduce the window when launches are possible. Additionally, SpaceX also handles some relevant issues such as the transportation from the barge back to the factory for refurbishment. It's really a big matter for the largest rocket ever built. Due to the complex nature of the barge landing concept, Elon Musk should select it as option B or for the suborbital mission. Landing on a drone ship will help Super Heavy become more flexible in landing. SpaceX can land Starship anywhere they want, provided it does not affect other activities in the ocean. This would create a system that had serious utility and wouldn't need to be limited to civilian use. It would be good for the military, good for instant disaster relief, and good for cargo and passengers. And you could have fleets of such ships offshore all over the planet and change them out for maintenance and so forth. Remember, oceans cover a total of 71% of the Earth's surface, so nothing would be better if there were available locations for launching and landing a Starship anywhere in the world. This is useful for Starship suborbital missions, which require transporting large numbers of people and cargo over great distances in short periods. And that just about wraps it up for today's episode. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you next time.