FAA revealed SpaceX Plans to Land Starship by Legs on Droneship while Mechazilla...

Landing by Mechazilla arms. This is the primary landing method SpaceX uses to achieve rapid and complete reusability. But what about missions with special requirements? Starship has always been designed with versatility in mind. In those cases, an alternative comes into focus. Landing on a drone ship using deployable landing legs, a method made famous by Falcon 9 becomes a viable option. So, how would this approach change Starship operation? SpaceX is expanding in every dimension, not only in its flight objectives, but also in the scale of its operation. Beyond Starbase, SpaceX is now turning its focus to Florida, where two major launch sites are planned. These include up to 44 launches from LC39A and 76 launches from SLC37. Similar to Starbase, both of these launch complexes are expected to feature launch towers that exist with both liftoff and landing. But is that the only landing method under consideration? Of course not. According to the relevant environmental impact statement documents, some flights may return using a familiar approach that has already been mentioned, landing on a drone ship. There is no misunderstanding here. This method can be applied to Starship. To make this possible, Starship would need additional landing legs to maintain stability. Some have suggested that instead of adding legs, SpaceX could design a holding or securing system on the drone ship itself. However, this approach would likely increase both the complexity and the mass of the drone ship. If this method is adopted, Starship would operate in a manner similar to Falcon 9. Each stage would be equipped with foldable landing legs. The key difference is that Starship would land two stages rather than only a booster as Falcon 9 does. During flight, these legs would remain folded neatly inside the vehicle. As the vehicle approaches the drone ship, the legs would deploy to ensure balance and stability. The legs would likely remain extended during transport unless SpaceX chooses horizontal transport as suggested in some earlier concepts. This leads to an important question. Why would SpaceX adopt this method when Starship was originally designed to land using Megazilla arms? In other words, what are the benefits? The first reason is mission diversity. Starship is expected to support many different types of missions. LC39A may become a regular launch site for NASA missions. SLC37, which is approved for Air Force use, could support a wide range of national security and military missions. These missions are likely to differ significantly from standard orbital launches. Some of these missions may require higher energy profiles. In such cases, the booster may need to carry the ship farther and to higher altitudes. This could leave insufficient fuel for a return to Starbase. This is where the strengths of the drone ship become clear. Unlike a fixed launch and landing site, a drone ship can reposition itself anywhere in the ocean to recover either Super Heavy or the ship. This flexibility allows the vehicle to optimize fuel usage during flight. In addition, while precision is still required, the landing constraints are generally less demanding than those of a fixed catching system. To support this concept, SpaceX has proposed a wide range of potential landing zones for Starship. These include the Indian Ocean as well as the southeastern and northeastern regions of the Pacific. These areas more than demonstrate the operational reach of drone ship landings for Super Heavy. Proposed landing zones remain closer to home, including the Gulf region and the Atlantic Ocean. Beyond flexibility, drone ship landings also offer safety advantages. Because operations take place far offshore, impacts such as noise, vibration, or potential explosions are isolated from populated areas and nearby infrastructure. This directly addresses one of the primary weaknesses of towerbased catching systems. As future launch operations scale up, an additional landing method also helps distribute operational demand. Drone ship landings can serve as a backup if one or more launch towers are unavailable. This approach is not theoretical. SpaceX has successfully used drone ships for Falcon 9 landings for over a decade, achieving a very high success rate. While applying this method to Starship will be more challenging, SpaceX can be confident because it has already mastered the core technologies involved. The large operational range of drone ships as outlined in the EIS documents also makes it easier to expand Starship operations on a global scale. This approach will be especially effective until SpaceX is able to build launch and landing facilities in other countries. So, how will SpaceX prepare for this landing method? The most immediate requirement is the addition of landing legs to Starship. These legs would allow the vehicle to stand securely on a drone ship. Implementing them would require significant modifications to the A section of Starship. This level of transformation is something SpaceX is likely to face regardless. For many future missions, including lunar and Martian missions, especially early missions, Starship will need landing legs because no catching system will be available. Designing and testing a leg equipped prototype on Earth is therefore essential. Musk referenced this idea in 2023 when discussing Falcon Heavy landings, stating, "And that's how we will land on Mars." In a similar way for Earthto Earth missions, landing legs would be required before catching systems are deployed, allowing Starship to land in a wide variety of locations. The second major requirement is the creation of a large fleet of drone ships. If each recovery region requires its own platform, at least five drone ships would be needed. Falcon 9 currently operates with only three drone ships. Yet, those platforms have enabled remarkable reusability achievements. To cover larger regions and higher launch rates, Starship operations would require many more. Not only would the number of drone ships increase, but their size and durability would also need to grow. Starship is far larger and more powerful than Falcon 9, even with minimal remaining propellant. A landing stage could still weigh hundreds of tons. The landing thrust generated by multiple Raptor engines can also reach several hundred tons. For context, the landing thrust of a ship or Super Heavy using Raptor 2 is nearly equal to the liftoff thrust of Falcon 9. and future Raptor 3 engines will exceed that. As a result, a Starship capable drone ship may need to be roughly twice the size of current Falcon 9 platforms. If SpaceX intends for a single drone ship to recover and transport multiple vehicles, those platforms could approach the scale of aircraft carriers. So, is this a landing method worth considering? If you think the answer is a yes, or if you don't think so, let me know in the comment section down below. And don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel to continue following SpaceX's development journey. From my perspective, this approach has significant potential. However, before it can become viable, SpaceX must address a number of important challenges. Most of these challenges arise directly from the preparations that have already been discussed. First, SpaceX will need to formally introduce a Starship variant equipped with landing legs. Since the transition from the big Falcon rocket concept to Starship, landing legs have been removed from the design. To date, there has been no clear indication that SpaceX intends to reintroduce them. As noted earlier, adding landing legs would require substantial modifications to the A sections of both the booster and the ship. This area houses the engine bays as well as the complex piping that connects the engines to the propellant tanks. Accommodating foldable landing legs would require a significant internal reconfiguration of these systems. Building a fleet of drone ships represents another major challenge. The sheer number required would demand considerable financial investment. SpaceX would need to acquire these platforms and then extensively modify them to support Starship landings and recovery operations. Beyond the number of drone ships, SpaceX must also confront the issue of turnaround time. The company intends to operate across multiple regions. Recoveries in the Indian Ocean or across distant regions of the Pacific are far more complex. Transporting vehicles back to Starbase from those locations would take several weeks. As a result, SpaceX will need solutions that significantly improve recovery and turnaround speed. In addition to maintaining a large fleet of drone ships that can operate in rotation, SpaceX may need to establish new launch and processing facilities. Locations such as California could support operations in the Pacific, while Australia could support recoveries in the Indian Ocean. Building facilities in other countries, however, would likely present substantial regulatory and logistical challenges. Regardless of location, SpaceX must also carefully consider maritime transport routes. The regions identified for recovery are among the busiest shipping corridors in the world. SpaceX will need to ensure not only that landings are conducted safely, but also that Starship transport operations do not disrupt or interfere with other industries. Beyond the necessary infrastructure and operational preparations, SpaceX must also achieve several critical flight objectives. Many of these objectives are directly tied to landing performance and vehicle control. SpaceX must continue refining its mastery of vehicle control. Superheavy can already be considered largely well controlled as demonstrated by successful catches using the Mechazilla arms in late 2024 and early 2025. However, SpaceX is still conducting a wide range of tests to optimize performance. These include active flip maneuvers, landings at higher angles of attack, and landings using fewer engines. As a result, some recent Superheavy flights have appeared less refined. Improvements will be necessary to maintain consistent and controlled landings. While these changes are introduced, the challenge is even greater for the ship. This is evident from the repeated failures observed in early 2025. While improvements began to emerge toward the end of the year, the heat shield remains a significant concern and continues to present unresolved issues. Because of this, the ship will require even higher levels of control in the upcoming V3 flight series. The vehicle must first demonstrate reliable ocean landings followed by successful catch attempts. These achievements will be essential prerequisites before any drone ship landing approach can be seriously considered. Even though the final landing method may differ, the fundamental challenge remains the same. The ship must survive a long duration mission, endure a demanding re-entry phase, and still retain precise control during the final descent. Re-entry itself remains one of the largest barriers to overcome. It's a critical gateway that must be successfully passed before SpaceX can fully commit to either Mechazilla arm catches or drone ship landings. This is where systems such as aerodynamic flips and thermal protection tiles must perform exactly as intended. Early indications suggest that SpaceX is placing significant emphasis on these areas in the V3 design, but their effectiveness will ultimately need to be proven in flight. In addition to landing performance, SpaceX must also ensure reliable execution of every phase that precedes it. This includes liftoff, ascent, stage separation, and orbital operations conducted by the ship. Only when each of these phases is consistently successful can recovery and landing operations proceed smoothly. All of these efforts are expected to converge in 2026 as SpaceX prepares for several major milestones, including the potential adoption of drone ship landings for Starship. Despite the widespread skepticism, Starship has already demonstrated remarkable versatility. This capability allows SpaceX to operate in multiple ways with at least two distinct landing methods emerging as part of its future plans. In addition to landings using the Mechazilla arms, SpaceX is also working toward recovering its massive rockets offshore through the use of floating platforms, aka drone ships. The potential of this approach is clear, having already been proven in part through Falcon 9 operations, and it's expected to be further refined and expanded with Starship. As with any ambitious objective, bringing such a large and complex system to full operational maturity presents substantial challenges. However, this is SpaceX. It's a team known for pushing boundaries and redefining what is considered possible. The question now is whether you are ready to place your confidence in this landing plan. Starship is expanding to Florida and it will land on drone ships. Did you notice the common link between these two developments? Both require a dedicated transportation system. That requirement has been known for a long time. However, recent comments from a SpaceX VP have now provided far more specific confirmation. So, how will the Starship delivery system actually work and when will it become operational? Let's start out by explaining why this transportation system is so important. First, remember that SpaceX has launch plans in Florida with two complexes and at least three launch pads. These operations could begin as early as next year or in 2027. However, at the moment, we only see Gigabay under construction, and the area does not yet have a full production factory. Because of this, during the initial phase, likely lasting 1 to two years, SpaceX will need to transport a large number of Starships from Starbase to Florida for launch. That alone creates a clear need for a dedicated transportation system. Second, starships are also planned to land on drone ships. The planned landing locations are numerous and many of them are far from the launch sites. All of these locations are considerably more distant than current Falcon 9 recovery zones, which increases reliance on drone ships. To reduce the number of drone ships required and allow them to focus solely on landing operations, SpaceX will need a separate transportation system to bring Starships back to land. In addition, SpaceX intends to include Starship in its Earthto Earth transportation concept, which would expand operations across the globe. All of these locations and missions would need to be connected by a reliable transport network. Given these needs, a transportation system becomes absolutely critical. In fact, this concept was mentioned as early as April of 2025 in the FAA's final tiered environmental assessment for Starship operations at Starbase. The document stated after landing and safing the breakover fixture assembly, which is a controlled supported drop from vertical to horizontal of the Starship would commence. This idea was recently reinforced by SpaceX Vice President Kiko Donev in response to a post on X. The post asked whether a fuel tank transport barge could be converted into a Starship transport ship. Done replied, "Good eye. Still needs a little work before we put the name on it, but it was a good first trial run of a transport." That response strongly suggests that a SpaceX system currently used for fuel tank transport could evolve into a Starship transport system in the future. At present, that transport barge is named You'll Thank Me Later. However, SpaceX still intends to test its capabilities before applying it directly to Starship transportation. As you may have noticed, Donv also mentioned that he has not yet thought of a name for the transport ship. We all know that SpaceX vehicles such as Dragon or the drone ships often have memorable names. So, if you have any suggestions, share them in the comment section down below. One of them might even be chosen by SpaceX. Earlier this year, Done provided a more detailed explanation of this system. In September, he stated on X, "While this would certainly look pretty rad, we are planning to break over both the booster and ship to the horizontal position for transit from Starbase to the Cape. Initial deliveries are a single booster or ship per trip with a plan to move to multiple vehicles per transit sooner than later. You'll thank me later." This clearly outlines the Starbase to Cape Canaveral transport route. During the initial phase, SpaceX will transport one booster or one ship per trip. Over time, to improve efficiency, a single transport ship will be capable of carrying multiple vehicles at once. That sets expectations. So, what will the transport method actually look like? From a space efficiency standpoint, vertical transport, similar to Falcon 9, would be ideal. However, Starship does not have landing legs. More importantly, long-d distanceance ocean transport is heavily affected by weather and sea conditions, which makes vertical transport extremely risky. As a result, horizontal transport is the most reasonable and reliable option. This approach does require more space, which makes it less efficient, but it significantly improves safety during transit. That leads to the next question. What will Starship's transport vessel look like? Will it resemble Falcon 9 drone ships? Drone ships used for Falcon 9 are long and relatively open with a large central landing area and support systems positioned mainly at the ends. The sides have minimal structures with only low barriers. That design works well for vertical landings. For horizontal transport, however, additional structures would be required. Even when lying horizontally, a vehicle can still roll under the influence of ocean waves. Sign partitions or barriers would help secure the vehicle and keep it safely contained during transit. There are still valid concerns. For example, if early transport missions carry only a single prototype or if the ship is not fully loaded, even side partitions may not fully prevent movement. A rolling vehicle could shift weight from one side to the other, potentially unbalancing the transport ship. This is a real concern when considering the dry mass of the vehicles. with a Starship weighing roughly 100 tons and a super heavy booster weighing around 200. Ultimately, SpaceX will need to address this directly. In my view, one solution would be to add a small number of fixed securing points to prevent rolling during transport. Over time, additional securing points could be added, which would also make it easier to divide the transport ship into multiple slots for carrying several vehicles. Another option would be to build a transport ship large enough that the mass of individual vehicles becomes relatively insignificant. Both approaches seem reasonable. In terms of overall size, this transport vessel will likely need to be very large, especially if it's designed to carry multiple vehicles in the future. Its scale could be enormous, potentially comparable to an aircraft carrier, which is quite the impressive concept to imagine. With such a system in place, we can expect to see frequent transport activity along the route from Starbase to Florida. If operations begin next year, each transport ship could make approximately 5 to six trips per year, carrying around three pairs of prototypes. In later years, that number would likely increase significantly. Given an average transit time of 4 to 7 days each way, roughly 2 weeks for a round trip, plus one or two days for loading and unloading, this level of operation is entirely sustainable. Over time, the pace of transport between Starbase and Florida will likely slow as each trip carries more vehicles. Florida may also become increasingly self-sufficient once local manufacturing facilities come online. Even then, the transport system would continue to support drone ship landings, enabling dozens of transport missions each year. Which brings us to the question many of us have been waiting for. When will this system become operational? Given that the concept has existed for some time and SpaceX is already testing transport ships through fuel tank deliveries, it's reasonable to expect the first Starship transport operations to begin by mid next year. Between now and then, SpaceX would need to acquire transport ships and complete the necessary modifications and upgrades. This timeline also aligns with expectations for the LC39A Starship platform becoming operational. So, are you looking forward to seeing this system come online? Let me know by commenting let's do it down below. And don't forget to like this video and subscribe to the channel to continue following SpaceX's journey forward. We've discussed all the positives. However, it's important to remember that the path to this future, even after the system becomes operational, will still be filled with challenges. First, there is the issue of acquiring suitable platforms. The required number will be significant. For example, transport between two regions alone will require at least two transport ships. To support drone ship landings, SpaceX will likely need at least four landing zones with each zone requiring two transport ships. Acquiring such a large number of platforms is not simple as they must meet specific technical and operational standards. The necessary modifications will also take considerable time. Because of this, it's reasonable to expect only around two transport ships to be available in the first year, primarily to support Starship transport between two regions. The transport fleet would then expand gradually in the years that follow. Next, transportation itself presents challenges because it intersects with other heavily used areas. As mentioned in a recent episode discussing landing drone ships on foot, regions such as the waters between Florida and Texas, as well as the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans are all extremely busy marry time corridors. SpaceX will need to carefully plan routes and operations to avoid interfering with commercial shipping and to prevent unnecessary disruptions. Additionally, during transport, environmental factors such as ocean waves can introduce vibrations that are difficult to eliminate. Even with extensive support systems, history has shown that vehicles can fail during transport and this risk cannot be ignored. As a result, SpaceX will need to perform continuous inspections and monitoring before transport, during transit, and after delivery. And beyond these points, there are likely many other challenges that will emerge as the system evolves. Clearly, once these challenges are overcome, Starship's potential will be immense. First, as discussed earlier, the transport system will provide critical early support by moving Starships out of Starbase. Florida is a central hub for the aerospace industry, and this transport network serves as the vital link connecting Starbase to that region. It will also play a key role in enabling and optimizing Starship's drone ship landing operations, which are essential for achieving full and rapid reusability. But there's more to it than that. This transport system is not merely a logistical solution. It represents the true scale of the Starship program. We have already seen a glimpse of this with Falcon rockets operating across multiple sites in Florida and California. Starship, however, takes this concept much further. Its operational footprint will extend beyond a single location. It'll span multiple sites, multiple states, and even multiple countries. Very few launch systems in history have operated at that level of geographic reach. This expansion will support not only space missions but also potential military applications and earthto-earth transportation concepts. This global expansion is what truly elevates Starship. SpaceX has long envisioned a future in which Starship launches with airline-like frequency but at dramatically lower cost. As its reach becomes international, Starship will gain faster and easier access to customers around the world. All this reinforces the idea that Starship is far more than a conventional rocket. It's a comprehensive transportation system that goes beyond traditional space flight. And this future is not far away. Over the coming year, Starship will undergo significant transformation with SpaceX preparing to begin launches from Florida in support of upcoming lunar missions. Launches will occur repeatedly as key milestones are pursued and at the same time starships will be returning just as frequently. At that point, the transport system will enter a race of its own, working continuously to connect every part of the Starship program. The more the system evolves, the more ambitious SpaceX's additions become. Both within the Starship program and across its broader infrastructure. Each addition, whether large or small, reflects SpaceX's relentless pace of development. And that is likely why SpaceX continues to lead the aerospace industry. Now all that remains is to watch what comes next. And with that folks, this has been Kevin with Great SpaceX. Don't forget to like the video and subscribe if you haven't already to stay up to date with yours truly on the latest milestones in SpaceX's journey. Thank you so much for watching. And always remember, curiosity, imagination, and inspiration will follow you so long as you keep looking