SpaceX isn’t content to keep things simple or easy, and plans to catch its upcoming Super Heavy booster rockets at the launch tower, allowing them to be relaunched just an hour later.
Not to be confused with the Falcon Heavy, the Super Heavy will serve as the booster stage for SpaceX’s upcoming Starship system. The second stage of the system is the spaceship itself, which is designed to launch and land independently. However, in conjunction with the booster, Starship is transformed into a formidable launch system capable of delivering cargo and dozens of passengers to Earth, Moon and Mars orbit.
The Super Heavy, like the Starship second stage, is still under development and the specifications are changing rapidly. Originally, the Super Heavy booster was supposed to land with retractable legs similar to those of the company’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket. But as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained in a recent series of tweets, they’ve overhauled the concept.
“We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to catch the charge,” he tweeted in response to an inquiry. “Saves leg mass and cost and allows instant booster repositioning on the launch mount – ready to refling in under an hour,” added Musk.
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The fact that SpaceX is designing a system capable of launching starships at hourly intervals points to the company’s future ambitions. It remains to be seen if these giant boosters – and they will measure 230 feet long (70 meters) and 30 feet wide (9 meters) – you can indeed get caught this way, but Musk’s impressive track record means we need to take this prospect seriously.
Equipped with more than two dozen Raptor engines, the Super Heavy booster will apply over 16 million pounds of force. In comparison, Block 2 of NASA’s upcoming SLS system will to provide 9.5 million pounds of thrust.
December 12, SpaceX executed a high-altitude test of a prototype starship rocket that blew to pieces during a landing. Musk described it as a ‘successful climb’, adding that ‘we have all the data we needed’. New prototypes of the spaceship are currently being prepared for further testing, but there are no dates for these launches has been released.