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Starship Trap: Why Everyone's Celebrating Mechazill's Mechanical Arm and How It Will Change Launches
A recent book about Elon Musk mentions that one of the first words his growing son Axe learned was “chopsticks.” That’s a reference to the chopsticks used to eat in Japan and other Asian countries. And the child remembered the words because his father, a rocket scientist, often takes the boy to SpaceX meetings, where he always talks about the service towers that work like chopsticks. Iron hands. Just like the Japanese use chopsticks to pick up something on their plate. That’s what Mechazilla means. Musk gave it this name because of its enormous size (after the famous Godzilla from old Japanese movies). The tower is about 140 meters high.
SpaceX has been building it for years at its Starbase space station in Texas, despite abuses from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is extremely unhappy with the design. And now the long-awaited moment has finally arrived. The giant "stick" has successfully accommodated and withstood the landing of the 122-meter-long Super Heavy rocket. This is Musk's plan: to one day send Starship to Mars with a crew of astronauts.
This was already the fifth test flight. The second stage, that is, the Starship itself, successfully exited the planned program and plunged into the sea. But it was especially important to test Mekhazilla in practice. This was the first attempt, and in space flight you rarely hope to do something like this on the first try. Or rather, they hope, but are mentally prepared for everything. In this case, everything went well.
But why did Musk design it this way if he was already planning on getting the Falcon back to the launch pad? The reason for this is probably that once the rocket is back on the launch pad, it needs to be transported back to the launch site. If there's a launch pad in the middle of the ocean, you need special ships and helicopters accordingly. In other words, it's a very expensive operation. And to put it bluntly, I don't want to pick up and carry something as heavy as a super-heavy.
Moreover, although the falcons have been standing on the platform for a long time without any problems, I still worry every time that their balance will be upset and the ladder will suddenly fall and explode. Meanwhile, the "Iron Hands" hold the largest and heaviest rocket in history during the landing.
And finally, another strategically important advantage is that this "Mechazilla" not only places missiles on the armament, but also launches them into space. And after the flight, when the rocket arrives at the cosmodrome in the "hands" of the maintenance tower, all that remains is to conduct a "technical inspection", refuel and install the next ship.
Musk has said many times that it is necessary to create not only reusable rockets, but also “rapidly reusable” rockets — that is, for interplanetary travel, exploration of Mars, and human advancement into space. For Starship to reach Mars, it must first be sent into low Earth orbit, and then several more of the same ships loaded with fuel. To have enough fuel for a long flight to Mars, refueling in space is necessary. And, of course, it would be nice to send all these ships not to a new super-heavy ship each time, but to the same ships that can return to their towers and be immediately ready for new launches.
And lest all this seem like too distant and foggy a prospect, the enterprising Musk plans to use this entire Starship system to launch a large constellation of Starlink satellites, which he also plans to pitch as the ultimate method of intercontinental travel at speed.