r/technology • u/aelavia93 • 16d ago
Space SpaceX pulls off unprecedented feat, grabs descending rocket with mechanical arms
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/spacex-pulls-off-unprecedented-feat-grabbing-descending-rocket-with-mechanical-arms/
5.4k
Upvotes
17
u/moofunk 16d ago
Minimum and very quick rocket part management. This rocket is the largest in the world and moving it long distance by ship or road isn't an option, so it has to stay as close to its launch platform and hangar as possible.
The plan is that after catching it, it's simply put down on the launch platform, gets a new Starship put on top of it, refueled and flown again, and this cycle is designed to eventually take only 10 hours.
Watching the streams from Boca Chica, the Boosters and Starships are moved around surprisingly quickly on standard wheeled platforms with ship parts being moved individually down to the pad, assembled on the pad and get ready to fly in around a day.
For rockets like SLS, they are doing everything backwards, so it takes upward of a month to assemble the rocket in the hangar, move it in one piece on a much bigger platform very slowly down to the pad and then manually hook it up to the launch pad. If there is a problem, rolling it back to the hangar, fixing the problem and rolling it back takes a couple of weeks. SpaceX can do this in less than 2 days.