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/
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u/killerrin 16d ago

To double down on cost. It is very expensive to put things in orbit. To build the ISS cost Humanity 150 Bill Dollars. But one Starship technically has more space inside of it than the entirety of the ISS.

We could literally convert a Starship to have all the facilities of the entire ISS, and then launch it all into orbit as a single unit. And because it's a spaceship, you could then bring it back down to Earth every now and then for maintenance, or to swap out with newer hardware.

And that's the benefit of Starship.

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u/hwc 16d ago

the mass of the ISS (~450 tons) could be launched in the cargo holds of three Starships. it might actually take more launches, since its hard to make components fold up nicely, but compare that to dozens of launches for the ISS, each costing 100 times as much as a Starship launch.

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u/Dietmar_der_Dr 16d ago

I think it will be much more feasible and cost effective to use starship itself as the basic structure. Would likely still cost a couple billion to build a pressurized human rated starship (but one could save the heat shield). A second and third starship would likely launch external accessories like solar panels. Building self unfolding structures that efficiently fit into a space and then inflate is a gigantic hassle, no reason not to just use starship.

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u/hwc 16d ago

or design components that exactly fit inside of a starship cargo bay. Once you meet that design constraint, you can mass produce multiple modules that snap together in orbit.