Catch Super Heavy boosters with launch tower

SpaceX is getting closer and closer to realizing the design for its Starship and Super Heavy launch system. Once completed, it will be the first fully reusable launch system in the world and will enable journeys to Low Earth (LEO), the Moon and Mars. The booster element of the system (Super Heavy) was launched last summer and according to a recent tweet from Musk, it will be ‘caught’ by the launch tower.

The tweet comes (as usual) in response to a question from one of Musk’s followers. In this case, it was a space designer who went through the Twitter handle Erc X (@ErcXspace), who produced a video illustrating what the Super Heavy might look like when it returns to its landing site. The video was endorsed with the question: “Accurate Super Heavy Descent Profile?”

Accurate Super Heavy Descent Profile? pic.twitter.com/MxIJ0zLzKn

– Erc X (@ErcXspace) 30 December 2020

Musk responded by tweeting:

“We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load … Save mass and cost of bones and get instant repositioning of the booster on the launch pad – ready to go under a hour.”

The next day, a 3D designer (Youtube handle Mini3D) made an animation based on this description. It depicts the launch tower with a harness, which grabs the Super Heavy booster after dropping itself into its arms. The rig then lowers the booster to a landing strip, eliminating the need for landing legs and increasing the chance of a safe recovery.

As Musk has pointed out, this capture system is also part of what he hopes will amount to regular spacecraft. In the past, Musk has indicated that his long-term vision is to scale up the production of the Starship to the point where they can build 100 years for ten years (creating a fleet of 1,000). According to him, this fleet can carry 100 megatons of cargo or transport 100,000 people to Mars every 26 months (when Earth and Mars are closest in their orbits).

With that kind of ability to transport supplies, equipment, robots, and passengers, Musk would be able to realize his dream of building a colony on Mars by the late 2020s. Whether the highly ambitious goal will be achieved in this decade (or ever, for that matter) remains to be seen. But in the meantime, Musk can benefit from a number of things he has mentioned in the past.

For starters, SpaceX can deploy many Starlink satellites faster and create the legendary mega-constellation that will bring broadband internet to every corner of the globe. It could also meet Musk’s plan to offer intercontinental commercial flights here at home, giving travelers the ability to fly halfway around the world in less than an hour.

The ability to launch Starships with such a rapid turnaround will also facilitate SpaceX’s goal of making regular lunar missions. According to their contractual obligations with NASA – through the program Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST) – SpaceX will send cargo and crew to the moon in support of Project Artemis.