SpaceX created a futuristic tableau at its rocket testing facilities in Texas on Thursday when a robo dog roamed through the wreckage of its latest Starship prototype.
SpaceX on Wednesday unveiled the rocket prototype, called Starship Series no. 10, or SN10, was introduced. Like the last two prototypes before it, SN10 climbed to nearly 33,000 feet above the company’s facilities in the city of Boca Chica. Then it turned off its engines and landed in a belly-flop position to the ground, controlling the fall with four wing valves.
Unlike its predecessors, which both crashed into the ground and exploded immediately, SN10 successfully fired its engines again to make itself turn upright and land gently on the ground. But then it exploded spectacularly ten minutes later.
SpaceX’s SN10 Starship rocket prototype exploded minutes after touching the runway on Wednesday.
SPadre.com
With the air clear and the roads reopening, photographers and SpaceX fans flocked to the company’s facilities on Thursday morning to watch the clearance from a distance. It was then that they saw a fascinating four-legged robot wandering around in the wreckage.
Spadre.com videos of the agile bot shared on Twitter.
—SPadre (@SpacePadreIsle) March 4, 2021
The life-like machine is a Boston Dynamics “Spot” robot dog, which SpaceX apparently renamed Zeus, according to photos showing the name printed on a red dog house where the robot lives.
Zeus has previously been spotted exploring SpaceX landing sites. It’s not clear what the mechanical effort on the SN10 blast site did, but Zeus was probably equipped with cameras and sensors to collect data, as approaching rockets could be unsafe for humans.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
—SPadre (@SpacePadreIsle) March 4, 2021
The rocket that Zeus investigated was designed as the upper stage of a two-piece system; a booster of about 23 floors called Super Heavy will one day turn the Starship spaceship into orbit. But eliminating these explosions from the vehicle’s landing process is crucial, as SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy are designed to be fully and quickly reusable. A spaceship that inflates after landing has, of course, been difficult to restart.
If the system works, Starship-Super Heavy can reduce the cost of reaching space a thousandfold, as it will reduce the need to build new rockets and spaceships for each spaceflight. Musk eventually wants to build a fleet of reusable spaceships to manage hypersonic voyages on Earth, fly astronauts to the moon, and transport humans to Mars one day.
Musk said he was “very confident” that SpaceX would launch an unmanned Starship to Mars in 2024, followed by a 2026 mission.