SpaceX is not content to keep things simple or easy, and plans to catch its upcoming Super Heavy booster rockets at the launch tower, and it can only be re-launched an hour later.
Not to be confused with the Falcon Heavy, the Super Heavy will serve as the prevention stage for SpaceX’s upcoming Starship system. The second phase of the system is Starship itself, which is designed to launch and land itself. In combination with the booster, however, Starship will be transformed into a formidable launch system that can deliver cargo and dozens of passengers to Earth, the Moon and Mars.
The Super Heavy, like the second phase of the Starship, is still in development, and the specs are very much in check. Originally, the Super Heavy booster was supposed to land with retreat legs similar to those seen on the Falcon 9 reusable rocket. But as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained in a recent series of tweets, they rejected the concept.
“We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load,” he said. tweeted in response to a query. “Save mass and cost of bones and announce the immediate replacement of the booster on the mountain – ready to recharge in less than an hour,” added Musk.
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That SpaceX is designing a system that Starships can launch at one-hour intervals indicates the company’s future ambitions. It remains to be seen whether these giant amplifiers – what will measure 230 meters long (70 meters) and 30 feet wide (9 meters) – can indeed caught in this way, but Musk’s impressive record means we need to take this prospect seriously.
Equipped with more than two dozen Raptor engines, the Super Heavy booster will exert more than 16 million pounds of power. By comparison, block 2 of NASA’s upcoming SLS system will do just that. provide 9.5 million pounds push.
On December 12, SpaceX exported a high-altitude test of a Starship prototype rocket, which was blown to pieces during a landing. Musk describe this as a ‘successful rise’, adding that ‘we have got all the data we need.’ New Starship prototypes are currently being prepared for further testing, but no dates for these launches has been released.