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SpaceX is a company that is not afraid of trying new things and this is why it is so ahead that the competition will need several years to catch up. For example, while other spacecraft makers are still struggling to copy SpaceX’s lead in reusable rockets, SpaceX is already on to what is really an insane idea: catching rockets mid-air!
The technology of catching rockets mid-air, as ridiculous as it sounds, will be built into the Super Heavy, the rocket that will blast the Starship into orbit.
Join us as we explore the edge SpaceX gains from its secret but ground-breaking weapon of catching the Super Heavy in the air!
When other rocket makers think of reusable rockets, they think of landing the rocket on land or out at sea.
For example, the New Shepard that blasted Jeff Bezos and his companions to space returned to earth and landed on four spindly legs while the whole world held its breath and hoped nothing went wrong.
Even SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster lands in the same manner. After going through staging, the booster begins to fall through the atmosphere. Cold gas thrusters near the top flip the rocket around so it’s facing up. The stage engine fires briefly next to slow down the fall of the booster. As the stage approached its target, the legs deploy. In the very final phases of its descent, three of the nine Merlin engines fire one last time for what SpaceX calls the ‘boostback burn’. The stage slows even further, almost hovering as it makes a soft touchdown.
The whole landing is automated and the crew only watches with folded arms as the drama unfolds.
However, SpaceX is pushing the boundaries by not letting the Super Heavy come to rest on legs but catching it.
Musk himself explains how the catching is going to happen in a tweet:
“We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load.”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344327757916868608?s=20
The fins on the Super Heavy will serve multiple functions. While descending, the fins will fold and unfold to help carry out the maneuvers required to set the Super Heavy upright. The booster will then come to rest on a pair of arms that will be attached to the orbital launch mount. The arms will be able to move both sideways and upwards and downwards so they can adjust to fit the booster.
The booster will be caught sideways to the launch tower or Mechazila, as Musk prefers to call it, to prevent any harm to the tower in case something goes wrong. The booster will then be lifted onto its mound in anticipation of the next launch.
Musk has confirmed that the Ship, which is the upper stage of the Starship, will be caught in the same manner when returning from a mission. The ship however will have retractable legs for landing on the moon and Mars, although Musk hopes to build an orbital launch tower at both locations, at which point he might consider eliminating legs completely from the Spaceship.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1426199109585756163?s=20
The Mechaniza, after setting the booster on its mound, will lift the Ship and stack it atop the booster for another liftoff. It would be a sight to behold as the mechanical structure lifts heavy 50 and 70 meters tall structures like they are cups of tea. Musk says the lifting and stacking will happen very fast.