SpaceX will try to ‘capture’ its ship boosters instead of landing them

Not content with keeping it simple or easy, SpaceX plans to catch its next Super Heavy booster rockets at the launch tower, allowing for subsequent relaunches just an hour later.

Not to be confused with the Heavy falcon, the Super Heavy will serve as a back-up stage for SpaceX’s upcoming Starship system. The second stage of the system will be Starship itself, which is designed to launch and land on its own. When paired with the booster, however, Starship will be transformed into a formidable launch system, capable of transporting cargo and dozens of passengers to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.

The Super Heavy, like the Starship’s second stage, is still in development and specs are very changing. Originally, the Super Heavy booster was supposed to land with retractable legs similar to those seen on the company’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket. But as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained in a recent series of tweets, they revamped the concept.

“We will try to grab the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the fins on the grid to pick up the load,” he tweeted in response to a request. “Saves weight and leg costs and allows immediate repositioning of the booster on the launch mount – ready to recharge in less than an hour” added Musk.

The fact that SpaceX is designing a system capable of launching spaceships an hour apart indicates the company’s future ambitions. It remains to be seen whether these gigantic boosters – which measured 230 feet high (70 meters) and 30 feet wide (9 meters) – can indeed be taken that way, but Musk’s impressive track record means we need to take that prospect seriously.

Equipped with more than two dozen Raptor engines, the Super Heavy booster will exert over 16 million pounds of force. In comparison, block 2 of NASA’s upcoming SLS system provide 9.5 million pounds of thrust.

December 12, SpaceX executed a top-Altitude test of a Starship rocket prototype, which collapsed during a landing attempt. Musk described this is a “successful climb,” adding that “we got all the data we needed.” New ship prototypes are currently being prepared for further testing, but no date for these launches. Have been released.