This year, there are two major events in the US space, one is the first launch of the new generation of lunar rocket SLS, which is said to be on March 12, 2022, which is only 2 months away. Another big thing is the tallest "rocket" in human beings, Musk's 120-meter-long "starship" sub-complete body to carry out the first orbital stage test, the time is expected to be in January, but so far has not seen SpaceX announced the specific launch date, will not be "pigeon" again, right?
The final time of the first orbital class launch of the starship has not yet been determined
Although the launch does not carry out landing recovery, and may even explode directly on the tower, Musk is confident. Interestingly, Musk has been busy "lifting weights" lately. Of course, it was not him who was fit, but the capture arm of the Starship launch tower. Originally, there was a picture showing two orange water bags hanging on the capture arm of the "Starship" launch tower, which said 100 tons, which means that these two water bags weigh 200 tons.
What is this for?
In the face of the success or failure of the "Starship" orbital class launch in this move, Musk did not devote himself to it, why did he engage in "evil doors and crooked roads"? It turns out that Musk's biggest concern recently is how to give the "starship" a warm "hug" when it lands. Yes, the previous generation of "Falcon" series rockets were recovered by vector engines and foldable landing buffer legs, landing directly on land or recovery ships, while the "Starship" recovery method was that after completing the mission, the "super heavy" booster returned to the starting point, and then the capture arm on the launch tower "held" it steadily.
I see
Snap arm
Then this tower capture arm is very technological, and the first requirement is that it can withstand the weight of the "starship" booster. After the fuel is almost burned, the weight and the potential energy of the fall add up to a limit value of about 200 tons, which requires the capture arm to be very thick. At the same time, it must be very flexible, look at the timing of the booster falling, and the strength of the "hug" should be controlled just right, and the strength is large, it is likely to pinch the shell of the booster, so some netizens will call it "mechanical Godzilla" and "mecha Godzilla", which can be described as a very image.
The mech Godzilla hugged the starship
What do you think?
In the past two days, the capture arm on the "Starship" launch tower has completed the orbital sliding test, up and down, back and forth test many times, it should be no problem. Don't look at it as a capture arm, its movement system is similar to the track system of the large flatbed N load wheel, and the complexity is only comparable to the American vertical transfer rocket, the tracked flatbed truck worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The system is very complex
The reason why the catch arm is hanging is a water bag, not a lead block, for safety considerations, because once the water bag is broken, the water pouring down has less damage to the foundation of the launch tower, and if it is a lead block, it may be able to directly smash the launch base. Of course, for people, whether it is 200 tons of water smashed on the head, or 200 tons of lead blocks on the head, the result is the same. Interestingly, the do-gooder also captured two water bags on the arm of the Starship tower, and P became the blue lunar airbag broken by Blue Origin, which seemed to mock the former world's richest man, Bezos.
This is a bit excessive
It turned out that Bezos Blue Origin Company once competed with Musk SpaceX for NASA's lunar landing spacecraft project to return to the moon, the protagonist of SpaceX was "Starship", and the player launched by Blue Origin was "Blue Moon", and as a result, when displaying the "Blue Moon" lander lander, the huge airbag in the middle of it was actually deflated on the spot, becoming a "joke" for space enthusiasts. After the failure of the Blue Origin bid, it also joined forces with several other companies and SpaceX to fight a lawsuit, accusing it of engaging in black box operations with NASA, arguing and arguing for more than half a year before finally conceding defeat.
At first it was round and slippery
A bit of a bummer
And then that's it, Musk tweeted
"If you don't fail, you don't innovate enough," is one of Musk's mantras. Whether it is a "starship" or a capture arm on the launch tower, the strength of innovation has subverted people's three views, and Musk has reaped rich benefits, but can innovation be transformed into a truly mature product? Musk and SpaceX still have a long way to go, "Blue Moon" and "Starship" who can laugh last? Not necessarily.