Elon Musk continues to shake the world with amazing ideas and works. The boss of the owner of Tesla and SpaceX has again launched his latest robot, namely a giant rocket catcher robot.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk praised the progress made in testing the giant robotic mechanism at SpaceX's launch pad in south Texas, Monday (10/1/2022). The giant robot was built to catch rockets and spacecraft returning from space.
The Super Heavy is a special launch vehicle for Starship, the SpaceX spacecraft designed for the Moon and Mars missions. The launch system is meant to make sending crews and bulky cargo into space cheaper than ever before, as both elements are fully reusable.
In a Twitter post on Sunday, Musk showed off a giant robotic mechanism he hopes will allow rockets and spacecraft to be caught in mid-air when they return to base.
The launch and recapture tower was nicknamed “Mechazilla” by the space entrepreneur. The giant robot is currently undergoing tests at SpaceX's Boca Chica facility in Texas. In August last year, Musk replied to a Twitter post about a 3D animation of how a 134-meter-tall “robotic chopstick” arm would work with a Super Heavy rocket.
Musk, said it was "quite close." Engineers have been testing and calibrating hydraulic actuators and other equipment since early January.
The first orbital test flight of the transplanetary launch system was expected to take place in January or February, but has been postponed to March due to ongoing evaluations by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The flight plan, however, did not include the restoration of the Super Heavy B4 or Starship S20. The two are scheduled to splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean respectively, after completing their portion of the test mission.
SpaceX is best known for introducing cost-effective reuse features in its underpowered launch systems, notably routinely reusing the Falcon 9 first stage.
However, the approach the company is using now involves landing used boosters on robotic floating platforms or landing pads, rather than catching them in flight with a robotic arm.
