SpaceX has once again surprised the world with its breakthrough achievements in space technology. On Sunday, October 13, 2024, it made a historic breakthrough by successfully landing the first stage of the Starship rocket for the first time using its massive mechanical tower, Mechasilla. This launch was a significant step towards SpaceX’s ultimate goal of creating fully reusable rockets. This maneuver brought us closer to the long-awaited future where space travel will be as commonplace as air travel. According to Elon Musk’s plans, flights to Mars will be possible in just four years.
SpaceX launch on October 13, 2024. Photo credit: Associated Press
Contents
- 1 Mechazilla catches Starship's first stage
- 2 Starship launch in October 2024
- 3 The size of the Starship spacecraft
- 4 How does Mechazilla work?
Mechazilla catches Starship's first stage
Starship rocket launchwas not just successful, but a real sensation. The first stage of the rocket, called Super Heavy, returned to the launch pad, where it was caught by giant mechanical “sticks” – the same legendary “Mechazilla” mechanism that we talked about in 2022.
Mechazilla tower. Image source: NASA
This is the first time in history that SpaceX has been able to return the Starship booster to Earth so precisely and carefully. During the live broadcast from SpaceX, the company's engineers did not hide their delight, and in the commentary they even said: “Today we entered the engineering textbooks.”
Starship launch in October 2024
The SpaceX spacecraft was launched at 15:25 Moscow time, in excellent weather conditions. A few minutes after liftoff, the first stage separated from the rocket and began a controlled return to the launch pad in Texas. It was there that Mechazilla, with its powerful “arms”, carefully caught it, preventing it from falling to the ground.
Preparations for the recent launch took a long time. Before giving the green light for the booster to land using Mechazilla, engineers checked thousands of indicators on both the rocket and the tower to make sure everything was ready for a safe landing. If there was even the slightest discrepancy, it would have fallen into the Gulf of Mexico, as had happened before. But this time, everything went perfectly – the rocket slowed down, and powerful mechanical “arms” caught it.
The size of the Starship spacecraft
Starship is a truly enormous structure. When fully assembled, together with the Super Heavy booster, Starship is 121 meters high, which is 28 meters higher than the Statue of Liberty.
Comparing Starship to the Statue of Liberty. Source: SpaceX
The Super Heavy booster is 71 meters tall and has incredible power. When launched, it creates a thrust of 7.6 thousand tons, which is almost twice as much as the legendary Saturn V rockets used to fly to the Moon in the second half of the 20th century.
Read also: You can’t even imagine how big the SpaceX StarShip rocket is
How is Mechazilla built?
The idea for Mechazilla emerged in late 2020, when Elon Musk announced that SpaceX was planning to catch the first stage of the rocket with a massive tower. The 140-meter-tall structure is equipped with two giant “claws” that are designed to grab and hold the returning Super Heavy rocket. The tower concept was actively discussed and developed, and construction was underway at the launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.
The Mechazilla tower holds the Starship booster. Image credit: SpaceX
When the Super Heavy booster returns to Earth, it slows down significantly to precisely hit the right spot on the tower. At that point, the Mechazilla “claws” grab the rocket from both sides, preventing it from falling. The idea is to return the booster so neatly that it does not need to be repaired before the next launch, making flights faster and more economical.
The historic rocket landing, made possible by Mechazilla, brought us closer to a future where spaceflight will become commonplace. This is just one step towards Elon Musk’s main goal of making humanity a multiplanetary species.
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The question arises: are we ready for the fact that these flights can be one-way? In 2024, it became known that future colonizers of Mars are unlikely to return to Earth.