- SpaceX appears to have acquired two oil platforms that it can turn into launch pads for its next Starship rocket system, NASASpaceflight reported.
- The floating “spaceports” would increase SpaceX’s operations in Boca Chica, Texas, which are under a new environmental review.
- Rocket launching from the water should be less disturbing for nearby residents.
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You can know Deimos and Phobos as the names of the moons of Mars. But now they are also the newly named names of two oil platforms off the Texas coast. These platforms are likely to be transformed into launch platforms for the SpaceX Starship rockets, NASASpaceflight reported on Tuesday.
In December 2020, Insider reported that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk moved from California to Texas, an increasingly common trajectory for tech CEOs looking to save on state income tax.
Since then, Thomas Burghardt and Michael Baylor of NASASpaceflight have identified public records showing the sale, in August 2020, of two oil platforms off the Texas coast of the now bankrupt Valaris. Both platforms sold for $ 3.5 million, orders from Baylor’s registrations exposure.
NASASpaceflight identified the buyer as Lone Star Mineral Development LLC, which shares executive Bret Johnson with SpaceX. LLC was formed in June 2020. While SpaceX has not yet confirmed that it is involved in the purchase of oil platforms, it would come as no surprise.
Further fueling this idea is a tweet identified by Baylor that Musk sent in June 2020, a week before the incorporation of the LLC, in which the CEO alluded to the construction of “floating” space launcher platforms in the ocean.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2020
Back on earth, SpaceX’s website in Boca Chica previously hosted prototype launches for the company. The first launch of the starship prototype, which the company hopes will lead to the first commercial space flight to Mars, took place in December 2020. The rocket exploded, Insider reported, but the company still considered the test successful.
SN9, a new iteration of the prototype, is likely to be released this week, weather permitting. The proposed SN9 launch will be by the sea, not on the Phobos and Deimos platforms.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it bought the oil rigs or any plans for them.
Floating launch platforms would offer some distinct advantages over land launch sites, such as reduced risk for those living nearby and less noise.
The future of these potential platforms that have become SpaceX’s launch pad and Texas operations more broadly remains an open question. In December 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration launched a call for public comment on SpaceX’s launch site in Boca Chica.
Musk said he expects SpaceX to start sending passenger flights to Mars in 2026.