Recently, SpaceX conducted a test of giant “chopsticks” towers, specially designed to guide Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rockets during launch, and “catch” them when they launch. they return to Earth.
This special tower, called Mechazilla, is 440 feet high (more than 134 meters), is equipped with dozens of Raptor engines (a type of phased combustion rocket engine developed by SpaceX) and possesses a system of solar panels. Heat shield has a hexagonal structure. The reason Mechazilla is likened to a giant pair of chopsticks “picking up” everything in the sky is because Elon Musk was inspired by the movie scene using chopsticks to pick up flies in the blockbuster The Karate Kid in 1984.
The video revealing the massive structure of Mechazilla was shared by Elon Musk himself on Twitter.
Last Sunday night, on his personal Twitter, Elon shared a video shot by drone revealing part of the structure of Mechazilla in South Texas, USA while in the process of testing. Previously, NASA also shared a time-lapse video taken by reporter Michael Baylor, showing more clearly the structure of this tower and how it was lowered thanks to a pulley system. A set of screw rods on the structure will help move the Super Heavy rocket closer or further away, and a separate swingarm will bring it from the landing pad next to the turret back to the launch pad.
Close-up of Mechazilla’s structure.
SpaceX’s installation and testing is a colossal engineering feat and has been going on for months. With the latest video shared by Elon Musk, it can be seen that Starship’s first orbital test flight is probably very close.
Only time will tell what SpaceX is planning with this giant super tower structure. According to Teslarati, they will most likely experiment with simulating the full weight of both Starship and Super Heavy when combined, or maybe try to stack Starship S20 and Super Heavy B4 prototypes on top of the launch pad. of Mechazilla in the near future.
According to Futurism
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