Al Root
SpaceX completed an amazing first on Sunday, plucking the lower half of its huge Starship launch system out of midair, as euphoric SpaceX employees watched from the control center.
But why does SpaceX have to catch it anyway? There are a few reasons for its so-called "chopsticks" maneuver.
Rapid Reusability
For starters, SpaceX wants to drive costs ever lower to reach space.
It lands its Falcon rocket boosters on land and floating drone ships and it can take up to three weeks to prep a Falcon rocket for reuse.
Part of the reason for the catch system for Starship is to reduce the time to re-flight -- by doing all the prep work right on the launch tower.
Reduced time means better asset utilization, which means lower costs.
"In order for us to achieve rapid reusability we need a quicker turnaround," said a company spokesperson anchoring the Sunday test, which took off from SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. "You can't get much faster than returning the launch vehicle right back to the launch site."
It is hard to underestimate the importance of lower costs for new businesses. SpaceX has leveraged lower costs into its current killer application, Starlink space-based Wi-Fi service, which his generating positive cash flow, according to Elon Musk.
Starlink simply couldn't be profitable serving millions of customers unless SpaceX could launch thousands of satellites quickly and cheaply.
Size Matters
Starship is huge, meaning more capacity for SpaceX to launch things into orbit.
The company's workhorse Falcon rocket is roughly 190 feet tall and has a diameter of about 12 feet, excluding the payload portion of the rocket system. The lower half of Starship, the part that was caught on Sunday, is about 230 feet high with a diameter of about 30 feet.
Starship has almost eight times the volume of a Falcon booster. Being bigger and taller makes it harder to land straight up.
Gravity Is a Drag
The heavier a rocket is, the more fuel it needs to break free of Earth's gravity, which adds more mass, which needs more fuel to move the additional mass, creating a problematic loop for rocket scientists.
The size problem with rockets is why minimizing weight is key. Catching Starship means the booster doesn't need as much hardware, such as legs, to keep it standing up. Less hardware means less weight.
Mars Isn't Developed, Yet
The final reason is Mars. Starship is the spaceship Elon Musk wants to take to the Red Planet. He wants to have a colony there someday.
Catching the booster means you don't have to worry about an uneven landing zone.
"When you think about the moon and Mars and other areas you don't necessarily have flat surfaces everywhere," said Andrew Chanin, CEO of ProcureAM, which runs the Procure Space ETF.
It's easier to catch a booster than find a flat spot of Martin terrain -- not to mention installing the infrastructure required to service and prepare the booster for its next flight. (Yes, SpaceX will have to have launch towers and 'chopsticks' on Mars one day.)
In the end, the answer to "Why Catch a Rocket?" is to solve a problem SpaceX engineers created for themselves while innovating -- such as how to create reusable rockets capable of reaching Mars.
SpaceX's ability to solve those questions quickly and effectively might be the biggest reason it has become one of the most valuable aerospace companies on this planet.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 14, 2024 18:02 ET (22:02 GMT)
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