SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, is still working on preparations for the fifth launch of Starship, the largest rocket ever built, which will take place at the end of July; and which will come just over a month after successfully completing its fourth flight, in which the ship managed to go to space and return successfully. A new attempt in which the company will use for the first time Mechazilla, a gigantic machine that is already being tested.
At the SpaceX base in Boca Chica, Texas (United States), a series of tests are already being carried out in which the capabilities of Mechazilla, the enormous rocket-catching machine from Elon Musk’s company, are being tested. Specifically, the company is carrying out tests with the “sticks” of the tower that will capture the Super Heavy propellant on the fifth Starship launch.
A movement that the space company has announced on its X account, a social network formerly known as Twitter, in which it also They have shared a short video of the Mechazilla tests. “The Starbase team tests the tower sticks for the next capture of a Super Heavy booster,” reads the tweet that accompanies the clip, which is only about 27 seconds long.
These are essential tests that prepare that enormous robotic arm of epic proportions to capture the Super Heavy in the next Starship launch. In the video You can see how Mechazilla’s “sticks” move by opening and closing. A mechanism that has a double task, that of hoisting the rocket on the flight platform before takeoff and catching it once it returns during descent.
In recent months Elon Musk and SpaceX have touted Mechazilla as the game-changer for Starship and the space industry. However, To date it has not been used to catch a rocket returning from its flight.; although the tycoon confirmed on social networks a few weeks ago that this system would be tested for the first time in the fourth launch of his gigantic rocket.
SpaceX has also shared another video on his social networks in which he shows how Mechazilla works and in which they indicate through text that “returning the booster after launch is a fundamental capability for Starship to become reusable quickly and reliably” for the company’s future missions.
