Skip to main content

Elon Musk reveals ambitious SpaceX plan for landing Super Heavy booster

After years of hard work, SpaceX has managed to nail its extraordinary launch-and-landing procedure that allows the reuse of its first-stage Falcon 9 booster.

SpaceX boss Elon Musk has now revealed that his team is planning something far bolder for its much larger next-generation Super Heavy rocket that will one day carry the Starship spacecraft into space.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, December 30, the billionaire entrepreneur who launched SpaceX 18 years ago said the aim is to use the launch tower arm to “catch” the Super Heavy booster when it lands back on Earth soon after lift-off.

Musk wrote: “We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load.”

In other words, unlike the Falcon 9, which uses grid fins to stabilize its descent before landing on legs, the Super Heavy would use fins but no legs, with the launch tower arm serving to keep the rocket upright and supported as it touches down.

In another tweet, Musk said that such a landing would save SpaceX the cost of building legs for the rocket, while at the same time reducing its weight, which would mean less fuel and/or bigger payloads. He added that as it would land back in its launch position on the pad, the booster would be ready to fly again “in under an hour,” highlighting the company’s continuing focus on building a reusable rocket system to dramatically reduce space travel costs.

If the idea of catching a booster and flying it again within 60 minutes sounds a bit far-fetched, remember that Musk once had a crazy idea to land a rocket upright soon after liftoff.

For sure, landing a Super Heavy in this way will be a huge challenge considering the flight accuracy required, and it won’t happen for a while yet, but only a fool would doubt SpaceX’s ability to one day pull it off.

First, Musk’s team needs to conduct further testing on its Starship spacecraft, which recently made its first orbital test flight before exploding in a spectacular fireball. It also needs to begin testing the Super Heavy booster, with its first flight possibly taking place in “a few months,” according to a Musk tweet last week.

When completed, the Super Heavy rocket will be powered by 31 Raptor engines, while the Starship spacecraft will use six Raptor engines for travel and landing on Earth or another planet. Missions could take the Starship to Mars, or beyond.

To better understand the various stages of a future Starship mission, check out this cool animation created earlier this year by two SpaceX fans. It shows the Super Heavy making a landing similar to a Falcon 9 (rather than being caught). Musk was impressed enough to respond to the pair personally, describing the video as “very close to [the] actual expected flight.”

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX given green light to send mighty Starship rocket skyward
A Super Heavy booster on the launchpad at SpaceX's site in Texas.

A Super Heavy booster on the launchpad at SpaceX's site in Texas. SpaceX / SpaceX

SpaceX has been given the green light to send its Super Heavy rocket and Starship spacecraft skyward in what will be only the second test launch of the world's most powerful spaceflight system.

Read more
How to watch SpaceX launch world’s most powerful rocket on Saturday
The Starship, comprising the first-stage Super Heavy and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft, on the launchpad at SpaceX's facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

 

UPDATE: SpaceX has called off Friday's launch of the Starship and is now targeting Saturday. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post that engineers need to replace a grid fin actuator on the first-stage Super Heavy booster, a part which helps to steer the vehicle back to Earth. This article has been updated with the new launch schedule.

Read more
SpaceX says it could fly Starship on Friday, but it depends on one thing
The Starship, comprising the first-stage Super Heavy and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft, on the launchpad at SpaceX's facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX has said it could be in a position to perform the second launch of its next-generation Starship rocket this Friday, though it added that it can only happen once it’s received the nod from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“Starship preparing to launch as early as November 17, pending final regulatory approval," SpaceX said in a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Read more