Private commercial aerospace venture SpaceX, created by Elon Musk, has recently announced that it plans to buy two Valaris deepwater oil rigs that are to be turned into launch pads. The reason for this purchase is to further support the development of the Starship rockets that SpaceX is working to make a reality.
Named after the Martian moons of Deimos and Phobos, the oil rigs are located in the Port of Brownsville, adjacent to SpaceX's facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Musk would, in taking on this new project, ideally prefer to bring at least 100 people to the moon and to Mars.
On a test flight held in December 2020, the Starship went up to about 40,000 feet, which ended up being part of the completion of its several development objectives. The Starship contains a launch system that is composed of a blast danger area, and because of noise factors that cause disturbances to populated areas, sea launch platforms play a vital role in carrying out space missions.
Musk stated in a Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) status update, "SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon, and hypersonic travel around the Earth."
The main goal of the Starship, as affiliated with SpaceX, is to send individuals to the moon or to Mars. Therefore, the reliance upon the oil rigs of Phobos and Deimos will permit two more facilities to run launch and landing sites to serve the purpose of sending Starship to the moon or Mars. The oil rigs will need a good deal of work to support fueling, payload integration, launch, and landing operations.
The oil rigs, although still in need of some degree of preparation work, will likely launch after the Starship system goes into orbital flights, and the initial orbital flight of the Starship will likely launch from Boca Chica later in 2021.