Elon Musk introduces SpaceX's rocket launch tower to Mars

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, on January 10 shared a drone image of the Starship launch tower that flies to the Moon and Mars.

The Starship launch tower, under construction at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas, includes two chopstick-like arms used to place the rocket booster back into place after sending the second stage into orbit. Robotic researcher Lex Fridman describes the launch tower, nicknamed Mechazilla, "as one of the most unique engineering designs ever".

As expected, the first Starship launch into orbit will take place within the next 10 weeks. The vehicle will take off from Starbase before completing its 90-minute journey and landing off the coast of Hawaii. Once development and testing are complete, SpaceX plans to mass produce Starships with the ultimate goal of using a new generation of rockets to build a permanent human settlement on Mars.

Simulate the operation of the Mechazilla tower.

SpaceX is continuously conducting "Launch, Land, Repeat" experiments with Starship, used in reuse missions similar to Falcon rocket ships and Dragon ships. SpaceX was one of the first companies to develop reusable ship technology, which is important in a situation where resources are increasingly scarce.

According to SpaceX, both the Starship and Super Heavy rockets use Mechazilla. The company will focus on vehicle movement during launch and return to the ground, while focusing on reusability. Mechazilla will support both vehicles. The tower will catch the Super Heavy rocket at one end and the Starship at the other end before splicing them together for the next mission.