SpaceX's Starship offshore platforms—''Deimos'' and ''Phobos''—are former deepwater oil drilling rigs. In January 2021,

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

began modifying them to support launch and landing of their next-generation

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...

. Both platforms are part of the

Ensco 8500 Series Semi Submersible ENSCO provides engineering, science, and advanced technology solutions to government and private sector customers in the aerospace, national security, and surface transportation sectors. ENSCO's corporate headquarters are physically located in ...

-type.

History

CEO

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...

first showed offshore launch and landing platforms for

in a 2017 animation of the Earth-to-Earth passenger-carrying use case. More recently, Musk clarified in June 2020 that offshore platforms would be used both for launches into space, post-launch landings, and for the more long-term Earth-to-Earth transportation. In July 2020, Lone Star Mineral Development LLC, a subsidiary of SpaceX, bought two

semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: *Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface *Se ...

drilling rigs A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill wat ...

from

Valaris plc Valaris plc is an offshore drilling contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and incorporated in the UK. It is the largest offshore drilling and well drilling company in the world, and owns 56 rigs, including 40 offshore jackup rigs, 11 drill ...

for each. They were renamed ''Deimos'' and ''Phobos'' after the two

moons of Mars The two moons of Mars are Phobos and Deimos. They are irregular in shape. Both were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in August 1877 and are named after the Greek mythological twin characters Phobos (fear and panic) and Deimos ( ...

. The drilling platforms had previously been named ENSCO/Valaris 8500 and 8501, respectively, and were nearly identical as built and when purchased by SpaceX. In January 2021, ''Phobos'' was moved from the

Port of Galveston The Port of Galveston is the port of the city of Galveston, Texas. It was established by a proclamation issued by the Congress of Mexico on October 17, 1825, while the land known today as Texas was still part of Mexico. The Port of Galveston is ...

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22 ...

to begin

refit Refitting or refit of boats and marine vessels includes repairing, fixing, restoring, renewing, mending, and renovating an old vessel. Refitting has become one of the most important activities inside a shipyard. It offers a variety of services for ...

of the rig for Starship operations by removal of the oil rig equipment, a planned six-month project. As of July 2021 the rig has been cleared of the bulk of the old equipment on its deck. , refit is also underway on ''Deimos'' at the

Port of Brownsville The Port of Brownsville is a deep water seaport in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. Geography The port is the southern terminus of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The port is located near the river mouth of the Rio Grande and Lower ...

. In February 2021, Musk stated that one of the platforms may be partially operational by the end of 2021, and that in order to be transported to the platforms Starships would fly out to sea and land on the platform. In February 2021, Musk stated that the platforms would eventually be used for landing and launch operations in 2022. In February 2022, Musk indicated that one of the two platforms would have a launch tower installed by the end of the year.

Characteristics

As refit began in 2021, both vessels had a main deck dimension of by . The platforms were designed to operate in ocean depths as great as when previously configured as drilling rigs with equipment that needed to reach the ocean floor. As drilling rigs, the platforms had living quarters for 150 people. Each of the oil rigs are equipped with two Seatrax S90 cranes, which matches SpaceX's job listings.

References

{{SpaceX SpaceX maritime vessels Semi-submersibles Maritime vessels related to spaceflight SpaceX Starship Floating launch vehicle operations platform

History

Characteristics

See also

References