SpaceX is making a 480-foot-tall giant robot with arms that will catch giant rockets.
It is insanely cool. Sci-fi made real.
But moon landings were already insanely cool.
The difference is with this working we have almost a thousand launches per month from the same launch pad versus at most one today.
This means rockets are used and launched thousands of times like airplanes and like airplanes the cost will get close to the cost of fuel.
The difference is all of us going to space or watching one in a million astronauts.
The chopstick arms are comparable in size to the barge that has already had dozens of Falcon 9 landings.
Once the Mechazilla landing is working then the rocket is ready to be placed on its launch pad, refueled and relaunched.
The chopstick arms move at 1 foot per second lifting and moving the 200-ton rocket. Rocket stacking has already been performed by the mechazilla.
Landing on Mechazilla will be the most exciting thing we will see in 2023 and then it will eventually become an hourly occurrence at hundreds of space ports. The launches from those spaceports will build cities in orbit, the moon and Mars and will shape the 21st century.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
