Dang, they aren't catching the booster this time, but I guess V3 is practically a new vehicle and validating the next Starship launch is probably too critical to risk damage to the launch site for now.

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amarant 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh hey, you're right! Somehow I read "water landing" and interpreted it as landing on one of the barges (ocisly or jrti) any clue why that isn't the case? Is super heavy just too big for the barges maybe?

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ggreer 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They won't use barges because the booster has no landing legs (to save weight), and because the booster is massive compared to Falcon 9. Also Starship is meant for rapid reusability, and it can take days to return a barge to port and unload the booster. Getting barge landings to work would be a distraction from the goal of Starship, and SpaceX already has Falcon 9 for current payloads.

And they won't attempt a catch with the first V3 booster because it's not worth the risk. They can build a new booster every couple of months. It takes much longer to build the launch/catch tower, and they don't have any spare towers yet. A catastrophe during a booster/ship catch would set them back a year, so they'll only attempt a catch if they're confident it will succeed.

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wmf 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It doesn't have landing legs so it has to be caught by chopsticks. They're skipping the barges; either it lands back at the pad or it doesn't land.

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pixl97 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Superheavy is 10x larger than the Falcon. Its thrust would sink the barge.

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robocat 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Yeah. Rocket first stage Approx. unfueled mass:

Super Heavy: 200000 to 280000 kg

Falcon 9 first stage (without Falcon Heavy side boosters): 25600 kg

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jjk166 an hour ago | parent [-]

So 200-280 tons. A standard barge can support 1500-3000 tons of cargo. Even with the added weight of a catch tower and a healthy factor of safety thrust isn't gonna sink the barge. Far more likely the major hurdle would be stability issues with how tall it is.

	▲	pixl97 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It's not 280 tons... it's a falling object with kinetic energy so that rocket thrust is going to be very problematic for that boat especially if it' hitting unevenly. That and there's no way for it to stand without a catch tower.