td;lr
Existing SpaceX rockets land on legs.
For the SuperHeavy booster that will launch Starship, Elon wants to take the legs away and instead have it land on a platform intended to catch the rocket on its grid fins near the top.
This requires a very precise landing. But gets rid of a very heavy piece, and makes it easy to build a shock absorber. The downside is that you'll need to replace platforms any time one of these misses, hence the need for a very precise landing.
(The landing already has almost no margin of error given that they land with a suicide burn.)
I cannot wait to see them iterate on testing this. That's gonna be some epic footage
Oh my god. That 1950's 'rocket catcher' patent image, catching a rocket nose first with a collapsing tube... chef's kiss
Out of the box thinking, following, "The best part is no part. The best process is no process."
Parts eliminated: landing legs. Process eliminated: Move Superheavy back to the launch pad.