SpaceX is going a novel route with its rocket launches as the company purchased two deepwater oil rigs from Valaris last summer to use as floating launch pads. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk named them after Mars’ two moons – Phobos and Deimos. They will be used when the massive Starship rocket, a two-stage vehicle currently undergoing testing, goes Mars-bound or beyond.
Following up on @thejackbeyer's find, I can confirm that Deimos and Phobos are the names of two oil rigs purchased by SpaceX – likely for conversion to support Starship operations.
ENSCO 8500 and ENSCO 8501 were the previous names of the rigs. They are nearly identical twins.
— Michael Baylor (@MichaelBaylor_) January 19, 2021
Elon Musk previously stated:
SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.
The rigs cost $3.5 million (£2.6m) each. Aerospace and launch photographer Jack Beyer posted a photo of them transformed, with big nameplates fixed to the sides.
SpaceX’s Starship offshore platform, Phobos, has entered the Port of Pascagoula in Mississippi. pic.twitter.com/IKjiPSJR4F
— Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) January 22, 2021
These two photos were taken months apart – you can see the sign is a recent addition. Could this be one of the floating, Superheavy class spaceports that @elonmusk has mentioned SpaceX is building? @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/pmqFrItELr
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) January 19, 2021
Both rigs are near the Boca Chica Starship development facility in the Port of Brownsville in Texas. The company is working on modifying them from there.
SpaceX also posted a job listing for an “offshore operations engineer” stationed in Brownsville whose duties encompass developing rocket launch systems for future missions.
Converting oil rigs has been a long-standing plan. Last June, Elon Musk revealed in a tweet that the private space company was building “spaceports” (hubs) for rockets traveling between Earth, the moon, and Mars. He wrote:
SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon & hypersonic travel around Earth https://t.co/zLJjz43hKw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2020
The technology billionaire, who recently surpassed Jeff Bezos in becoming the world’s richest person, has often spoken of his ambition to travel to the Red Planet in his lifetime and hopes to send the first humans there as early as 2024. Earlier last year, he expressed his frustration in SpaceX’s progress regarding the Mars venture and ordered the company to make it a “top priority.”
SpaceX revealed Starship in 2017. Ever since, the plan as to eventually launch it from offshore platforms. Then in 2019, Musk confirmed this by noting:
[Spaceports will] probably need to be [about] 20 miles offshore for acceptable noise levels, especially for frequent daily flights.
The final Starship will be a massive rocket capable of ferrying up to 100 people and cargo around the Solar System. SpaceX is aiming to have 1,000 craft take off over the next ten years.
