SpaceX bought two massive offshore oil rigs as floating launchpads for Starship rockets

David Pescovitz 9:24 am Wed Jan 20, 2021

SpaceX purchased two deepwater oil rigs as floating launchpads for its Starship rockets. The rigs were previously owned by bankrupt offshore rig operator Valaris. SpaceX paid $3.5 million each for the massive drilling platforms located in the Port of Brownsville, Texas near SpaceX's rocket production facility and spaceport at Boca Chica. From CNBC:

The rigs have been renamed Deimos and Phobos, presumably in homage to the Martian moons.
Starship is the enormous rocket that SpaceX is developing to meet Musk's goal of launching cargo and as many as 100 people at a time on missions to the moon and Mars[…]
The pair of rigs was purchased in July 2020 by limited liability corporation Lone Star Mineral Development, according to public records. Lone Star Mineral Development was incorporated in June 2020 and registered in the name of SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen[…]
Musk, shortly before Lone Star Mineral Development was incorporated, explained in a tweet that SpaceX plans to build "floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon & hypersonic travel around Earth."

SpaceX Starship SN8

top image: ENSCO

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