I converted the OLIT into an Altazimuth mount for Starship's Space Telescope variant. So the telescope can be tested before launching it into space.

I color coded the two axis.

I added four 23 m diameter bearings (note that the current biggest bearing has a diameter of 30 m) and one more winch to the West facing side of the tower, so that the forces are evenly distributed. The chopstick carriage is replaced with the three green bearings. Also I added extra support beams, those are colored grey.

Top view, with the directions written on the four corners of the tower.

Side view, with the ship and the chopsticks pointing East.

Side view, without the ship, but the chopsticks pointing North.

Same side view as before but with the ship cross section and the chopsticks tilted at a 45 degree angle. (Note that the header tanks may need to be repositioned. Because the nose cone must be able to open to allow light into the telescope.)

The ship designed for low density payloads with high volume and low mass. (the payload bay is from the block 3 ship, but with the fuel tanks from block 1) For this example I doubled the size of the Hubble space telescope . The main mirror has a 4,8 m diameter and I calculated the weight with the same density as the Hubble, which is roughly 88880 kg. Also this variant has a heat shield so it can return for upgrades and repairs to Earth. (Unlike the Hubble space telescope.)

(I edited LunarCaveman's diagrams)

You know how placing a booster on the launch mount after catch takes hours? No more with my innovative design idea: The booster descends all the way to the launch mount, and at this point the hold down clamps are engaged. The booster engines shutdown and the booster QD engages as well to handle tank overpressure. Not a single penny of propellant lost + no time is wasted. Truly what it takes to build a rapidly reusable launch vehicle

New Ship by BlueX & Star Glenn by Space Origin

https://preview.redd.it/t3i54x56kcde1.png?width=952&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d24c4d3a944584f8f906dc6c1f1ac6e16a20352

To avoid the national and international regulatory delays to catching the Starship ship at Starbase use S.M.E.R.T.; Starship Mostly Engine Retrieval Takeback.

Land the ship somewhere it can drop pieces into the ocean on approach and crash into the ocean if it overshoots. On successful landings or catches dismount the Raptors and ship them to Starbase for reuse. These make up most of the cost of the ship. Ditto for the flaps, motors, batteries, and avionics. Scrap the steel and sell it locally or compact it and sell it back to the original foundry. Not sure what to do with the tiles. Afaik they can't be dismounted without damage. Eric Berger addressed possibility of landing elsewhere instead of overflying Mexico and Texas in this October 2024 article.

SpaceX may attempt to vertically land Starship elsewhere first. There have been rumors about a partnership with Australia, and one source told Ars that SpaceX was scouting the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year. Such locations would allow for a safer return of Starship to land. However, such an approach would also necessitate landing legs.

He didn't address how to get the ship back. IMHO shipping the entire thing back intact and flightworthy doesn't look feasible. S.M.E.R.T. reuse could actually be the best way.

If it looks like getting permission to overfly any part of the continent will take a long time it might be worthwhile to build a simple catch-only tower. The alternative is landing legs with their mass. What do you think about the trade-off?

For missions that are sufficiently short, use the fuel boil off to generate power instead of heavy, bulky solar panels.

Instead of launching starlink satellites with starship just turn starship(s) into one gigantic starlink satellite.

Yes you would still need to launch a lot but the capability of each individual one would be real high so probably less than 30,000.

...and possibly for HLS too. Who wants to hump 3 extra raptors to the moon or an interplanetary mission?

Has anyone done the math on that?

Quickly, before China steals the idea.

The best part is no part.

Back in September, there was a lot of fuss over fining SpaceX for operating a water deluge without the right permit.

Instead of a deluge, surely they can get 2 birds with 1 stone by using a flame tunnel with a water jacket?

The water would be in a closed system so the people complaining about them spraying it all over the nature reserve would quieten.

Meanwhile, the water jacket could exchange the exhaust heat for steam which drives turbines, generating electricity which could be sold to the grid. It's an all-round win for everybody!

• they already have knowledge of the logistics around the site
• the area is remote enough, and under US jurisdiction, so no issues with foreign countries having access to the tech
• only requires SN11 legs

I will trade Spacex 2 gold for each one.

This will save NASA a lot of money.

Wait, they just did that. Would anyone think that would be a legitimate approach otherwise?

Don't forget the restaurant/bar, and the museum and the pool. And the skydiving wind tunnel.

Oh and they can run a Teslabus service from Brownsville, and a loop, as well as have a Super Charger in the parking lot.

Think about it: the main advantages to stainless steel for Super Heavy structures (it's good enough, it's easier to work with so Starship can launch faster, it's easier to make changes to, it's the same as the Starship upper stage so you only need one set of tooling) would mostly go away by Starship versions 5 or 6, and that should be around when Rocket Lab has been demonstrating first-stage recovery of a large carbon fiber first stage with Neutron. Around that time, Rocket Lab will have enough Neutron first stages to have spare production capacity, and they've explicitly said they want to build structures for external customers when that happens. And Starship's specs should have settled down enough that Super Heavy at least can be outsourced.

Musk is so good at digging himself deeper and deeper holes at this point Boring seems almost redundant. They could even start a geothermal power generation company with the holes.

If he could find a way to harness power from haters, he could probably end American reliance on coal entirely.

I heard those trusses are weak - this should definitely fulfill the contract.