SpaceX is giving up on plans to turn oil rigs into offshore launchpads, though the company will still invest in other offshore launch platforms down the road, according to a report from Space News.
The company bought two Valaris oil rigs for a total of $7 million in July 2020 with the intention of converting them into launchpads, and SpaceX subsequently named them Deimos and Phobos.
@ElonMusk also wrote that “SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon & hypersonic travel around Earth,” following job listings at the company for “offshore operations engineers,” surfacing in June of 2020.
SpaceX has had the Phobos oil rig at a port in Pascagoula, Mississippi since January 2021, according to Space News, while Deimos also arrived at the port in March 2022. The rigs were expected to be re-worked into launch platforms there, though the plans have since been abandoned.
Both rigs are also scheduled to leave the Mississippi port next month, according to shipping records. Deimos and Phobos will be shipped away on February 20 and March 12, respectively, though their destinations are not listed on the documents.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell announced earlier this month that the company had sold them, as they weren’t suitable to be retrofitted into launch platforms. Shotwell didn’t share when SpaceX had sold the oil rigs, or what party purchased them
“We bought them. We sold them. They were not the right platform,” Shotwell said.
SpaceX Performs First Static Fire of 33 Raptor Engines on Booster 7 [VIDEO] https://t.co/rI7KXvyQ6s
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