Elon Musk, the king of all-things-absurd and space tech magnate, is planning another scientific event!
On Monday, he sparked speculation with a Tweet in which he stated that SpaceX would attempt to capture the largest-ever flying object. All of that made sense until he said the thing would be caught with “robot chopsticks.”
In April, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the Super Heavy launch tower at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility was “basically Mechazilla” that “just needs some legs.”
And now Mechazilla just received a set of huge robot chopsticks on Wednesday.
Recently, SpaceX has mounted its “robot chopsticks” on the Super Heavy booster launch tower and will attempt to snag a giant rocket using them, according to Elon Musk.
The robot chopsticks are meant to be arms outstretched in order to catch the aptly named Super Heavy rocket boosters as they fall back towards Earth post-launches so they can be reused. Unfortunately, even though Elon Musk initially revealed the catch arms in 2020, the company couldn’t assemble and install the chopsticks on the launch assembly until Tuesday.
You can see the video of its assembly below:
The arms of Mechazilla are a part of the overall structure. The robot chopsticks will be used to capture Starship, providing it with a significant role in SpaceX’s Boca Chica complex, according to Musk.
“We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load,” Musk tweeted last year.
The system’s operation will be an intriguing thing to witness. If SpaceX succeeds, it will add a new level of excitement to the company’s already thrilling rocket landings.
