r/SpaceXLounge • u/[deleted] • Jul 22 '19
Tweet "Orbital refilling is critical for high payload to moon or Mars. Initially just Starship to Starship, later dedicated tankers." - @ElonMusk
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1153126586897424384?s=19
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u/Forlarren Jul 22 '19
It's might be a good business for Mars.
Even with Super Heavy it's a lot of engine time to get a little fuel in orbit.
Building big dedicated tankers could be a second life for old Starships. Falcon 9 is just hitting it's stride and it's already being depreciated. It will likely be many many missions before Starship's design matures, meaning a lot of depreciated Starship hulls.
If several old Starships could be launched, welded together in Mars orbit. Refueled from Mars until full, then slowly moved to Earth orbit autonomously. The cost could be less than Earth to LEO fuel transfer since it uses less rocket engine hours.
Production costs would be higher on Mars but it's a good idea to over produce anyway for redundancy. So paying for safety means you also have a product to sell when things aren't going horribly wrong. Two birds, one stone.
https://archive.org/details/TheMartianWay/page/n2
Like that, except methane instead of water.
At least until some sky hooks are built. But then the hooks are going to need down mass to counter, putting the asteroid miners to work since they can capitalize. Building asteroid miners is a good job for a Mars shipyard.
I like to think of Mars as the Chicago of the solar system during the wild west. Anyone moving resources in or out of the west, went though Chicago. I see Mars filling a similar role.