They don't have to go to the turning basin. They can offload in the port
Quote from: Jim on 09/21/2022 04:09 pmThey don't have to go to the turning basin. They can offload in the portOK. After it's offloaded at the port, how does it get to Roberts Road or to Pad 39A?
I thought all the large rockets transported by barge horizontal had their fuel and lox tanks pressurized so they wouldn't buckle under tie downs. Vertical would be weird, harder to cover, and across the Gulf would have to be under very good weather.
This hovercraft has about a 200 ton payload. This particular one would probably not work, but to build a couple that would be suitable should be very doable. Slave two of them together and you may be able to carry the booster over virtually any surface, like the swamps around Brownsville, from BC to the port. No road or overhead wire or bridge problems. SX allready uses hovercraft to transport employees that stay further afield:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubr-class_LCAC#:~:text=Article,4%20x%20NO10%20superchargers
ChromeKiwi@AshleyKillipMoving Boosters and ships to Florida means they will need to be transported horizontal. Over the last few weeks we have seen a large black frame and another truss section they appear to be parts of a breakover load spreader to allow boosters to be orientated from vertical to horizontal. Plans recently made public show how they plan to get barges to the offload points where they can be moved to Florida Gigabay for hardware integration engines and grid fins. Unsure if ships will be moved the same way or just flown and landed at the Cape.
ChromeKiwi@AshleyKillipThe FAA has released document's showing that this is something they are working on at least on the Florida end. And they will need to get boosters and ships there as the factory is still just dirt looks like they could use the VAB in the mean time before Gigabay is built.
Not an ASDS apparently.https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1967939003455586771QuoteWatership to transport spaceship from Starbase to Cape Canaveral
Watership to transport spaceship from Starbase to Cape Canaveral
[w]e are planning to break over both the booster and ship to the horizontal position for transit from Starbase to the Cape. Initial deliveries are a single booster or ship per trip, with the plan to move to multiple vehicles per transit sooner than later. You’ll thank me later
They will need a large crane at the Turn Basin.
Quote from: jstrotha0975 on 09/24/2025 03:04 pmThey will need a large crane at the Turn Basin.I don't think we know that. It will need to be laid horizontal as or some time after it leaves the Giga-bay at Starbase, and it will need to be raised to vertical as or sometime before it enters the Giga-bay in Florida. They may choose to leave it on its horizontal transporter and roll it onto and off of the barge.For example, look at how ULA's RocketShip operates, or how SLS stuff is handled on the Pegasus barge.
Quote from: DanClemmensen on 09/24/2025 03:30 pmQuote from: jstrotha0975 on 09/24/2025 03:04 pmThey will need a large crane at the Turn Basin.I don't think we know that. It will need to be laid horizontal as or some time after it leaves the Giga-bay at Starbase, and it will need to be raised to vertical as or sometime before it enters the Giga-bay in Florida. They may choose to leave it on its horizontal transporter and roll it onto and off of the barge.For example, look at how ULA's RocketShip operates, or how SLS stuff is handled on the Pegasus barge.With the vehicles horizontal on SPMT friendly carries they could move the vehicles to the launch tower and have a lifting rig that allows the chopsticks to raise them. Atlas 5 and Vulcan are transported to the VIF horizontal and there is no problem making them vertical.
I don't think they will be able to do the break-over in the Starbase Gigabay. The transfer aisles are perpendicular to Hwy 4 and the doors are fairly close to the road, so there is not room enough make the turn to drive a horizontal Booster onto the highway, is there? Maybe add a turnout on the south side of highway to widen it just enough for the turn? If they cannot do it here they will need another crane of some sort and a tedious extra processing step.
Quote from: DanClemmensen on 09/24/2025 05:54 pmI don't think they will be able to do the break-over in the Starbase Gigabay. The transfer aisles are perpendicular to Hwy 4 and the doors are fairly close to the road, so there is not room enough make the turn to drive a horizontal Booster onto the highway, is there? Maybe add a turnout on the south side of highway to widen it just enough for the turn? If they cannot do it here they will need another crane of some sort and a tedious extra processing step.The building will feature four doors, two of which face the highway and two of which face the factory. The factory's footprint has yet to be surveyed and marked; it is currently used as a parking lot for the crew. Additionally, there might be a larger driveway leading to the street, which could make transportation much easier than executing that sharp turnaround in front of the GIGA-Bay.On a side note, the orientation of the GiGA-BAY here and at BC differs. If the Star Factory is constructed, space should be allocated in front of those two inner doors for Booster and Ship access. The Factory will likely be built on the side closer to us, aligned against it, creating a large "L" pattern on the remaining lot.
