I was also impressed by the small size of the nubs (lifting lugs) attached to Super Heavy that the arms will catch. They are not a large target, and for them to work properly Super Heavy will have to have sub-meter accuracy in its final guidance. I’m not sure that autonomous airplanes have this level of accuracy when landing on runways, and a breeze could cause positional problems for such a tight fit.

As for Tim Dodd being awesome, yes. He is not an engineer, so he has made sure to thoroughly research his topics before making his videos, and this shows in his knowledgeable questions when he interviews people. He knows what to ask and why he is asking.

I have decided this quote must be added to the post, and I have done so.

Steve Golson: Duh, you are right. I made the mistake of depending on my memory, but didn’t think about it carefully. The post is corrected.

Makes it clearer why Musk is so insistent that Starship really IS essential for Starlink 2.0.

I wish he had asked more questions. I was yelling questions at the screen But honestly, if it had been I would have been just as tongue tied.

I had the same reaction. But Dodd noted on Reddit that at this point they were 2 hours into what was supposed to be a 1 hr interview, so he didn’t want to badger him too heavily with questions.

Saturn V was 363 ft tall. This tower is 143 m = 469 ft.

geoffc: Elon has mentioned that SH+SS will be very quick off the pad. Perhaps that’s why they don’t care so much about cladding to protect from exhaust.

However, I found it interesting how much wiring and plumbing is still ‘exposed’. It is one thing to use whatever protection for weather et al.

This tower is going to spend 10+ seconds with 15 million lbs thrust exhaust walking up it, and that is an immense amount of heat.

I am sure they will eventually add cladding to protect the front from the exhaust, but then consider what do you make cladding out of, that can take the hit from 15 million lbs of thrust going by.

And of course, they are literally rocket scientists and think it will work, so I would bet on them, not on my piddly ideas. But I found it interesting. I would have expected more protections at this point.

Diane E. Wilson: Yup, I thought that line great as well. Wrote it down, but forgot to include it in the post. Thank you for mentioning it.