No bridge, no lookout, no windows: the flat-sided deckhouse of SpaceX's new self-driving deck barge (Elon Musk) <\/p>\n
PublishedJul 13, 2021 3:03 PM by The Maritime Executive <\/p>\n
Elon Musk's commercial space launch company, SpaceX, may have deployed the largest fully unmanned commercial vessel in operation today.<\/p>\n
The 10,000 dwt, 300-foot deck barge Marmac 302wasrecently converted at Bollinger's Port Fourchon yard and renamed A Shortfall of Gravitas. She been outfitted with a wider deck and a set of four thruster pods, enabling her to hold station andcatch SpaceX's booster rockets on their return to earth.<\/p>\n
SpaceX owns two similar vessels built from the hulls of Marmac 302's sister barges, the Marmac 303 and 304, and both are DP-capable without crew on board. However, SpaceX says that A Shortfall of Gravitas (dubbed ASOG by SpaceX fans) can drive itself to and from port, without crew and without a tow. <\/p>\n
A video released by Elon Musk on Twitter appears to show the vessel self-navigating at a reasonable speed, comparable to or faster than what might be expected under tow. No bridge, windows, lookouts or other signs of an onboard navigational watchare in evidence.<\/p>\n
In a followup tweet, Musk confirmed that ASOG is fully automated and requires no tugboat for transits. (It is, however, getting a tow from the Gulf of Mexico to its homeport in Port Canaveral.)<\/p>\n
The largest existing autonomous cargo vessel, the Yara Birkeland, is still operating in a fully-crewed test phase. She is somewhat smaller than ASOG at 3,000 dwt and 260 feet in length.<\/p>\n
SpaceX conducted its first successful rocket landing at sea in 2016, setting a new technological milestone that has allowed the company to greatly reduce its operating cost per launch. SpaceX's Falcon 9 boosters are designed for refurbishment and reuse, a departure from the disposable-booster business model used by its competitors.Musk has compared the traditionalapproach to \"disposable airplanes\" andclaims that SpaceX saves money after the third flight on each booster.<\/p>\n
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SpaceX May Have the Largest Unmanned Merchant Vessel in Operation - The Maritime Executive<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No bridge, no lookout, no windows: the flat-sided deckhouse of SpaceX's new self-driving deck barge (Elon Musk) PublishedJul 13, 2021 3:03 PM by The Maritime Executive Elon Musk's commercial space launch company, SpaceX, may have deployed the largest fully unmanned commercial vessel in operation today. The 10,000 dwt, 300-foot deck barge Marmac 302wasrecently converted at Bollinger's Port Fourchon yard and renamed A Shortfall of Gravitas Continue reading