This may seem like a strange title for a blog post but I assure you it will crystalize soon. I am sure you are familiar with Elon Musk and SpaceX. SpaceX has produced some cutting-edge technology and one such outcropping for their endeavor is the Just Read the Instructions and Of Course, I Still love you drone ships.
The drone ship Just Read the Instructions and Of Course, I Still love You are huge barges that have been modified to be used as a water-borne landing platform for various SpaceX missions. These specialized drone ships are utilized as support vehicles to the rockets that have been launched and don’t have the fuel capacity to return to the landing site to have a safe mobile point to land upon.
Just Read the Instructions drone ship
Of Course I Still Love You drone ship with the Falcon 9 Booster aboard
Both landing platforms were constructed in a shipyard in Morgan City, Louisiana, and house four azimuth thruster engines allowing her to maintain a position at sea to within 3 meters using their GPS. Sensors and cameras record the various landings and can be remotely adjusted or moved to provide better viewpoints. Both vessels boast state-of-the-art remotely operated firefighting equipment that is able to soak the drone ship in the Several antennas link data to satellites that allow communication between the incoming rocket booster and the landing platform. An Octagrabber robotic arm emerges from the blast-proof shelter and secures the rocket booster until the thrusters can be safely disengaged. When all is complete they go back to base.
Usually, these platforms are moved into position as far out as seven days prior to launch before their thrusters can be activated by large tugboats. These vessels move out to safe distances when the landing is about to occur and move back in when the landing is complete.
Just Read the Instructions was based at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California but was moved to Cape Canaveral in 2019. Conversely, Of Course, I Still Love You was based at Cape Canaveral in Florida and later retired. Huge tugs assist in moving these platforms from one location to another. Both were required to move through the Panama Canal to their new locations.
In the shift to locales the, Of Course, I Still Love You and Just Read the Instructions needed to pass through the Panama Canal. However, they were too wide and had to have some of their extra wing extensions taken off to proceed through. Once on the other side, they were reinstalled.
The locks at the Panama Canal
During this exchange, both stopped over at the Morgan City shipyard. One is to have some maintenance conducted. For instance, their four thrusters were replaced with electrically-driven fixed thrusters that are able to remain submerged. Six diesel generators were also installed and Just Read the Instructions got an Octagrabber robotic arm which she had not previously had.
In the ninth hour, SpaceX decided to send Of Course, I Still Love You back to the Pacific coast and replaced Just Read the Instructions with A Shortfall of Gravitas. Of Course, I Love You did return to the Pacific Coast under her own direction with the tugs, but instead aboard a lift ship called the Mighty Servant 1.
The Mighty Servant 1 lift ship
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