‘Yes, SpaceX is here.’ How MS Coast company could help Elon Musk launch ships to Mars
Elon Musk is converting two oil rigs into floating launch pads for his SpaceX program, with the initial work on one of those rigs being done at ST Engineering Halter Marine & Offshore Inc. in Pascagoula, a sister company to VT Halter Marine.
“Yes, SpaceX is here in Pascagoula,” said Jeffrey Gehrmann, ST Engineering’s vice president of operations.
Gehrmann said the company is well along on a six-month project to remove the drilling equipment from the semi-submersible rig Phobus.
The rig was sitting in Galveston when ST Engineering got a call from SpaceX asking how much the company would charge to remove the drilling equipment.
“Apparently, our number was better than our competitors and they brought it to us,” he said. He said the rig was towed in from Galveston.
A nondisclosure agreement with SpaceX prevents Gehrmann from going into too much detail about the project and future plans.
ST Engineering already had the staff to do the work, which should be wrapping up soon.
He does not expect Elon Musk to visit for this phase of the program.
“This has the potential of being huge,” Gehrmann said.
SpaceX is working on reusable spacecraft that have potential to take people to Mars and other destinations in outer space.
Phobus will be used as a launching and landing pad for Starship, a SpaceX vehicle that Musk plans to send to Mars, businessinsider.com reported. Phobus and a second oil rig, Deimos, are named after the moons that orbit Mars.
