OREANDA-NEWS. Elon Musk's company SpaceX bought two oil platforms for use as spaceports. It's planned to launch rockets to the Moon and Mars from the platforms. As the site Nasaspaceflight.com informs, they will be used for launches and landings of the Starship missile system.

The decision to use oil platforms for the launch was made because of the powerful blast wave and the noise effect that a super-heavy rocket would create near populated areas. The Platforms, that were named in honor of the moons of Mars — Phobos and Deimos, have already begun to be converted for use as spaceports.

Earlier, SpaceX posted job ads that indicate that the company has already begun refitting the platform in Brownsville, Texas. Nearby is also the village of Boca Chica, where Starship prototypes are being tested. The company requires crane operators, electricians, engineers to work in the open sea, and the project task is called «design and construction of a marine comic launch».

Photographer Jack Beyer posted photos of the Deimos oil platform in Brownsville on his Twitter page. It was previously called the Valaris 8500 and was owned by Valaris. But after going bankrupt in 2020, the platform was sold along with another tower, Valaris 8501. According to media reports, the purchase of the two platforms cost SpaceX $3.5 million.