From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   JF Mezei was thinking very hard :   
      
   > This past week there was video of a small tanker truck delivering   
   > methane to Boca Chica. How many of these per launch will be needed,   
   > especially for launches whose purpose is to carry fuel to refuel   
   > orbiting ship?   
      
   Lots.  A static fire is likely to require somewhere between 4 and 12   
   truckloads.  You can easily estimate how much is in a truck by using   
   it's length and radius, and ditto estimate a full tank on a booster and   
   a ship, although I think the nominal capacities are on various   
   websites.   
      
   Also, you can go through the daily footages and count the trucks so   
   far.  The methane tankers deliver on the landing field (the two white   
   horizontal tanks are in play; the 9M tanks may get repurposed).   The   
   LOX and LN2 deliveries are by the tank farm pipe works.   
      
      
   > And once launches move to offshore platforms so they can have high   
   > frequency without noise annoying local residents, how would they bring   
   > such large quantities of methane and LOX to the launch platform?   
      
   LOX is easy on the open sea; methane slighlty harder, but since SpaceX   
   is going to making methane on Mars (Sabatier process?) it wouldn't be   
   surprising for them to practice it here on Earth.   
      
   I would expect the fuel platform to combine solar, wind, and tidal   
   power sources to run the processes.   
      
   Meanwhile, do you know how LCH4 is transported on the sea now?  Super   
   tankers.  I'm sure that SpaceX could arrange to have some deliveries   
   made by the guys that pull up to the dock in LA and other ports.   
      
   But I would expect a heck of a lot of launches to be from Kennedy in   
   preference to the offshore platforms, and Kennedy will almost certainly   
   be ready first.   
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   And the Raiders and the Broncos have life now in the West. I thought   
   they were both nearly dead if not quite really most sincerely dead. --   
   Mike Salfino, fivethirtyeight.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)