Illustrative animation and timing. At the pad, the heat is present for seconds, then it leaves with the vehicle and the steam cloud.
Illustrative animation
Mesh viewPad, tower, stackIllustrative concepts
STARBASE · FACT-CHECK OF A VIRAL CONCEPT
HEAT RECAPTURE
An AI thread proposed capturing Starship’s launch heat to power Starbase. This model rebuilds the pad and the proposed equipment, then checks the numbers. Illustrative equipment is labeled as such.
1–3 MWhPer flight · thread estimate
$60–180Value per launch
$5–8MQuoted build cost
~900 MWhDeluge scenario · thermal
The full demonstration is a ~3-minute captioned walkthrough. All animation is illustrative.
Loading fonts
3D view unavailable. Your browser could not start WebGL, so the model cannot be shown. You can still read the full fact-check, economics and sources.