Welcome to this video, in which I will present to you the Orbital Cargo Transporter, or OCT for short. The Orbital Cargo Transporter is a modified design to the OMT, which stands for Orbital Mega Tanker. A Space Tanker concept are presented in a previous video. Like the Orbital Mega Tanker, the Orbital Cargo Transporter is launched into space in the same manner. There are only some minor differences that set the OCT apart from the OMT, but the differences have huge implications in regards to its function. So stay along for the ride and discover what this new space design has to offer. Despite the Orbital Cargo Transporter being longer, and wider than the regular Starship, it still easily makes it into Earth orbit, due to the fact that it does not have a heat shield, or wing surfaces, since it is not meant to return to Earth. You could therefore call it a space-to-space operating vehicle, unlike Starship, which is an Earth-space cyclor. Once in orbit, a Starship cargo delivers the first cargo module to be attached to the side of the Orbital Cargo Transporter. These modules that you see here are not pressurized, but one could easily imagine pressurized modules for different types of cargo. The module is then grabbed by a robotic arm, to be attached to the hull of the Orbital Cargo Transporter. These modules can hold up to 100 metric tons of cargo, so the total capacity of the OCT is 1 megaton, since it can hold 10 modules. So its transport capacity is equal to 10 cargo Starships. After 10 Starship cargo launches, all cargo modules are delivered and attached to the OCT for pressurized cargo modules. Electricity from the OCT can be diverted to the modules in case things need to be kept cool, like cheese, or ice cream. Ice cream is important for astronauts in space, it keeps morale up and its consumption is not so messy in a 0G environment. The Orbital Cargo Transporter is not yet capable to travel further into the solar system. For this to happen, the OCT needs to be refueled many times before it is able to do so. The refueling is obviously done by the tanker Starship, which is launched either from a seed-based platform or land. Most likely, the Starship tanker launches will be done from a seed platform, since launches from land require more paperwork to execute and also has other disadvantages. SpaceX's two repurposed oil-sea platforms Phobos and Dymus are already in the process of being retrofitted for future sea launches. So, we can expect some interesting developments regarding the two sea launch bases in the near future. The refueling mechanism is the same as it would be to refuel another Starship. So after the OCT is fully loaded with fuel, which is around three times the full capacity of a normal Starship, it is ready to blast off to some otherworldly destination. In this scenario, the destination is Mars, with the speculative year of 2030. Elon's current plan is to just send an armada of regular Starships to the red planet. In our view, this might not be so efficient. Each Starship in transit to Mars is one not capable of lifting cargo from Earth to space, which would force SpaceX to build much more Starships compared to using the approach of the Orbital cargo transporter. So instead of sending 10 cargo Starships for a 6-9-month journey to Mars, we can just send one Orbital cargo transporter instead. Those 10 cargo Starships can be used varying cargo from Earth to orbit. This way, SpaceX would only need to construct one OCT for journeys to Mars instead of 10 Starships. Obviously, before the OCT can be useful, SpaceX will have established Mars-based Alpha, four years before the deployment of the OCT. They would probably have already the means to mine water and other resources to create rocket fuel. They might already be growing their own fruit and vegetables in underground greenhouses, making their small-base partly self-sustaining. Once the Orbital cargo transporter gets close to Mars, it will perform an Orbital insertion burn to slow itself down. Since the OCT took the 9-month-long journey, it has a slower approach speed, and thus needs to expend less fuel to slow down, to get captured by Mars gravity and settle in a stable Mars orbit. With the OCT in a Mars-parking orbit, cargo Starships left on Mars two years ago, lift off from Mars-based Alpha with locally made fuel to meet the Orbital cargo transporter, and free it from its Megaton cargo. The Starship cargo would not need a super-heavy booster since the gravity is around 1-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 This would add complexity to the modules. Plus landing a 100-plus ton cargo module would require enormous error-breaking surfaces which are just too unpractical. Besides, the Starships are already on Mars, and fuel can be made, so why not use that instead? After all the modules have been taken to the surface, the Orbital Cargo Transporter sets a course for a long-fuel-efficient journey back to Earth, so it can be used again for the next Earth Mars cycle. In this sense, the OCT can be a fully reusable space to space vehicle. The OCT could also support missions to the Moon. The modules in my opinion would be better off being delivered to the surface of the Moon with a dedicated Moon lander. A heavy Starship would not be very fuel-efficient for this purpose. Perhaps I will show this concept in a future animation. So it might be worth subscribing and clicking the notification bell to stay updated on future releases of space exploration concepts. The OCT could also support future orbiting lunar bases besides bases on the Moon. So basically it could be the Solar Systems cargo workhorse. This orbiting lunar space station concept is one I presented in a previous video. Just wanted to throw it in here because it looks awesome. The Orbital Cargo Transporter concept could even make it as far as Saturn, although it might need some adjustments to the Solar Panel setup. So this marks the end of the OCT presentation. I hope you enjoyed this concept and tell Elon Musk about it on Twitter. The next video will be about an artificial gravity space station concept, so make sure you don't miss it. I would also like to thank my dear Patreon members that help support this channel. I create all the animations myself and their support helps me create more animations about future space concepts.