Do you think SpaceX will rush to replace the rest of this heat shield, or will they fly ship 31 with what they already have? Let me know your thoughts!
Well, actually the proper German way (but translated to English) would be two-hundred-six-and-thirty (yes, the same way numbers are spelled in George R.R. Martins "A song of Ice and Fire" novels). Two-hundred-sixty-three is also wrong in German, but being German a more likely mistake to make. In fact it is so common, there is even a German word for precisely this mistake "Zahlendreher".
If you want to show the true size of that rocket, comparing it to other rockets is fine to show how much larger they are to other space vehicles, but most people haven't seen those vehicles face to face. Maybe show a boeing 747, the statue of liberty, some other known buildings?
Wel the coling tower of the atomreaktor nesr my home is 140meters onl, littel bit higher than the starship 😂 i love the comparison becouse its a huge tower 😂
You'd need quite a selection to cover everyone. I've never seen a Boeing 747 live, and other planes wouldn't help me much, because I wouldn't know the models. I've also never seen the statue of liberty. For me, a decent comparison would be Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, as I've actually seen it a few times; but that's kinda niche for general audience. Also, I don't actually live in Warsaw, so while I do have some grasp of the buildings size, I'm not *that* familiar with it. A better comparison for me would be the radio telescope in Piwnice near Toruń - but now we're *really* talking niche.
I wonder if a self-deploying landing pad could be sent to the Moon as a Starship test payload. Designing something like that would make for an interesting Xprize.
It was loud as shyt! And, strangely late in the day. I live about 5 miles from the launch tower and it rattles the earth. It sounds like distant thunder.
@@SeanDSarcasm never say never. not in the near future, but i wouldnt discount the possibillity. except if you mean that starship will be renamed at some point in the near future, cause then its quite possible that it might never happen.
Nobody in their right mind would want that. You want to hear 20 sonic booms every day where you live? If we do ever reach that kind of cadence putting cargo into LEO it will be with something less invasive than rocket launches
SpaceX went from blowing a crater into the ground, creating a rock tornado in the process, to catching a rocket booster out of the air in only 6 flights. Werner Von Braun is applauding and relinquishing his seat at Space Academy.
Like button smashed! 12:50 "After all, there's no point in recovering a vehicle if it can't be reused." Hmm, currently, during the test phase, there is still an advantage, because now, after catching the booster during IFT-5, they can investigate the booster in a much cheaper, easier and better way than after recovering parts of it from the sea like after IFT-4.
And reduction of orbital/ocean debris is more than a good enough reason to recover as much of the hardware as possible. Reduce - Reuse - Recycle : SpaceX has 2 out of 3 so far.
I'm really hoping they do something special for the first SpaceX lunar landing. Cameras everywhere, and a solar powered camera that aims back at Earth with a 24 hour live feed so we can have a view of our planet whenever we like. Audio would be a bonus. I would put that on in the background while I'm in bed or making dinner, etc. Would be so relaxing listening to the moon and seeing earth as if I was there looking back at it. My god.... Even cooler would be a stereoscopic camera so that I could view earth from the moon in virtual reality 3D. THAT, with audio could give everyone the ability to know what it's like to be on the moon 🥰🥰🥰 It wouldn't take up much space, wouldn't cost much, and could bring sooo much joy to anyone who wants to experience it 🥰 Fingers crossed 🤞
@@Lu.capuchino Sorry, by audio, I meant a lunar seismic microphone. Would be great to "hear" the moon. I should have specified. I figured most here would know what I meant. Thanks 🙂
@@coryturke7336 I’m certain there are seismic microphones on the moon, but are there publicly available recordings? And are they in a human audible format? What does the moon sound like?
Hi, just wanted to congratulate your amazing channel, also Felix's dynamic and optimistic presentations are really great ! It is a pleasure to follow you guys.
Interplanetary transfer speeds are much higher than return speeds from LEO. Every landing Mars mission had this problem. The thinner Atmosphere doesn’t make it better. The speed to be reduced is the same, so it has to have a more aggressive angle and longer reentry.
@@Whataboutit Thanks for the information, it surprises me the atmosphere is thick enough at altitude to slow it down at all. If I had guessed, I would have thought they’d use a high impulse ion engine to slow it down over a few days.
@@arthurlunar7835 they literally won't, they said that they would need 2 perfect landings of the same ship version, and S33 and 34 dont even have catch hardware so they literally cant catch them
But it sure is going to need dust, dirt, rocks and small boulders' shielding! Even if extra-long landing struts are used, who's to say the landing site, just underneath that "smooth" carpet of regolith will be even enough, or sturdy enough to support landing?
@@frankwolf3860 You seem to have missed the presentations. Moon Starship will have a ring of engines about 2/3 up, to allow the exhaust to dissipate before impinging the lunar surface. Apparently, the main worry is that the exhaust would launch small rocks into orbit, causing a hazard because the periapsis of that orbit intersects the landing site.
The landing legs need to vertically conform to the landscape and keep the ship perfectly plumb. They don't need to be splayed far out from the hull. @@frankwolf3860
That is preposterous. The fastest smallest granules would be ejected horizontally, and on suborbital trajectories. What they were really worried about was injecting exhaust gas into the subsurface and kicking some regolith up into the engine bay. Also eroding pits that the landing legs could not conform to. @@realulli
14:27 Starship already has 2 potential landing legs! The bottom flaps can act as landing legs if they modify them so that some kind of thing extends at the bottom of them (or side? Like on falcon?) Just add another one or two legs (depends on the size limitations) from the other side. I really hope someone sees this comment, I've never seen anyone talk about this idea.
I think they're happy with most of the tiles. Its the tiles in certain high exposure areas that needed support. That under-blanket is an unnecessary part in most places.
Booster 13’s upgrades feel like the final touches before something groundbreaking. With this static fire, it looks like SpaceX is getting closer to revolutionizing orbital reusability.
Looking at how well the heat shield holds up entering earth it'll probably be totally fine entering Mars' atmo, so having landing legs on the shield side might not be as bigger issue as we think.
The velocity at Mars will exceed escape velocity. *_Starship will have to fly belly-up and nose-down to stay within the atmosphere at first._* The heat pulse will be far more extreme than an LEO deorbit, but similar to a Lunar return. Anyway, the landing legs can be entirely inside the hull. They don't have to be on blisters outside the hull, and can point only straight down. It is not necessary to have a wide base. The legs just have to *_perfectly_* conform vertically to the landscape. [And of course the horizontal velocity must also be perfectly zeroed before and during touchdown.]
@@imconsequetau5275 I'm not talking about the ship landing belly down, i'm talking about having one or two of the landing legs for landing vertically located on the shield side. It would need at least 3 legs but likely 4 and to have them evenly spread out then some of them would need to be on the shield side. Having internal landing legs would be way too complicated for SpaceX, they like keeping things simple. The Mar Starship will likely have landing legs similar to the F9. This is all just my opinion, i'm no expert this is just all guess work.
Good episode but I have some nit-picking - "after all there is no point in recovering a vehicle if it can't be reused" I understand your point, Felix, but this statement isn't true. Post-recovery inspection is extremely valuable for optimization, even if reuse is not intended. Such actions can significantly improve the launch and ascent margins while reducing mass.
I have a suggestion: Perhaps there's a away to roll/slide the launch mount away for landings and at T-zero. Rails with bolt down connections for the footers when in place could eliminate any refurb/repair needed after landing. The umbilical QDs could also rotate around the gantry ~180 deg to take those connections out of harms way at launch and certainly for landing.
I would love to see them flex their musscles and launching just under 6 weeks after flight 5. Just to show how fast they are. Then take Christmas off to maybe even double (from 2->4->) to 8 launches in 2025? :)
Since drag and weight are directly proportional to surface area, the new smaller surface area and lighter design makes more room for payload and/or deltaV. I love it.
14:30 Felix, the Mars Starship doesnt need to have external legs with a wide baseline. The legs can be deployed vertically from within the hull and extend straight down. The legs need to conform very well to the landscape. This will keep the ship true vertical (plumb). There is plenty of height within the engine skirt to have telescoping legs - basically they are vertical hydraulic pistons with feet. Of course the horizontal velocity has to be truely zeroed before and during touchdown. And the legs have to withstand side forces on slopes by having agressively spikey footpads. I see one simple way: Connect all leg pistons hydraulically and use a single common pressurized accumulator to allow the legs to individually retract as the ground pushes up. The accumulator increases in pressure until it supports the Ship. The ship can even bounce in a damped manner, like shock absorbers. Thrusters or intelligent valve control would keep the ship plumb. When the hydraulic valves in series with each piston are closed, the legs cannot move. These valves do not have to resist much pressure differential - unless the ground shifts. Maybe add a redundant clamp on each leg to lock in place. Finally, the legs can be ditched after takeoff (if ever) to reduce return mass. (At Earth, the ship is caught by Mechazilla.)
If I was is charge flight 6 would do the following. BUT I am pretty sure the launch license does not allow some of these.😂 1. Demonstrate in space engine restarts. It's totally critical to all else. 2. If restarts work then go for multiple orbits. 3. Land on the ground at Star base. 4. Test improvements to the pay load doors. 5. Catch the booster again.
Honestly, I feel like SpaceX needs to take a page from NASA and create a full-scale launch pad much like the Shuttle Program had. Flame Channels, water deluge, the whole 9 yards. Though, if they are still refining design, I can see them waiting to invest in that until they finalize a production model design.
You have to keep in mind that 39a and b are a Cold War Design. Pads can be developed as well. I’m not sure if what NASA did back then is still a good design. It did cost incredible amounts of money. There might be a more efficient design. One thing is clear. The first Starship pad wasn’t a good design.
@@Whataboutit That is very true, but as far as reliabilty and reusability, they held up to the task well. I completely agree that upgrades can happen, but also that the first design, and probably even the current upgrades are not the best designs. I guess that is a Stage 2 or 3 problem though. Right now, they rightfully focus on getting the ship system and design refined, viable, and safe.
SLS launch caused quite some damage to the launchpad, several months and many millions were needed to refurbish it. And that was almost half the thrust of Starship and cost billions and many years to build.
My question is, once tower 2 is proofed and working better than tower 1, do they tear down tower 1 launch mount and chopstick arms and match it to tower 2 with certain upgrades after certain issues arise with the new setup?
One milestone before ship capture is orbital insertion and de-orbit, which requires two more relights of the Raptors. You can't catch a ship without making at least 3-4 orbits due to the orbital inclination.
Actually could you imagine how impressive it would be if SpaceX returned the StarShip back to the tower without orbital insertion? Just an incredibly accurate hyperbolic trajectory...
Because they did have a SpaceX suit for the astronauts but rather a test suit for compatible with starliner. This is in fact, a dominant issue with how the commercial low earth program was setup since even though you could have redundancy of vehicles (not currently), the suits were not required to be compatible, which introduces a hurdle in the redundancy concept of multiple commercial capsules.
I was wondering... With the second tower being build, could two boosters and starships launching at the same time cause trouble? The sound waves may have some impact to the other vehicle if they launch so close aside. Or no?
On the FIRST Mars Mission, SpaceX can Send the OPTIMUS Robot along to Mars as a Visual Observer with sensors, possibly, and if it lands, perform some simple tasks and send the visual and other Data back to the SpaceX. That would be nice if they would do that.
Massive achievement with rapid re use of stage 0 glue issue for sensor tiles is interesting and I think significant a lot to be found out there. Any info on another merger bay and hopefully more tourist friendly areas. That I think would be a good idea for a podcast. Thanks for all your work
I install tile showers, floor, etc Hexagon tiles are very hard to install, I couldn't imagine installing on a concave surface.. I wonder if Spacex could fabricate a tongue and groove system for hexagon heatshield tiles?
The Luna Lander doesn’t need a heat shield. Testing it on Earth means it won’t reach orbit; instead, it would lift off without a booster, reaching an altitude of around 1 km before descending to perform a landing. This testing could be done in a designated desert area, allowing refueling and repeated landings across different terrain types hundreds of times. Very similar to the first landings of StarShip.
I have a question about the landing I've not seen talked about. The Raptors can't twist the booster but it has to align with the tower so the (only) two support touch down on the receivers on the Chopsticks. How is the rotational orientation achieved? Thrusters, gyros, other? Do you know? Thanks!!
Question... Just watching the videos and the way the booster comes back at an angle to the OLM and so much thrust going on down there just before touch down. I'm thinking an wondering would Starship blow Booster over while it's sitting atop OLM with just clamp downs? Surely they won't be enough to keep it blowing over or copping a tonne of damage from Starship's landing/hover burn. Starship won't exactly be caught way off to the side but just slightly over. I'm sure SpaceX have thought about it but just want to speculate and raise the question. Ps love your work and videos Felix, I have for many years now.
@@CrazyPengion I'm not talking about hot stage separation, I'm talking about the landing of Starship back at the tower whilst Booster is stacked on the OLM and simply clamped down. Will Starship blow the Booster over with its own thrust?
@@easty81 I mentioned the hot ring as you mentioned the booster being damaged. The booster shouldn't be blown over, as I sure hope they made sure it's connected for something, especially against wind, and we can do some calculations as well. Dry mass of Starship is ~100t, Superheacy is ~275t When the ship lands it is supposed to have a relative velocity of 0, so we can assume that it's thrust will be not more than 120t (as it still has some fuel and velocity) So less than half the boosters mass would come from above, so it shouldn't really do anything aside if the ship is firing directly at the top of the booster from a 90 degree angle, if even that would do anything.
There's plenty of solutions to the landing leg vs. heat shield concern. A starship that lands on mars doesn't have to be reusable (meaning re-landable on mars), so it's acceptable for the leg deployment to destroy the heat shield.
Excellent question! They can either easily be shipped via barge (the connector road to port Brownsville is already built) or they can be flown (no joke) or they can be manufactured at Robert’s Road, which is SpaceX’s smaller factory at KSC which is supposed to be expanded.
@felix: Question for you and all space Geeks! How to catch the ship, knowing that there is no hook on it! If you try using flap, catching arms may break the heat tile. Adding hook may lead to heat leak during re-entry, or simply risking of melting them
@@Lu.capuchino I guess, that’s what I was asking. Hooks will probably melt during re-entry. ‘Cause their position will be in the hot zone (next to tiles) due to their necessary symmetrical positioning.
Can anyone tell me why we cannot slowly move the space station very quietly towards or a closer orbit the moon?instead of burning it up! Surely in it's aged state it would still be of some use to us there in future? Even if it was just for scrap materials etc..unless someone can suggest a vid to explain why we can't lol thankyou in advance and keep up the awesome work WAI team!! :)
Starship could be equipped with a deployable cone that would protect engines during reentry. Sections of the cone fitted on the sides of starship would be pushed into place with electric engines. Then retracted or released just prior to final landing burn.
Do you think SpaceX will rush to replace the rest of this heat shield, or will they fly ship 31 with what they already have? Let me know your thoughts!
Any speculation on what they may do for the landing and how they may be able to recover actual flown starship hardware?
@@BillDuBrul they probably won't bother as the ship is already very much outdated and the next generation will be much improved
@@Whataboutit i suspect they may address specific areas such as the flaps but leave the majority as is.
100 percent sure they are keeping the current, ship 33 holds the next version after all.
They have a lot of work on the shield, so I think they will opt for cadence this time and get the ship in the air.
Ahhh... how I love Felix and the crew being German and not catching him read 236 the German way at 17:55 :) Cute
Oops
Was looking up for this comment)
Well, actually the proper German way (but translated to English) would be two-hundred-six-and-thirty (yes, the same way numbers are spelled in George R.R. Martins "A song of Ice and Fire" novels).
Two-hundred-sixty-three is also wrong in German, but being German a more likely mistake to make. In fact it is so common, there is even a German word for precisely this mistake "Zahlendreher".
236 or 263?
What’s the right answer?
@@larryhack4038 236.
If you want to show the true size of that rocket, comparing it to other rockets is fine to show how much larger they are to other space vehicles, but most people haven't seen those vehicles face to face. Maybe show a boeing 747, the statue of liberty, some other known buildings?
We once had the world’s largest crane building the baseball stadium in my hometown called Big Blue. It was so huge that even up close it was surreal.
Wel the coling tower of the atomreaktor nesr my home is 140meters onl, littel bit higher than the starship 😂 i love the comparison becouse its a huge tower 😂
You'd need quite a selection to cover everyone. I've never seen a Boeing 747 live, and other planes wouldn't help me much, because I wouldn't know the models. I've also never seen the statue of liberty.
For me, a decent comparison would be Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, as I've actually seen it a few times; but that's kinda niche for general audience. Also, I don't actually live in Warsaw, so while I do have some grasp of the buildings size, I'm not *that* familiar with it. A better comparison for me would be the radio telescope in Piwnice near Toruń - but now we're *really* talking niche.
When it is told in “meters” it’s just a word to us old folks. BUT when you say goal line to the other endzone - that’s a LONG way! On end!! W😮W….
The rocket on the booster is 397 ft tall ..
You just have to know how tall a 40 story building is ..
😂😂
@@jakistam1000
I wonder if a self-deploying landing pad could be sent to the Moon as a Starship test payload.
Designing something like that would make for an interesting Xprize.
It was loud as shyt! And, strangely late in the day. I live about 5 miles from the launch tower and it rattles the earth. It sounds like distant thunder.
do you predict complaints and lawfare from your neibors and people around there?
What do I think? I think you’ve become the go to site for all Starship info. Thanks so much for your work.
Can't wait for 20 Starship launches a day
probably wont happen, not anytime soon
never gonna happen
@@SeanDSarcasm never say never. not in the near future, but i wouldnt discount the possibillity. except if you mean that starship will be renamed at some point in the near future, cause then its quite possible that it might never happen.
Yeah I’ll settle for a booster to be flown twice in a day
Nobody in their right mind would want that. You want to hear 20 sonic booms every day where you live? If we do ever reach that kind of cadence putting cargo into LEO it will be with something less invasive than rocket launches
welcome back CREW 8 great job you have paved our future for mankind
I can remember watching Apollo as a child , it was GREAT but this is so much BETTER. I’m wondering where we would be without ELON MUSK .
Space X is far more than one man and his ego.
Misspelled Gwen Shotwell and all the engineering staff at SpaceX, the contractors building stage 1 components, etc.
Yeah USA would suck without Elon Musk's SpaceX.
fElon conspired with Putin to link drones to starlink in attacks on Ukraine. deport musk
@@mynameIanwithout Elon you will get Blue Origin not SpaceX
SpaceX went from blowing a crater into the ground, creating a rock tornado in the process, to catching a rocket booster out of the air in only 6 flights.
Werner Von Braun is applauding and relinquishing his seat at Space Academy.
5 flights? But yes
@@jakobusswart1376
As x approaches an infinity of 5 from 6 it doesn't really matter it's a close enough guess
Hello again Felix! Really glad to see an upload 👍🏻
Hello Cortez!
OMG Is that actually you Felix?
Like button smashed! 12:50 "After all, there's no point in recovering a vehicle if it can't be reused." Hmm, currently, during the test phase, there is still an advantage, because now, after catching the booster during IFT-5, they can investigate the booster in a much cheaper, easier and better way than after recovering parts of it from the sea like after IFT-4.
And reduction of orbital/ocean debris is more than a good enough reason to recover as much of the hardware as possible. Reduce - Reuse - Recycle : SpaceX has 2 out of 3 so far.
I'm really hoping they do something special for the first SpaceX lunar landing. Cameras everywhere, and a solar powered camera that aims back at Earth with a 24 hour live feed so we can have a view of our planet whenever we like. Audio would be a bonus. I would put that on in the background while I'm in bed or making dinner, etc. Would be so relaxing listening to the moon and seeing earth as if I was there looking back at it. My god....
Even cooler would be a stereoscopic camera so that I could view earth from the moon in virtual reality 3D. THAT, with audio could give everyone the ability to know what it's like to be on the moon 🥰🥰🥰
It wouldn't take up much space, wouldn't cost much, and could bring sooo much joy to anyone who wants to experience it 🥰
Fingers crossed 🤞
what audio lmao, there is no sound in space
@@Lu.capuchino Sorry, by audio, I meant a lunar seismic microphone. Would be great to "hear" the moon. I should have specified. I figured most here would know what I meant. Thanks 🙂
@@Lu.capuchino But inside the lunar vehicles, and also of course the astronauts talking to Houston or Hawthorne :-)
@@coryturke7336 I’m certain there are seismic microphones on the moon, but are there publicly available recordings? And are they in a human audible format? What does the moon sound like?
It will happen!
I love the slow motion static fire video! What a fantastic job from Sean!
Ty Stef ❤
Felix I really appreciate your enthusiasm ☺️
I have watched the catch about 100 times and it doesn't get old.
And every time, I still say "no fu@$&*- way" in my head, lol.
@@surgemeister01 pretty much
Hi, just wanted to congratulate your amazing channel, also Felix's dynamic and optimistic presentations are really great ! It is a pleasure to follow you guys.
Thanks Felix, great video!
🙏❤️
With the thinner atmosphere and lower gravity, I don’t think landing Starship on Mars will be problematic. At least not for the heat shield.
Interplanetary transfer speeds are much higher than return speeds from LEO. Every landing Mars mission had this problem. The thinner Atmosphere doesn’t make it better. The speed to be reduced is the same, so it has to have a more aggressive angle and longer reentry.
@@Whataboutit Thanks for the information, it surprises me the atmosphere is thick enough at altitude to slow it down at all. If I had guessed, I would have thought they’d use a high impulse ion engine to slow it down over a few days.
Can't wait for ship catch! Flight 7?
That would be awesome !
nope, and not flight 8 either
I feel like they won't go for a ship catch until V2 test models.
@@Lu.capuchino That's too much unbelief. SpaceX is faster
@@arthurlunar7835 they literally won't, they said that they would need 2 perfect landings of the same ship version, and S33 and 34 dont even have catch hardware so they literally cant catch them
Felix, Congratulations on your 500,000 subscriptions, YOU ROCK!!!
Another great episode, Felix! Thanks for keeping me up on the info.
Moon lander doesn't need a heat shield. Only the Earth-Moon transfer ship needs one.
The earth to moon transfer ship wouldn't necessarily need one either if there's a seperate earth lander also.... jus sayin
But it sure is going to need dust, dirt, rocks and small boulders' shielding! Even if extra-long landing struts are used, who's to say the landing site, just underneath that "smooth" carpet of regolith will be even enough, or sturdy enough to support landing?
@@frankwolf3860 You seem to have missed the presentations. Moon Starship will have a ring of engines about 2/3 up, to allow the exhaust to dissipate before impinging the lunar surface. Apparently, the main worry is that the exhaust would launch small rocks into orbit, causing a hazard because the periapsis of that orbit intersects the landing site.
The landing legs need to vertically conform to the landscape and keep the ship perfectly plumb. They don't need to be splayed far out from the hull.
@@frankwolf3860
That is preposterous. The fastest smallest granules would be ejected horizontally, and on suborbital trajectories.
What they were really worried about was injecting exhaust gas into the subsurface and kicking some regolith up into the engine bay. Also eroding pits that the landing legs could not conform to.
@@realulli
crazy how fast they can get those boosters back on the olm for a static fire
It is because it isn't the same Booster....They already built it beforehand.
It's just the start! They want to get this down to under one hour!
Theres a small error in the video guys. You said "263 days in space" but the graphic showed "236 days in space"
Some of us have dyslexia
@@harleysturgis2840 Yes, some of us do. Some of us also have OCD which is why I checked it 4 times before commenting.
I can't wait to see Spacex catch starship as well.
I was little during Apollo and would like to see all this work out.
Unbelievable! They're already back at it!
Are there any changes to the hot staging ring to protect the grid fins
14:27 Starship already has 2 potential landing legs! The bottom flaps can act as landing legs if they modify them so that some kind of thing extends at the bottom of them (or side? Like on falcon?)
Just add another one or two legs (depends on the size limitations) from the other side. I really hope someone sees this comment, I've never seen anyone talk about this idea.
I think the height and weight would make the legs too large.
I think they're happy with most of the tiles. Its the tiles in certain high exposure areas that needed support. That under-blanket is an unnecessary part in most places.
spacex is on demon time
looking forward to ship 33 on flight 7.
Booster 13’s upgrades feel like the final touches before something groundbreaking. With this static fire, it looks like SpaceX is getting closer to revolutionizing orbital reusability.
Looking at how well the heat shield holds up entering earth it'll probably be totally fine entering Mars' atmo, so having landing legs on the shield side might not be as bigger issue as we think.
The velocity at Mars will exceed escape velocity. *_Starship will have to fly belly-up and nose-down to stay within the atmosphere at first._*
The heat pulse will be far more extreme than an LEO deorbit, but similar to a Lunar return.
Anyway, the landing legs can be entirely inside the hull. They don't have to be on blisters outside the hull, and can point only straight down. It is not necessary to have a wide base. The legs just have to *_perfectly_* conform vertically to the landscape.
[And of course the horizontal velocity must also be perfectly zeroed before and during touchdown.]
@@imconsequetau5275 I'm not talking about the ship landing belly down, i'm talking about having one or two of the landing legs for landing vertically located on the shield side. It would need at least 3 legs but likely 4 and to have them evenly spread out then some of them would need to be on the shield side. Having internal landing legs would be way too complicated for SpaceX, they like keeping things simple. The Mar Starship will likely have landing legs similar to the F9. This is all just my opinion, i'm no expert this is just all guess work.
Flight 6 gonna be awesome
Great episode Felix, You Rock!
Why not use heat tile for the rocket pad and mount to withstand the exhaust of the buster?
I believe water helps reduce the sound and it also guarantees that nothing breaks off and gets sent away at high speeds
@@CrazyPengion I was referring to the areas where water can't reach.
Good episode but I have some nit-picking -
"after all there is no point in recovering a vehicle if it can't be reused"
I understand your point, Felix, but this statement isn't true. Post-recovery inspection is extremely valuable for optimization, even if reuse is not intended. Such actions can significantly improve the launch and ascent margins while reducing mass.
I have a suggestion: Perhaps there's a away to roll/slide the launch mount away for landings and at T-zero. Rails with bolt down connections for the footers when in place could eliminate any refurb/repair needed after landing. The umbilical QDs could also rotate around the gantry ~180 deg to take those connections out of harms way at launch and certainly for landing.
Another quality episode
This coming year is going to be awesome. Can’t wait. Excellent job covering all this , thank you so much!!!
I keep wondering each time I see crew dragon. Is there any plans to design and make something bigger but not starship?
I would love to see them flex their musscles and launching just under 6 weeks after flight 5. Just to show how fast they are. Then take Christmas off to maybe even double (from 2->4->) to 8 launches in 2025? :)
A storey in a building is typically about 14 feet. So 397 feet would be about the height of a 28 story skyscraper, not just a 20 story building.
I believe the 20 story building remark was about the booster, I could be wrong as working and listening ;)
@@mikelezan1023, that would make sense, then. 233/14 = 17 stories, close enough to 20. Thanks for the correction!
Since drag and weight are directly proportional to surface area, the new smaller surface area and lighter design makes more room for payload and/or deltaV. I love it.
Always good content Felix!! Ecellente
14:30 Felix, the Mars Starship doesnt need to have external legs with a wide baseline. The legs can be deployed vertically from within the hull and extend straight down.
The legs need to conform very well to the landscape. This will keep the ship true vertical (plumb).
There is plenty of height within the engine skirt to have telescoping legs - basically they are vertical hydraulic pistons with feet.
Of course the horizontal velocity has to be truely zeroed before and during touchdown. And the legs have to withstand side forces on slopes by having agressively spikey footpads.
I see one simple way:
Connect all leg pistons hydraulically and use a single common pressurized accumulator to allow the legs to individually retract as the ground pushes up. The accumulator increases in pressure until it supports the Ship. The ship can even bounce in a damped manner, like shock absorbers. Thrusters or intelligent valve control would keep the ship plumb.
When the hydraulic valves in series with each piston are closed, the legs cannot move. These valves do not have to resist much pressure differential - unless the ground shifts. Maybe add a redundant clamp on each leg to lock in place.
Finally, the legs can be ditched after takeoff (if ever) to reduce return mass. (At Earth, the ship is caught by Mechazilla.)
3:24 Astronaut on fin😂
Love the coverage!
9:15 use the v2 heat shield only on flap and high heat areas
If I was is charge flight 6 would do the following. BUT I am pretty sure the launch license does not allow some of these.😂
1. Demonstrate in space engine restarts. It's totally critical to all else.
2. If restarts work then go for multiple orbits.
3. Land on the ground at Star base.
4. Test improvements to the pay load doors.
5. Catch the booster again.
I soooo can't wait for flight #6!!! I'm only watching Felix and the awesome team creating the content!! AWESOME!!!!!!!
17:50 is it 236 days in space as the graphic or 263 as the words?
Such exciting times. I should and hope I’m still around for landing on mars
Thanks for fixing the date for Thanksgiving from previous video. 🙂
Sure thing! :)
Honestly, I feel like SpaceX needs to take a page from NASA and create a full-scale launch pad much like the Shuttle Program had. Flame Channels, water deluge, the whole 9 yards. Though, if they are still refining design, I can see them waiting to invest in that until they finalize a production model design.
You have to keep in mind that 39a and b are a Cold War Design. Pads can be developed as well. I’m not sure if what NASA did back then is still a good design. It did cost incredible amounts of money. There might be a more efficient design. One thing is clear. The first Starship pad wasn’t a good design.
@@Whataboutit That is very true, but as far as reliabilty and reusability, they held up to the task well. I completely agree that upgrades can happen, but also that the first design, and probably even the current upgrades are not the best designs. I guess that is a Stage 2 or 3 problem though. Right now, they rightfully focus on getting the ship system and design refined, viable, and safe.
That could end up being a man-made island located off-shore
SLS launch caused quite some damage to the launchpad, several months and many millions were needed to refurbish it. And that was almost half the thrust of Starship and cost billions and many years to build.
Working with Spaceforce on launch families sucks. You don't show up to launch unless you have a final design.
Thanks for another great episode .
11:51 Vaya planning de SpaceX y para 2026 deberá lograr 120 vuelos por año.
simprlemente impresionante.
Thank you 😊
0:40 Internal goal of november 11th? What's the source for this?
Same question here
Loving! the gravy on the calendar
My question is, once tower 2 is proofed and working better than tower 1, do they tear down tower 1 launch mount and chopstick arms and match it to tower 2 with certain upgrades after certain issues arise with the new setup?
I think the biggest change to the cowbells seems to be a much smaller expansion ratio, although we dont know how they look inside ofc.
Thank you.
One milestone before ship capture is orbital insertion and de-orbit, which requires two more relights of the Raptors. You can't catch a ship without making at least 3-4 orbits due to the orbital inclination.
Maybe on flight 6?
@@appliedfacts probably not as I don't think the current license covers it
Actually could you imagine how impressive it would be if SpaceX returned the StarShip back to the tower without orbital insertion? Just an incredibly accurate hyperbolic trajectory...
@@appliedfactsthey will probably do the relight on flight 6, since it was covered under flight 3s license it might still be on the documents
@@Lu.capuchino The issue is that the IFT-3 license does not have a booster catch included, so it would still need a new license 😑
Yeah..... What can I say.....Felix you rock 💪 🤜💥 🤛
Ya sooooo a person onboard is probably the biggest milestone!!!!
Really enjoy your presentations, especially outtakes 😊. Go SPACEX 🚀✨
Awesome work SpaceX ❤
Next milestone 600 thousand members.... Let's go.
Man... I can't begin to describe how we're feeling on the team! THANK YOU!!!!
Why did they not used the seats five and sic to come back?
Then they wouldn’t have needed to change crew 9.
Because they did have a SpaceX suit for the astronauts but rather a test suit for compatible with starliner.
This is in fact, a dominant issue with how the commercial low earth program was setup since even though you could have redundancy of vehicles (not currently), the suits were not required to be compatible, which introduces a hurdle in the redundancy concept of multiple commercial capsules.
Good work Felix. It feels like we are living the future at level 200 pace. I want to see this space gas station now. Let's gooooo....🤯😎
Informative
Got it I'll be there
I was wondering... With the second tower being build, could two boosters and starships launching at the same time cause trouble? The sound waves may have some impact to the other vehicle if they launch so close aside. Or no?
On the FIRST Mars Mission, SpaceX can Send the OPTIMUS Robot along to Mars as a Visual Observer with sensors, possibly, and if it lands, perform some simple tasks and send the visual and other Data back to the SpaceX. That would be nice if they would do that.
I figure that's how they will build colonies, send thousands of Optimus and have them build it first, then a small crew of inspectors, then full use.
By the mars mission optimus prob would be on gen 4
They'll send a group of starlink satellites to mars first, then everything they send will have connectivity.
@@hotrodandrube9119 and Starship live reentry
I can't wait to view this in videos.
Massive achievement with rapid re use of stage 0 glue issue for sensor tiles is interesting and I think significant a lot to be found out there. Any info on another merger bay and hopefully more tourist friendly areas. That I think would be a good idea for a podcast. Thanks for all your work
I install tile showers, floor, etc
Hexagon tiles are very hard to install, I couldn't imagine installing on a concave surface..
I wonder if Spacex could fabricate a tongue and groove system for hexagon heatshield tiles?
Dude, I follow you since IFT2 but seriously..
I love the jokes!!! LOL Blessings!!!
Thanks Felix You Rock Man!
The Luna Lander doesn’t need a heat shield. Testing it on Earth means it won’t reach orbit; instead, it would lift off without a booster, reaching an altitude of around 1 km before descending to perform a landing. This testing could be done in a designated desert area, allowing refueling and repeated landings across different terrain types hundreds of times. Very similar to the first landings of StarShip.
GO SLS!! GO RS-25’S!!! LET’S GO!! The LM has already been built. Just, no one knows it but it exists.
Howdy from Temple, Texas!
I would focus on the areas that failed, i.e. the flap area, and leave the remainder of the heat shield alone since, as you said, it worked.
they wont fix the flap area even more, the design is simply flawed, S33 will do much better
I hope there is quite a large and potent security team surrounding Starbase and similar facilities.
I have a question about the landing I've not seen talked about. The Raptors can't twist the booster but it has to align with the tower so the (only) two support touch down on the receivers on the Chopsticks. How is the rotational orientation achieved? Thrusters, gyros, other? Do you know? Thanks!!
the raptors can twist the booster, and its also done by the gridfins
10:50 The Cards Against Humanity wing😊
Question... Just watching the videos and the way the booster comes back at an angle to the OLM and so much thrust going on down there just before touch down. I'm thinking an wondering would Starship blow Booster over while it's sitting atop OLM with just clamp downs? Surely they won't be enough to keep it blowing over or copping a tonne of damage from Starship's landing/hover burn. Starship won't exactly be caught way off to the side but just slightly over.
I'm sure SpaceX have thought about it but just want to speculate and raise the question.
Ps love your work and videos Felix, I have for many years now.
I assume the future permanent hot staging ring is going to absorb most of the heat
@@CrazyPengion I'm not talking about hot stage separation, I'm talking about the landing of Starship back at the tower whilst Booster is stacked on the OLM and simply clamped down. Will Starship blow the Booster over with its own thrust?
@@easty81 I mentioned the hot ring as you mentioned the booster being damaged.
The booster shouldn't be blown over, as I sure hope they made sure it's connected for something, especially against wind, and we can do some calculations as well.
Dry mass of Starship is ~100t, Superheacy is ~275t
When the ship lands it is supposed to have a relative velocity of 0, so we can assume that it's thrust will be not more than 120t (as it still has some fuel and velocity)
So less than half the boosters mass would come from above, so it shouldn't really do anything aside if the ship is firing directly at the top of the booster from a 90 degree angle, if even that would do anything.
There's plenty of solutions to the landing leg vs. heat shield concern. A starship that lands on mars doesn't have to be reusable (meaning re-landable on mars), so it's acceptable for the leg deployment to destroy the heat shield.
How are super-heavy boosters built in Texas to get to Cape Kennedy for launch/usage?
Excellent question! They can either easily be shipped via barge (the connector road to port Brownsville is already built) or they can be flown (no joke) or they can be manufactured at Robert’s Road, which is SpaceX’s smaller factory at KSC which is supposed to be expanded.
@@Whataboutitno they can't and wont be flown, would put way more stress on the heatshield and there is simply no way of doing it
Can't wait to watch a Starship launch from Florida, about 400 miles from my house!
Fantastic posting by "WHAT ABOUT IT?"!!!😱👌
Did the Starships in the past 2 flights have "weight simulator " ballast loads? Or were they flying empty?
they were flying empty but with less fuel, to compensate
❤Felix you rock!
@felix: Question for you and all space Geeks! How to catch the ship, knowing that there is no hook on it! If you try using flap, catching arms may break the heat tile. Adding hook may lead to heat leak during re-entry, or simply risking of melting them
they wont catch by the flaps, they would just rip them off, they will find a workaround
@@Lu.capuchino I guess, that’s what I was asking. Hooks will probably melt during re-entry. ‘Cause their position will be in the hot zone (next to tiles) due to their necessary symmetrical positioning.
I bet it’s going to fly as is instead of replacing them all
What's the weight difference pre launch vs catch?
Can anyone tell me why we cannot slowly move the space station very quietly towards or a closer orbit the moon?instead of burning it up! Surely in it's aged state it would still be of some use to us there in future? Even if it was just for scrap materials etc..unless someone can suggest a vid to explain why we can't lol thankyou in advance and keep up the awesome work WAI team!! :)
Starship could be equipped with a deployable cone that would protect engines during reentry. Sections of the cone fitted on the sides of starship would be pushed into place with electric engines. Then retracted or released just prior to final landing burn.
I love this for science engineering
Hello Félix, big fan.
Suggestion for new épisode, how SPACE X is good for the development of Brownsville and the area?