1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,720 I'm going to let you in on a little secret. The International Space Station 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,360 is dying. Okay, maybe that's not so much of a secret. But 3 00:00:07,639 --> 00:00:12,400 the solution is. You see, we don't need the orbital reef Axium space 4 00:00:12,519 --> 00:00:17,199 or even the Haven one because we already have the answer to our space station 5 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:23,960 needs right under our nose. This is the space race. Is the SpaceX 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,120 Starship just a space station in waiting, Well, yeah, it certainly could 7 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,920 be. In theory. The starship as we know it today is an evolution 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,200 of the Interplanetary Transport system concept that was dreamt up by Elon Musk a decade 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:42,439 ago. That vehicle had one sole purpose to ferry thousands of people from the 10 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:47,399 Earth to the planet Mars and establish a self sustaining city on the red planet. 11 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,320 The starship represents a more scaled back and practical approach to rocket design compared 12 00:00:52,359 --> 00:00:57,240 to the its, but the general mission statement remains. This is a rocket 13 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:02,920 intended to move large numbers of people on very long journeys into deep space, 14 00:01:03,359 --> 00:01:08,359 so maintaining a comfortable and habitable environment is core to the starship design. So 15 00:01:08,439 --> 00:01:12,560 therefore, it would stand to reason that if a starship can sustain a crew 16 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:18,040 on an eight month journey to Mars. Then it can be even more sustainable 17 00:01:18,239 --> 00:01:23,400 as a platform parked in low Earth orbit. Of course, the starship itself 18 00:01:23,439 --> 00:01:26,000 has yet to reach the common line without blowing up, but you know it's 19 00:01:26,079 --> 00:01:30,760 a work in progress. So giving Elon the benefit of the doubt, and 20 00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:34,719 assuming that Starship is more than just the world's largest firework, how could it 21 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:41,400 be utilized as a new space station. The biggest advantage to the Starship is 22 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,599 volume, and we don't mean noise, we mean space. Let's pull up 23 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,040 an angle from the first Starship launched to help visualize this. With the tanks 24 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,120 full of cryogenic fuel, we can see them clearly from the condensation on the 25 00:01:53,159 --> 00:01:59,680 outside, So everything above the frost line on Starship is empty space. And 26 00:01:59,719 --> 00:02:04,200 for a human scale, we can compare this video of Elon Musk standing on 27 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,560 that top platform beside the nose cone. This stuff is gigantic. People are 28 00:02:08,599 --> 00:02:14,520 like ants crawling around on this thing. So that's an eighteen meter tall fairing 29 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:19,000 and the body is nine meters wide, although it does obviously start to taper 30 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,560 down at the nose, but that still gives us four ring sections at full 31 00:02:23,599 --> 00:02:28,080 width, which equals about seven point three meters of height at the full nine 32 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,560 meter diameter. In total, that adds up to approximately one thousand cubic meters 33 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:38,000 of internal volume, which is just a bit larger than the ISS at nine 34 00:02:38,039 --> 00:02:42,800 hundred and thirty five cubic meters of space. This is a lot of room. 35 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,680 It's larger than your average five bedroom house. Now, we've seen plenty 36 00:02:46,719 --> 00:02:52,039 of different mockups with the inside of a starship laid out for a crude configuration, 37 00:02:52,159 --> 00:02:55,199 and typically that looks like a central tunnel and ladder going up the middle 38 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,560 with five or six vertical levels stacked on top of each other. And the 39 00:03:00,599 --> 00:03:04,680 reason for this design is because in the context of a mission to Mars or 40 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,560 even the Moon, starship would have to function while standing vertically on the ground 41 00:03:08,759 --> 00:03:13,840 with at least some amount of gravity acting on the crew. But in the 42 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,759 context of a space station this all changes. Now you aren't limited by the 43 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:23,759 round, narrow slices of a vertical starship. One option would be to make 44 00:03:23,759 --> 00:03:27,759 the layout submarine style, with decks that run lengthwise from nose to tail. 45 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,479 Submarines with a hull diameter of nine to eleven meters will typically have three decks 46 00:03:32,719 --> 00:03:37,520 so we can imagine the same for a starship station. I'm not sure which 47 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,759 orientation would be ideal, horizontal decks or vertical. I've never lived in a 48 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,319 spaceship, but what do you think? Let us know below. Or you 49 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,919 could even have a design with no decks at all and just make it one 50 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:53,319 big, open concept style space station. That would also be really cool. 51 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,879 You'd have so much room for zero gravity activities. You could invent some kind 52 00:03:57,879 --> 00:04:00,840 of new zero gravity sport up there. And if you could do all that 53 00:04:00,919 --> 00:04:05,360 with one starship, then why not have two. Elon Musk says that the 54 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,800 cost of these things will get down to twenty million dollars a pop, which 55 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,199 is basically free in terms of space stations. With over twenty years in orbit, 56 00:04:15,439 --> 00:04:19,199 it's been estimated that the total cost to operate the ISS has been upwards 57 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:26,040 of one hundred and fifty billion US dollars. And if the cost is so 58 00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:29,360 affordable, you could link up a ton of these ships together in a big 59 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,959 ring of like twenty, all slowly rotating around to create the effect of artificial 60 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,839 gravity, which in that case you wouldn't have much choice but to use the 61 00:04:38,959 --> 00:04:43,879 horizontal nose to Taildeck layout, so that solves that question. This is actually 62 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,000 an idea that NASA was toying with back in the day. They had thought 63 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,680 about making a big ring using the Space Shuttle's main hydrogen tank, the big 64 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,879 orange thing that the Shuttle piggybacked on into space. The Shuttle is a very 65 00:04:56,959 --> 00:05:00,519 similar size to Starship, but it lacks any of the functionality because it's just 66 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,319 a big empty tank, and Starship is an actual spaceship, So that all 67 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:12,160 sounds pretty much perfect, right, And NASA themselves even agree. They've endorsed 68 00:05:12,319 --> 00:05:16,759 the SpaceX Starship as a new orbital platform to replace the ISS. That's what 69 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,759 it says in the news, right, well wrong, So here's the scoop. 70 00:05:21,959 --> 00:05:26,319 In June twenty twenty three, NASA announced that they were putting their support 71 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:31,199 behind seven individual concepts for new space stations that would be built and operated by 72 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:36,319 private sector companies. This list includes an idea for a Starship derived space station, 73 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,639 but it also includes ideas from North of Grumman, Blue Origin, Vast, 74 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:46,199 Axiom Space, Think Orbital, and Sierra Space in no particular order. 75 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,319 So it's not like NASA is betting the farm on Starship. It's just one 76 00:05:49,519 --> 00:05:54,759 idea out of many that are being thrown at the wall, and more specifically, 77 00:05:54,879 --> 00:05:58,639 NASA isn't betting anything at all on any of these want to be space 78 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:03,079 stations. What we are talking about here are unfunded Space Act agreements as part 79 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:10,399 of NASA's collaborations for commercial space Capabilities to initiative. So what that means is 80 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:15,720 NASA will provide the selected companies with technical expertise, assessments, and data to 81 00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:20,319 assist the companies in the development of new capabilities, but there's no money involved. 82 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,360 I'm going to put it out there that we may have possibly overlooked some 83 00:06:25,399 --> 00:06:30,120 significant complications attached to the whole starship space station idea. The most glaring issue 84 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:35,000 here is size. While the internal volume of the starship might be its greatest 85 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,800 asset, it's hard to ignore the fact that two thirds of the total structure 86 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:44,560 will be unusable space. That's the area taken up by the engines, the 87 00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:47,519 plumbing system, and the propellant tanks. It's over half of the ship. 88 00:06:47,959 --> 00:06:53,319 The problem is that the starship has to be a rocket before it can be 89 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,360 a space station. There might be some engineering solution to make the lower half 90 00:06:57,399 --> 00:07:00,839 into usable space, but it would need to be really well thought through the 91 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,279 area. Just underneath the cargo firing is a methane tank and it's capped off 92 00:07:05,319 --> 00:07:10,399 by a stainless steel dome that's welded into the body of the ship. So 93 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,800 you'd have to cut that dome out before you could even access the space. 94 00:07:15,319 --> 00:07:18,560 That needs a plasma cutter or a diamond blade saw. And even if you 95 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:24,639 could get in there now you're doing home renovations in low Earth orbit. That's 96 00:07:24,639 --> 00:07:29,759 really going to work against our theory that Starship would be easy and economical as 97 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,040 a space station. The other glaring issue that we see with a Starship station 98 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:38,600 is the lack of IO or input out devices. Starship is kind of like 99 00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:42,680 a MacBook air. There aren't a lot of opportunities to plug stuff in. 100 00:07:43,079 --> 00:07:46,319 What do we mean, Well, the ISS has a lot of ports and 101 00:07:46,399 --> 00:07:50,480 accessory attachments, docking ports, airlocks, robot arms, solar panels, stuff 102 00:07:50,519 --> 00:07:56,959 like that. The exterior of a Starship is famously smooth and shiny, so 103 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,040 you have to wonder how it could ever have the functionality of a dedicated space 104 00:08:01,079 --> 00:08:05,879 station module. We know that Starship is intended to someday have a docking port 105 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,360 in the nose cone, but is there ever really going to be the ability 106 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,000 to have more access points and attachments on the body of the ship. Keeping 107 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:18,319 in mind that because a starship is a rocket, first, the exterior has 108 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:24,160 to be aerodynamically stable and sturdy enough to travel at supersonic speed through the atmosphere 109 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,800 on ascent, and since the starship is so gigantic, that's a lot of 110 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:31,080 force that it has to resist. We've seen renderings of Starship that are like 111 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:37,600 half covered in windows, which looks like an absolutely spectacular view into outer space. 112 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,480 But can a starship with windows actually survive a launch into orbit. That's 113 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:46,480 something that still needs to be tested and proven before we can really start making 114 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,360 too many assumptions. If we really want to go down the most practical and 115 00:08:50,399 --> 00:08:56,279 efficient route for leveraging the capabilities of Starship to build a space station, then 116 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,919 it's better to think of Starship more in terms of a super heavy lift lawn 117 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:05,840 vehicle with a massive payload capacity. Starship doesn't have to be a giant space 118 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,919 station because it can much more easily just deploy a giant space station, you 119 00:09:09,919 --> 00:09:15,399 wouldn't be able to use the full interior volume for habitable space, but Starship 120 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:20,440 could place one seriously gigantic module into low Earth orbit. It could be up 121 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:24,200 to eight and a half meters wide by seven meters long, or maybe ten 122 00:09:24,279 --> 00:09:28,000 meters long by seven meters wide if you want to use more of the height 123 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:33,720 of the fairing, and then just with two or three starship launches, you'd 124 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,879 have one hell of a space station in orbit. Plus SpaceX would still have 125 00:09:37,919 --> 00:09:41,120 those starships that were able to return to Earth after deploying the payload, so 126 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:46,440 it's a win win situation. With that being said, should we just park 127 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,320 a starship in orbit and call it a space station? Probably not. It 128 00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:52,159 might seem cool at first, but the more you think about it, the 129 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,480 more it just feels like a really lazy solution to a non existent problem. 130 00:09:56,759 --> 00:10:01,320 We've got loads of cool ideas for new space sta that are specifically engineered to 131 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:07,240 be orbital platforms that serve the needs of science and industry and will allow us 132 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:11,279 to better humanity through work in outer space. There are even some really cool 133 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:16,639 ideas in the Group of seven alongside Starship. A couple of them we've never 134 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,240 even really talked about on the channel before, so drop a comment if you'd 135 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,440 like to see more space station content here.