1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,440 In December twenty fifteen, SpaceX landed an orbital Falcon nine rocket booster back on 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:10,439 the Earth for the first time in the history of human spaceflight, and in 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:16,000 the eight years since, SpaceX remains the only rocket provider who can accomplish this 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,480 feat. In fact, no one else has even tried. So what's the 5 00:00:20,519 --> 00:00:24,519 deal with that? How did SpaceX come out of nowhere and leap frog over 6 00:00:24,559 --> 00:00:29,559 companies that had already been launching rockets for decades. Could it be that Elon 7 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:34,439 Musk is an unprecedented super mega techno genius. Yeah, maybe, But we 8 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,679 think that there's a much more fascinating and satisfying answer to be found here, 9 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:43,159 So let's get into it. This is the space race. If there is 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:48,520 one defining factor that sets SpaceX apart from the rest of the aerospace industry, 11 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:55,000 it is the reusable rocket. SpaceX has completely reinvented this technology in a way 12 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:00,000 that no one has ever dared to dream. But that's not entirely true, 13 00:01:00,119 --> 00:01:03,960 is it. Obviously someone down the line must have had the thought that maybe 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,040 it would be better to try and keep these gigantic rocket boosters instead of just 15 00:01:07,239 --> 00:01:11,840 sending them to the bottom of the ocean every time. And we all know 16 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,000 that the Space Shuttle was already reusable. Right, Even Blue Origin can land 17 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,439 their rocket booster the same as a Falcon nine. If you ask other leaders 18 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,879 in the aerospace industry, they'll try to tell you that reusable rockets are not 19 00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:30,640 actually any more economical or sustainable than the traditional method, and that landing a 20 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,319 booster is more of a parlor trick than an innovation. So what is it 21 00:01:34,359 --> 00:01:38,079 that really sets SpaceX apart? Then? To find the answer, we have 22 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:42,879 to go back to the beginning. The first rocket boosters to ever send a 23 00:01:42,879 --> 00:01:49,319 payload into outer space were simply reconfigured intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Titan two, 24 00:01:49,359 --> 00:01:53,840 which served as the launched booster for NASA's Project Gemini, was originally designed to 25 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:59,480 send a nine megaton nuclear warhead halfway around the world. So there's only so 26 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,519 much and realistically expect them to do. When it came time for the Apollo 27 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,360 missions to the Moon, NASA was ready to design their first bespoke orbital rocket, 28 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,879 the Saturn five. It was a humongous vehicle that to this day still 29 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:19,199 dwarfs nearly every rocket ever produced, and yet only the relatively tiny crew capsule 30 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,039 at the very top ever returned to the Earth. The rest was either dumped 31 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,400 in the ocean, left floating in space, or abandoned on the surface of 32 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:31,360 the Moon. This seems like a waste of money and resources, but in 33 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:37,800 reality, it was the preferred option for NASA to make the Saturn five entirely 34 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,919 disposable. This was the most economic choice at the time because the Saturn five 35 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,520 was only ever intended to fly around a dozen missions, and it was calculated 36 00:02:46,759 --> 00:02:52,759 that the cost to build twelve disposable rockets would still be cheaper than developing just 37 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:58,719 one reusable rocket. Besides, the engineers at NASA were already looking towards the 38 00:02:58,759 --> 00:03:01,960 future even before the first person set foot on the Moon. NASA was developing 39 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:07,879 their space Shuttle concept, a fully reusable rocket plane and booster system that would 40 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:13,080 be the true answer to sustainable human spaceflight. NASA's chief architect of the Saturn 41 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:16,639 five, Werner von Braun, perfected his concept for the Faery rocket back in 42 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:22,039 the mid nineteen fifties. The former Nazi rocket scientist would come to be known 43 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,039 in America as the father of space travel. We didn't really find out about 44 00:03:25,039 --> 00:03:29,680 the Nazi thing until after he was dead, so we can only appreciate how 45 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,680 screwed up this was in hindsight. Anyway, the Faery Rocket was going to 46 00:03:32,719 --> 00:03:37,319 be the vehicle that brought human space flight to the main stream. The three 47 00:03:37,319 --> 00:03:40,919 stage rocket would be fully reusable, with the two first booster cores coming down 48 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,159 softly on parachutes and the third stage orbiter gliding back to Earth for a runway 49 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,960 landing. We should probably do a full video someday just on the Fairy rocket 50 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,759 concept alone. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below. 51 00:03:53,159 --> 00:03:57,599 Anyway, you'll notice that this all sounds pretty similar to what the Space 52 00:03:57,599 --> 00:04:00,680 Shuttle ended up being, yet still quite di frint in the fundamental design. 53 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:05,159 While the Space Shuttle has generally been built as a reusable space plane, the 54 00:04:05,199 --> 00:04:12,120 more correct terminology is generally considered to be refurbishable. But what's the difference. 55 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,520 If you go to an airport, you can watch a plane land, unload 56 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,480 its passengers and cargo, then get rapidly cleaned, restocked, and refueled before 57 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:24,759 taking on a load of passengers and lifting off into the sky. Yet again, 58 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,240 that all happens within the span of about an hour or maybe even less, 59 00:04:29,519 --> 00:04:33,680 so we can safely say that a commercial airplane is reusable. Now if 60 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:38,439 that same airplane had to be fully disassembled, inspected, serviced, and put 61 00:04:38,439 --> 00:04:42,680 back together after every single flight, does that still fit the same definition of 62 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,279 reusable. Not so much, and it certainly doesn't sound like a sustainable way 63 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,920 to operate a commercial airline. That is the issue that NASA faced with their 64 00:04:50,959 --> 00:04:57,560 Space Shuttle. It could technically be reused, which fit the initial criteria that 65 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,079 the agency was granted by US Congress when Shuttle was funded back in nineteen seventy 66 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,360 two, but the procedure involved to actually get a Space Shuttle and its twin 67 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:11,079 booster engines back on the launch pad after being flown just one time ended up 68 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:16,600 totaling around six hundred and fifty thousand hours of combined labor spent on transporting and 69 00:05:16,639 --> 00:05:23,600 refurbishing the system. Obviously that all happened simultaneously, not sequentially, Otherwise it 70 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:28,199 would take seventy four years to refurbish one Space Shuttle. The thing about reusable 71 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,800 rockets is that they are only valuable if the frequency of launches is great enough 72 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,879 to outweigh the cost of developing and utilizing the technology. So, like we 73 00:05:36,879 --> 00:05:41,600 were saying, before. This is how NASA decided it was cheaper to launch 74 00:05:41,639 --> 00:05:46,519 twelve disposable rockets instead of developing one reusable system. And at what point does 75 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,360 a reusable rocket actually start to make sense economically? How many launches does that 76 00:05:50,399 --> 00:05:55,279 take? NASA never really had the chance to find out. Not only did 77 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:59,600 the Space Shuttle need more work to refurbish than had been expected, it never 78 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,720 flew anywhere near as frequently as NASA envisioned either. In the end, it 79 00:06:03,759 --> 00:06:08,959 would have been cheaper or at least just as expensive for NASA to throw every 80 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:13,240 Space Shuttle in the garbage after one flight and build a whole new one. 81 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:15,800 So, if you want a good answer as to why none of the commercial 82 00:06:15,879 --> 00:06:20,639 rocket companies ever tried to develop their own reusable vehicle, it's because they already 83 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:25,639 saw what happened with the Space Shuttle, not only the most expensive rocket ever 84 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,279 developed, but also the most dangerous and probably the least successful at fulfilling its 85 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,720 original design concept. And if NASA couldn't do it, then obviously no one 86 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:40,720 else would even stand a chance. Right then along came SpaceX, who decided 87 00:06:40,759 --> 00:06:44,759 that they will succeed where all others have failed. Now, to be fair, 88 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,680 SpaceX did come at the problem from a much different angle than NASA had 89 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,360 taken with the Shuttle, and in many ways their approach with the Falcon nine 90 00:06:51,399 --> 00:06:57,160 does make a lot more sense from a logistics standpoint. Something that SpaceX had 91 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,519 envisioned from the very start of their development with a Falcon one rocket was recovering 92 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:05,720 and reusing both the first stage booster and the upper stage vehicle by having them 93 00:07:05,879 --> 00:07:11,519 execute a propulsive return to launch site and landing maneuver. Now, they gave 94 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,759 up on recovering the second stage pretty early on, and that's a reasonable concession 95 00:07:15,759 --> 00:07:19,040 to make, because with a conventional rocket, the upper stages a relatively simple 96 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:24,399 vehicle that consists of just one engine, a couple of small fuel tanks, 97 00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:28,879 and a platform that holds the payload until it's time to deploy. But recovering 98 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,160 the first stage booster is a much more valuable proposition as long as you can 99 00:07:32,199 --> 00:07:39,000 make that booster fully reusable, not just refurbishable, and then fly it often 100 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,600 enough to make the extra effort worthwhile. Of course, SpaceX opted for the 101 00:07:43,639 --> 00:07:49,160 most technically challenging recovery method there is, the propulsive landing. This was unprecedented 102 00:07:49,279 --> 00:07:54,920 territory back in Werner von Bron's old ferry rocket concept. The booster stages would 103 00:07:54,959 --> 00:07:58,360 fire their engines on the return to Earth as a way to help slow them 104 00:07:58,399 --> 00:08:03,800 down, but ultimately would land in the ocean water under giant parachutes. And 105 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:09,759 NASA had successfully recovered the Space shuttles twin booster engines by simply parachuting them back 106 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:16,079 down following stage separation. So why didn't SpaceX use parachutes on their Falcon booster 107 00:08:16,639 --> 00:08:22,279 Short answer, they tried, but physics wouldn't allow it. Parachuting the shuttle 108 00:08:22,279 --> 00:08:26,000 boosters worked for two reasons. One, they were pretty small and pretty light, 109 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:28,480 being solid rocket boosters. Once all of the propellant is burnt up, 110 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:33,320 they're basically just empty metal tubes. Two, the shuttle boosters separated at a 111 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:39,039 relatively low altitude and therefore a relatively low velocity of just around forty eight hundred 112 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,559 kilometers per hour. They were only really necessary to get the shuttle off the 113 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,720 ground and through the thickest part of the atmosphere. After that, the shuttle 114 00:08:48,759 --> 00:08:54,240 still had three incredibly powerful hydrogen burning RS twenty five engines that continue pushing to 115 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:58,679 reach orbital velocity in a single core two stage rocket like the Falcon nine, 116 00:08:58,879 --> 00:09:03,519 that one booster has to impart a tremendous amount of velocity into the upper stage 117 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,120 so that the final vacuum engine can continue to accelerate the payload into orbit. 118 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:13,279 This means the Falcon booster will fly much higher and faster, reaching a speed 119 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:18,440 over eight thousand kilometers per hour at stage separation. The formula for kinetic energy 120 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,279 is one half mass times velocity squared, which, in the case of a 121 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,120 Falcon nine booster that just released an orbital payload, equals way too much energy 122 00:09:26,159 --> 00:09:31,960 for any parachute to withstand. That is why von Braun envisioned the hybrid of 123 00:09:31,039 --> 00:09:37,240 engine d acceleration combined with parachute assisted landing. But this is Elon Musk philosophy 124 00:09:37,279 --> 00:09:41,159 we're talking about now, and the best part is no part. The rocket 125 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:46,559 already has engines, so why bother adding parachutes to lower velocity when the engines 126 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:52,559 can do the exact same thing. The engines on the Falcon nine also serve 127 00:09:52,639 --> 00:09:56,279 a dual purpose as a free heat shield to protect the booster as it re 128 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,720 enters the atmosphere. So in the case of a drone ship land ending scenario, 129 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,399 the Falcon nine booster is going to coast up and clear through the atmosphere, 130 00:10:03,639 --> 00:10:07,679 crossing over the carbon line and technically being in space for about a minute 131 00:10:07,759 --> 00:10:11,799 or so. But since it's not traveling at orbital velocity, the booster is 132 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:16,519 eventually going to fall back down. As this begins to happen, the booster 133 00:10:16,639 --> 00:10:20,960 is going to flip around and point its engines in the opposite direction to perform 134 00:10:22,039 --> 00:10:26,559 a re entry burn. The maneuver is going to start killing a ton of 135 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,840 the booster's velocity, which is important, but even more critical, the thrust 136 00:10:30,919 --> 00:10:35,519 from the engines will create a force field underneath the rocket that protects the metal 137 00:10:35,759 --> 00:10:39,279 from the extreme heat of reentry. That's when you see the crazy jellyfish looking 138 00:10:39,279 --> 00:10:43,559 cloud of smoke and fire build up underneath the rocket as it's coming back down. 139 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,919 It looks awesome. Then the booster will coast down through the atmosphere, 140 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:54,440 losing more velocity to friction as it's guided in by aerodynamic gridfins. At the 141 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,399 last moment, the engines will reignite one more time to make sure that the 142 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:03,000 booster velocity reaches zero. At the moment that the landing legs touched down on 143 00:11:03,039 --> 00:11:07,919 the floating platform. This is a procedure that SpaceX has now repeated well over 144 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:11,960 a hundred times, and these days they make it look pretty easy, but 145 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,519 that was not always the case. It took SpaceX a lot of trial and 146 00:11:16,799 --> 00:11:20,440 error and multiple upgrade cycles to the Falcon nine before they could truly stick the 147 00:11:20,519 --> 00:11:24,960 landing. Most people might not realize that the Falcon nine was not a genuine 148 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,360 reusable rocket until SpaceX achieved its final form in twenty eighteen, known as the 149 00:11:31,399 --> 00:11:35,279 Block five. Most rockets don't really go through an active development cycle once they 150 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,919 begin operation. The design they have on the first successful launch is more than 151 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,879 likely going to be what they stick with throughout the life cycle of the product, 152 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:50,320 and that's because rockets are very temperamental and dangerous vehicles. Anytime you change 153 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,039 a design, you introduce an unknown variable which could then in turn lead to 154 00:11:54,120 --> 00:12:00,559 a failure, and no one wants that unless your SpaceX. Another of elon 155 00:12:00,639 --> 00:12:05,320 philosophy, if things are not failing, you are not innovating enough. Let's 156 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,399 start with the Falcon nine Version one. The first iteration of this rocket was 157 00:12:09,519 --> 00:12:13,279 actually a lot smaller, at just about forty six meters in total length and 158 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,559 a lot less powerful at just one point one million pounds of thrust. Even 159 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:22,799 though SpaceX had already intended to make falconine a reusable booster, this version didn't 160 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,559 receive any of the necessary gridfins or landing legs to make that possible. They 161 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:31,279 wanted to make sure that it went up properly before they thought too much about 162 00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:35,759 getting it back down. This Falcon nine flew five missions, including one to 163 00:12:35,879 --> 00:12:39,679 send a cargo Dragon capsule to the ISS. Next up is Falcon nine Version 164 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:45,600 one point one. This variant grew significantly to over sixty eight meters in length. 165 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:50,120 It was the first to utilize the Merlin one D engine and the circular 166 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,080 octaweb engine layout. This increased the total thrust to one point three million pounds 167 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,879 total. That extracize and power made this the first Falcon nine capable of a 168 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,480 controlled return to Earth, because it could get a payload into orbit with enough 169 00:13:03,519 --> 00:13:09,919 fuel left over to perform the necessary re entry and landing burns. SpaceX began 170 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:13,240 experimenting with this capability in small scale tests, where they would attempt to bring 171 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,879 the rocket down for soft landings over the open ocean. It wasn't until the 172 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:24,240 CRS three mission to resupply the ISS. In April twenty fourteen that the Falcon 173 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,840 nine received its first set of landing legs, and then for CRS five in 174 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,399 January twenty fifteen, the first set of gridfins were added to achieve more precise 175 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,600 control when free falling through the atmosphere. This gave SpaceX the confidence to attempt 176 00:13:37,639 --> 00:13:43,440 their first ever drone ship landing on that same flight. It didn't work, 177 00:13:43,519 --> 00:13:48,639 but they got surprisingly close for something that was thought to be genuinely impossible at 178 00:13:48,639 --> 00:13:52,720 the time. None of the Version one point one rockets ever successfully landed, 179 00:13:52,919 --> 00:13:58,639 and then in June twenty fifteen, the Falcon nine experienced a mid air failure 180 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:03,200 and broke apart. This gave SpaceX enough pause to shut down operations until they 181 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:07,399 were able to come back with another revision to the booster design. Falcon nine 182 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,960 Version one point two is also sometimes referred to as Falcon nine Full thrust, 183 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:18,559 just slightly longer, now reaching seventy meters in length and getting a massive increase 184 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,720 in power to one point seven million pounds of thrust. Most of this power 185 00:14:22,759 --> 00:14:26,879 gain came from SpaceX cooling their liquid oxygen and rocket fuel to lower temperatures, 186 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:33,519 which increases their energy density. This is where SpaceX really followed through on their 187 00:14:33,559 --> 00:14:37,000 promise to learn through failure, because the first launch of the Falcon nine full 188 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:43,919 thrust also marked the first successful landing of an orbital rocket booster in the history 189 00:14:43,039 --> 00:14:48,879 of spaceflight, with the booster touching down onto a SpaceX landing pad at Cape 190 00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:52,679 Canaveral. The full thrust went through a series of small tweaks and variations over 191 00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:58,360 the years as SpaceX prepared to finalize the rocket into its ultimate form. The 192 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,720 reason that they had to do this in order to get the Falcon nine crew 193 00:15:01,799 --> 00:15:05,840 raided by NASA. It's fine to play around with variables when there is only 194 00:15:05,879 --> 00:15:09,440 money and equipment on the line, but once it's agreed that a rocket is 195 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:11,879 safe to carry human beings, then you have to stop messing with it. 196 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:18,720 So we arrive at the Falcon nine Block five. It's the exact same size 197 00:15:18,759 --> 00:15:22,600 as the previous version and only slightly more powerful at one point eight million pounds 198 00:15:22,639 --> 00:15:28,399 of total thrust. The most obvious visual que to identify these variants is the 199 00:15:28,519 --> 00:15:31,840 black paint in the middle and on the landing legs. The real upgrades here 200 00:15:31,879 --> 00:15:37,759 are being made to increase the overall reusability of the rocket booster. Remember we 201 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,799 talked about the difference between reusable and refurbishable. The Falcon nine full thrust was 202 00:15:41,919 --> 00:15:48,879 refurbishable in some situations, but for the most part SpaceX only recovered those boosters. 203 00:15:48,919 --> 00:15:52,519 They didn't reuse them very often. The first SpaceX launched to use a 204 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:58,080 refurbished Falcon nine happened in March twenty seventeen, and it made use of a 205 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,879 booster that had been recovered over one year prior. As far as changes with 206 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,799 the Block five, SpaceX upgraded the turbopumps inside their Merlin engines when it was 207 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,480 discovered that the units formed very small micro cracks after being launched and recovered. 208 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,200 The grid fins on the side of the rocket were also made stronger with an 209 00:16:15,279 --> 00:16:19,480 upgrade from aluminum to titanium metal. At the time, these fins were the 210 00:16:19,559 --> 00:16:26,600 largest single pieces of forged titanium ever made and therefore incredibly expensive, but this 211 00:16:26,679 --> 00:16:30,000 gave them a much greater resistance to the heat of reentry and greater control over 212 00:16:30,039 --> 00:16:34,399 the rocket's angle of attack as it coasted through the air. The entire body 213 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:40,320 of the Falcon nine was given a thermal protective coating that reduced heat absorption across 214 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:45,519 the entire rocket. In addition, a new reusable and replaceable liquid cooled heat 215 00:16:45,559 --> 00:16:48,519 shield was added to the base of the rocket for greater protection of the engines 216 00:16:48,559 --> 00:16:52,840 and plumbing system. The Block five landing legs were upgraded to allow them to 217 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:57,559 both extend and retract. The previous legs actually couldn't fold back up after the 218 00:16:57,639 --> 00:17:03,639 rocket was recovered. They had to be unbolted and removed. SpaceX also made 219 00:17:03,639 --> 00:17:07,559 an improvement to the cpovs on the Block five. These are ultra high pressure 220 00:17:07,559 --> 00:17:12,039 tanks that are wrapped in carbon fiber. They are used to store helium gas 221 00:17:12,039 --> 00:17:17,759 that maintains pressure inside fuel tanks as they empty. And a COPV failure was 222 00:17:17,799 --> 00:17:22,480 linked to both of the previous Falconine explosions, one in air and one on 223 00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:26,279 the launchpad. It's been five years now since SpaceX made all of those reusability 224 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,720 upgrades to the Falcon nine, So what do they have to show for it? 225 00:17:30,759 --> 00:17:34,480 Did they make a truly reusable rocket earlier this summer? On July tenth, 226 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:40,920 SpaceX successfully launched and landed Falcon nine booster B one zero five eight for 227 00:17:41,039 --> 00:17:45,440 the sixteenth time. This is the same booster that launched astronauts Dug Hurley and 228 00:17:45,559 --> 00:17:51,240 Bob Benkin to the International Space Station in May twenty twenty, the first time 229 00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:56,000 a crew had ever flown on a SpaceX rocket. So that's sixteen flights in 230 00:17:56,039 --> 00:18:00,440 just over three years. SpaceX had a ridge only believe that the Falcon nine 231 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:04,440 Block five would be good for up to ten launches and landings, but that 232 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:10,839 lifespan projection increased to fifteen launches in twenty twenty two, and right now SpaceX 233 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:15,279 has certified B one zero five eight for up to twenty launches, and based 234 00:18:15,319 --> 00:18:19,119 on extended life vibration testing by SpaceX engineers, they think that the Block five 235 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:25,720 could withstand as many as sixty launches and landings. For comparison, the Space 236 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:30,440 Shuttle Discovery completed thirty nine missions, more than any other Shuttle in the fleet. 237 00:18:30,759 --> 00:18:34,079 On average, there were only between five and eight Space Shuttle launches in 238 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:38,799 any given year, with one hundred and thirty five total missions spread across thirty 239 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:44,759 years and five vehicles, So that's not a whole lot of precedent to work 240 00:18:44,759 --> 00:18:48,599 with, But according to the numbers that we do have, yeah, the 241 00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:52,400 Falcon nine is an extremely reusable rocket. Booster, and a good one at 242 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,640 that. So now all we have left to do is sit and wait for 243 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:03,759 the next leap forward to begin. The Starship take reusable rockets to the next level.