1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,839 On today's episode, we are getting into the latest space news, including the 2 00:00:04,919 --> 00:00:10,199 evolution of Starship is happening right now at Boca Chica. Construction of the gigantic 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,080 Starship factory steps into its next phase, and a new satellite startup wants to 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,960 leverage the power of super Heavy to launch bigger, heavier equipment. This is 5 00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:26,719 the space race. Star based Boca Chica has seen NonStop activity since the explosive 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,960 first test launch of their Starship Heavylift rocket on April twentieth. Construction work to 7 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:37,359 clear the damage and add reinforcements to the launch apparatus are proceeding at a truly 8 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:43,320 incredible pace, but the spectacle of the destroyed launchpad has somewhat overshadowed the work 9 00:00:43,359 --> 00:00:47,119 being done right now to progress the Starship design to the next level. Star 10 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,840 Shape observers have been keeping a careful eye on the work being done in the 11 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,840 background. So in addition to comments from CEO Elon Musk about Starship's future, 12 00:00:57,119 --> 00:01:00,560 we also have some interesting new images of star Ship hardware to think about. 13 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,599 Let's start with Elon's comments because they give a bit of a peak into the 14 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,920 future of the Starship platform. Just two weeks ago. On May thirteenth, 15 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:15,439 Elon posted the first acknowledgement that a third variant of the SpaceX Raptor engine was 16 00:01:15,519 --> 00:01:19,400 not just in the works. It had just been test fired for the first 17 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,239 time. Maxing out at three hundred and fifty bar of pressure and two hundred 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,719 and sixty nine tons of thrust. The Raptor V three was a big improvement 19 00:01:26,799 --> 00:01:32,719 on the already impressive Raptor V two engine that had powered super Heavy and Starship 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:38,200 thus far. The real question was why did the most powerful rocket ever designed 21 00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:42,560 need even stronger engines. The simple answer is that SpaceX has plans to lift 22 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:48,400 much heavier payloads into orbit than the current configuration would allow, and on May 23 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:53,359 twenty fourth, Elon all but confirmed that hypothesis. In response to a post 24 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,159 from the Everyday Astronaut about a comparison video that looks at the hardware of Starship 25 00:01:57,239 --> 00:02:01,480 versus the Soviet and One, previously one of the most powerful rockets to ever 26 00:02:01,519 --> 00:02:06,959 fly, Elon slid into the thread to point out that Starship's payload is two 27 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,360 hundred and fifty to three hundred tons to orbit in its expendable mode. The 28 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:15,639 configuration that sacrifices the super heavies landing fuel in order to push the payload into 29 00:02:15,719 --> 00:02:21,360 an even higher velocity. This is much higher than the current one hundred and 30 00:02:21,439 --> 00:02:25,240 fifty tons that the vehicle is rated for when fully reusable, and he continued 31 00:02:25,319 --> 00:02:30,319 saying, the improved thrust from presumably the Raptor V three would enable about six 32 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:36,439 thousand tons of liftoff mass. That's a thousand tons more than the current configurations. 33 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,039 So these new raptors will let the starship about double its payload capacity. 34 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,919 For those doing the math, the extra seven hundred to eight hundred and fifty 35 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,520 tons of liftoff mass will be for the additional fuel needed to accomplish this, 36 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,400 and of course the extra mass of bigger fuel tanks and the general size increase 37 00:02:53,439 --> 00:02:58,560 of the rocket overall, because the rocket will have to increase in size to 38 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:04,479 accommodate all that mass, so we would have to imagine an even taller starship 39 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,000 stack. Now, this seems to be pretty solidly pointing to the idea that 40 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:14,960 SpaceX is interested in hauling very heavy objects into space, huge things like larger 41 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:21,280 station parts, bigger scientific hardware, and even heavier and more specialized starship variants 42 00:03:21,319 --> 00:03:25,240 like fuel filled versions. For use in orbit as floating gas stations and longer 43 00:03:25,319 --> 00:03:30,719 duration habitation modules that could take humans further into our Solar System. One of 44 00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:36,439 the most pressing things SpaceX could want this upgrade four would be to haul extra 45 00:03:36,479 --> 00:03:39,879 fuel for their lunar Lander Artemist three. The first mission to bring humans back 46 00:03:39,879 --> 00:03:44,439 to the surface of the Moon will be using the starship Lander after all, 47 00:03:44,639 --> 00:03:47,240 and because NASA doesn't expect to have the Lunar Gateway Station up and running by 48 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,759 then, SpaceX will need to haul enough fuel to get to the Moon, 49 00:03:52,039 --> 00:03:55,240 rendezvous with the Artemist three O'Ryan capsule, land the astronauts on the Moon, 50 00:03:55,439 --> 00:04:00,599 and get back into orbit again to hand the crew back to O'Ryan for its 51 00:04:00,599 --> 00:04:04,000 trip back home. The extra fuel storage SpaceX could bring on this mission if 52 00:04:04,039 --> 00:04:08,840 they have a Raptor three array, would certainly give the team some breathing room. 53 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,039 And speaking of the starship Lander, Artemis three is scheduled to launch in 54 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:17,560 twenty twenty five. That's only two years to get starship operational, let alone 55 00:04:17,639 --> 00:04:23,160 make a Lander variant with a crew cabin and an elevator. We haven't even 56 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:27,639 seen parts for this new starship yet, but that might have just changed. 57 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,480 Thanks to all the excitement at the star based launch site, more drones have 58 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:35,160 been flying around getting pictures lately, and some of them have been catching glimpses 59 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:42,240 of some interesting nonstandard hardware. Now. Obviously, SpaceX is constantly coming up 60 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,360 with new tweaks to their designs which allow for greater efficiency and strength, and 61 00:04:46,439 --> 00:04:48,199 a couple of things I'm sure they don't want us to know about yet, 62 00:04:48,439 --> 00:04:54,720 so speculating on what all of these pieces are is probably premature. But the 63 00:04:54,759 --> 00:04:58,879 white dome and the reinforced ring do look like they could belong to the Starship 64 00:04:58,959 --> 00:05:02,839 Lander, which will be painted NASA white and feature a ring of thrusters to 65 00:05:02,959 --> 00:05:08,000 help land on the Moon without blowing a crater in the surface like Super Heavy 66 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:12,680 did to the launch pad back in April. But aside from looking non standard, 67 00:05:12,879 --> 00:05:15,639 there's not much more to go off of. But the timing is suspicious. 68 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,079 If SpaceX intends to nail that NASA schedule and have a Lander ready for 69 00:05:20,199 --> 00:05:25,560 twenty twenty five, we should be seeing at least parts for a prototype coming 70 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:30,079 together for testing soon. But that plus the new engine really signal that big 71 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,600 changes are happening to the Starship design. It's pretty wild that the SpaceX team 72 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:39,360 built the strongest rocket ever made and then decided it wasn't strong enough. We 73 00:05:39,399 --> 00:05:43,160 can't wait to see what they intend on lifting with all that extra thrust power. 74 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,279 With all the repair work being done at the SpaceX Pokachika launch facility, 75 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:51,560 it's easy to forget that the site has been under near constant construction since twenty 76 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:57,800 nineteen, the expansion of buildings desperately trying to keep pace with the company's need 77 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,600 to design and construct new star prototypes. Over the course of the last four 78 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,399 years, star Base has seen the addition of test stands, rocket construction bays, 79 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:11,879 and even the gigantic tents that are currently used for the more delicate parts 80 00:06:11,879 --> 00:06:16,000 of the starship construction. But in March twenty twenty two, SpaceX broke ground 81 00:06:16,079 --> 00:06:21,600 on something new, something more permanent. It's called star Factory, and just 82 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:27,279 like with CEO Elon Musk's other company, Tesla, it would graduate star Base 83 00:06:27,439 --> 00:06:32,160 from the disconnected tent and bay facilities dotted around the site now to one gigantic 84 00:06:32,199 --> 00:06:39,279 factory capable of assembling the world's largest rocket. The star Factory is meant to 85 00:06:39,319 --> 00:06:44,240 replace the current setup with a permanent structure large enough to house the assembly of 86 00:06:44,399 --> 00:06:49,079 many super heavy boosters and Starship vehicles. A three hundred thousand square foot building 87 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,879 with a ceiling about sixty feet tall should do that job nicely, and they've 88 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:59,680 just hit a milestone. Recent aerial photography of the site shows that many of 89 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:04,120 the Phase one footings are already in place. Footings are concrete pads sunk into 90 00:07:04,199 --> 00:07:09,639 the ground which hold a building up at Boca Chica. These are those smaller 91 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,079 concrete squares you can see in the images. Now, don't be fooled. 92 00:07:13,319 --> 00:07:15,959 Each of those squares has been poured around a pile sort of like an underground 93 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,519 column that transfers the load of a building into the bedrock SpaceX is actually putting 94 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:27,199 similar piles into their pads surrounding the orbital launch mount to increase its stability. 95 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,560 From the pictures, we can also see that large sections of the foundation pad 96 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,519 have been poured at the star Factory site as well, meaning we're not too 97 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:40,480 far away from seeing the steel skeleton of the building being assembled. Structures like 98 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,319 this tend to go up very quickly, especially in humid locations like Boca Chica. 99 00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:48,160 But from older discussion of the size of this new factory. It looks 100 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:51,920 like this isn't even half of what the final structure will look like, and 101 00:07:51,959 --> 00:07:58,680 that means some of the older buildings in these photos are bound for demolition eventually. 102 00:07:58,759 --> 00:08:01,560 SpaceX plans to disc assemble the tents as well, but not until the 103 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,319 Star Factory is up and running, of course, and they might even keep 104 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,040 them up for a bit afterwards to help with the production load that will likely 105 00:08:09,079 --> 00:08:13,240 come with the first burst of Starship activity that is going to hit the company 106 00:08:13,279 --> 00:08:18,480 once they get their new vehicle certified for regular flights. For now, though, 107 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,240 it looks like SpaceX is taking advantage of all the construction equipment and personnel 108 00:08:22,279 --> 00:08:26,279 being on site for the landing pad repairs to start making the push to get 109 00:08:26,319 --> 00:08:31,679 Star Factories foundation and steel structure built. Phase one shouldn't see much difficulty with 110 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:35,840 its construction, but the rest of the building will have to wait until SpaceX 111 00:08:35,879 --> 00:08:41,440 can clear the older structures off the site. Starship hasn't even made it to 112 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:46,080 space yet, but companies are lining up to make use of the gigantic rockets 113 00:08:46,159 --> 00:08:50,960 lift capabilities. Last week, we talked about Vast and their partnership with SpaceX 114 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:56,039 to sprint ahead of all the other space launch companies and create the first commercial 115 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,519 space station, Haven one, using the Falconine first, and then the Starship 116 00:09:00,519 --> 00:09:05,120 to deliver larger modules once it becomes available. Well, not to be outdone, 117 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,919 a new startup called K two is planning to use Starship's enormouslyft capabilities to 118 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:16,240 help put some very large satellites in orbit very cheaply. So K two wants 119 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,879 to develop a system of satellite buses, smaller vehicles that get deployed with satellites 120 00:09:20,879 --> 00:09:24,840 and ferry them to their destinations once in space. Think about Rocket Labs Photon 121 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,960 Kicker stage and you'll have the right idea. The K two brothers aren't attempting 122 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:33,840 to get satellites into lunar orbit just yet, so their first pass at this 123 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:39,159 will likely be a simple tug with efficient thrusters about one ton to fifteen tons, 124 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,639 with extra communications equipment to ensure the payloads get to where they are going. 125 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,360 That sort of system could certainly work with Starship, and it would be 126 00:09:46,399 --> 00:09:52,159 flexible enough to handle various sizes of payload. Founded by two brothers, K 127 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,519 two believes there's a gap in the market for this sort of system. Specifically, 128 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:01,600 they want to facilitate the launch of some very large gear or a massive 129 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,879 amount of smaller vehicles. The idea is that Starship, once completed, we'll 130 00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:09,960 be able to help bring down the costs in a similar way to the Falcon 131 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:13,039 nine, which is the thought behind Starship. For sure. SpaceX wants to 132 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:18,679 make a rapidly reusable system with Starship, with early goals from the company CEO 133 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,840 Elon Musk saying that he envisions a thirty minute turnaround between launches of the rocket, 134 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,159 and the brothers aren't wrong about there being a gap in the industry for 135 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:33,120 larger payload maneuvering as well. Vehicles like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope 136 00:10:33,279 --> 00:10:37,080 are difficult to service right now without the old shuttles, and maneuvering around larger 137 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,759 objects like the many station modules from several companies that will be launching this decade 138 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:48,519 is also difficult. Starship can't really waste fuel moving station bits around, especially 139 00:10:48,519 --> 00:10:52,639 when it's not designed for that, and with most of the industry fighting over 140 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,639 mini SAT and small launch vehicles right now, this is a pretty safe move 141 00:10:56,759 --> 00:10:56,879 for a new company.