1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome back to the Deep Dive and today, wow, we have a 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,920 massive stack of updates on the Starship program. 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,880 It really feels like like the company has just fundamentally 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:12,560 changed gears. It really does. 5 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,440 We're not just watching big rockets explode anymore, are we? 6 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:17,360 No, not at all. It's a completely different 7 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,400 phase. It feels less about the 8 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:25,640 spectacle, you know, the big fireball, and more about the the 9 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,120 ruthlessness of the engineering. Ruthlessness. 10 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:29,960 That is the perfect word for it, right? 11 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,640 It is. The pace has shifted from let's 12 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,680 see what happens to something more like we need to make this 13 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,720 boring. And we have ton of data today 14 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,040 covering what, 4 critical pillars, Yeah. 4 big ones. 15 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,080 The survival testing of Booster 19. 16 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,920 A pretty physics defying update to the Raptor engines. 17 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,160 A really aggressive corporate acquisition. 18 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:50,440 Oh yeah, we have to get to that one. 19 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:53,560 And a strategic pivot that basically changes the road map 20 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,480 from Mars direct to Moon first. That moon pivot is the one that 21 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,920 really got me because, you know, the goal is Mars. 22 00:00:58,920 --> 00:00:59,880 It's on all the T. Shirt. 23 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:02,000 It always has been. But we're going to find out why 24 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,720 maybe, just maybe, taking a detour to the moon is the only 25 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:08,880 way to make Mars happen in our lifetime. 26 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,240 Exactly. And that's the mission for this 27 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,440 deep dive to connect the technical updates, you know, the 28 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:15,960 hardware. The nuts and bolts. 29 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,120 To the bigger strategy, the dream of making us multi 30 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,600 planetary. OK, so let's get into it. 31 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,320 Let's start with the big one, the heavy hitter booster 19 the. 32 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,800 Juggernaut. Yeah, the sources are calling it 33 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,280 a juggernaut, but to me, I mean, it looks just like the others. 34 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:34,440 It's a big shiny grain silo. What's so different here? 35 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,680 Well, it's all about what's under the skin. 36 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,440 Booster 19 is what the sources are calling a version three 37 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:41,360 prototype. So not just a small tweet. 38 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,200 No, this is a structural overhaul and to get why that 39 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:46,880 matters, you have to look at what happened to its 40 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,520 predecessor, Booster 18. Right, Booster 18, that one, 41 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:52,280 that one didn't have a great day. 42 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,520 To put it my wildly it arrived at the Massey test site, which 43 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,160 is basically their torture chamber for these things, and it 44 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,800 ruptured almost immediately. So it didn't even get into the 45 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,320 real testing. It didn't even make it deep into 46 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:05,640 the campaign. It failed structurally before 47 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:07,600 the real pressure was even on. Wow. 48 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,960 A day one failure that's a nightmare for any engineering 49 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:12,800 team. It is so you can imagine when 50 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,320 Booster 19 rolled out, they were not taking any chances. 51 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,080 They had to prove that this version 3 design fixed whatever 52 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,040 fatal flaw killed Booster 18. So they just threw everything 53 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:24,840 at. Me everything. 54 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:28,080 The sources described the testing regime as nothing short 55 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:31,680 of an impossible test run. Impossible test run. 56 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,800 I love that I was reading the logs on the frosty campaign. 57 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,400 It just sounds miserable for a piece of metal. 58 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,280 Frosty is an understatement. They're running tests daily. 59 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,240 We're talking cryo tests where they load it with freezing cold 60 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,800 propellant. And that stuff is what, hundreds 61 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:47,400 of degrees below 0? Oh yeah. 62 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,640 Liquid oxygen, liquid methane. When you pump that into a steel 63 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:52,960 tank, the metal shrinks. It gets brittle. 64 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,080 It wants to crack. And then right after freezing 65 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,840 it's solid. They do the opposite. 66 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:58,640 Right. They hit it with ambient 67 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:01,280 pressure tests. They fill it with gas at normal 68 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,480 temperatures to check for leaks. So you're freezing it, then 69 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,120 warming it, banding and contracting this giant structure 70 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,280 over and over again. That's thermal shock. 71 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:12,920 It should be creating micro fractures all over the place. 72 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:14,960 It should be. And then there was this one 73 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:16,720 moment. A photographer named Jordan 74 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,600 caught it on February 6th. The depressing. 75 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:22,480 Oh I saw the pictures. The description was just wild. 76 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,280 The rapid depressurization event, it's where they simulate 77 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,200 A catastrophic failure. They fully pressurize the tanks. 78 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,680 We're talking millions of pounds of force pushing outwards. 79 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:35,720 And then just RIP the vents open. 80 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,040 Just like that, and the photos show these massive chunks of ice 81 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,760 just shaking loose and falling off the booster, with these 82 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,480 heavy vapor clouds sinking all around it. 83 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:46,840 It sounds incredibly violent. It is. 84 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,560 The air around the rocket just instantly condenses because of 85 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,280 the cold gas. It creates this heavy sinking 86 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:54,320 fog. Visually it's stunning. 87 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:55,800 But from an engineering standpoint. 88 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,840 Even more impressive, usually when you stress a new airframe 89 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,480 this hard, especially after the last one failed so badly, you 90 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,080 expect to see something. A sensor trips, you see a crack, 91 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,360 something. And with Booster 19. 92 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,160 The word used in the report was unimpressed. 93 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,080 The booster was unimpressed. It just marched through these 94 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,279 tests without a single visible issue. 95 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,560 No leaks, no ruptures, nothing. That is an insane turn around to 96 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,720 go from a booster that literally bursts on arrival to one that 97 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,400 just shrugs off that kind of test. 98 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,960 It tells you the design changes in version 3 work. 99 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,240 The cryo campaign is done. It's already back in the mega 100 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,120 Bay getting its engines installed. 101 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,360 OK, but let's go back to that failure on Booster 18. 102 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:38,360 You said it ruptured. Why? 103 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:40,400 What was the actual point of failure? 104 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,240 So this leads us right into our second pillar vertical 105 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,440 integration. The failure of 18 wasn't 106 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,800 actually the main tank design, it was a COPV rupture. 107 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,800 COPV OK, stop. We need to explain that because 108 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,040 it sounds like super generic aerospace jargon, but what these 109 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:56,960 things are is kind of terrifying. 110 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,080 They really are. COPD stands for Composite 111 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,160 Overwrapped Pressure Vessel. So think of like a high pressure 112 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:07,360 scuba tank, but instead of just steel, it's wrapped in layers 113 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,400 and layers of carbon fiber. They hold gases like helium or 114 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,240 nitrogen at thousands of PSI. So they're basically controlled 115 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,400 bombs strapped to the inside of the rocket. 116 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:22,240 Effectively, yes, and if one of those let's go, it releases an 117 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,400 enormous amount of energy, it can easily take out the whole 118 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,840 stage, which is probably what happened with Booster 18. 119 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,480 So SpaceX bought these tanks from an outside supplier. 120 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,560 The part fails. The normal corporate playbook is 121 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,880 you call the supplier, you yell, you demand a refund. 122 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,200 Maybe you sue them, or you find a new vendor and then you wait 123 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,000 six months for them to spin up and build you a new prototype. 124 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,920 But this is SpaceX. So their solution wasn't to ask 125 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,520 for a fix, their solution was to buy the company. 126 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:50,160 Wait, they actually bought the supplier? 127 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,640 Yep. They acquired the aerospace 128 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,680 subsidiary of a company called Hexagon Puris ASA for $15 129 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,160 million. This was the company making 130 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,800 those exact cylinders. That is the ultimate I'll do it 131 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,160 myself move. It's not by the part, it's by 132 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,400 the factory. It's classic vertical 133 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,480 integration and it makes perfect sense. 134 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,480 First, you just eliminate all the communication lag. 135 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,640 No more waiting for emails. Exactly. 136 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,040 You don't have SpaceX engineers emailing some external vendor 137 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,200 about a valve fitting and waiting three days for a reply. 138 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:22,480 Those engineers are now in the same building. 139 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,800 They're on the internal Slack. Right, the per my last e-mail 140 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:27,120 delay is gone. Gone. 141 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,760 But more importantly, it lets you customize everything. 142 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,720 Before Hexagon was making these cylinders for general aerospace, 143 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:36,680 you know, satellites, maybe other rockets. 144 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:38,280 They were kind of off the shelf. They know. 145 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,960 Now they're making them specifically for Starship. 146 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,400 They can change the carbon fiber weave to handle the exact 147 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:46,560 thermal stresses of a Starship launch. 148 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,680 They're not stuck with what's in a catalog. 149 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,480 That shows just how serious they are about quality control, the 150 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,800 sources hinted that may be previous issues were just, you 151 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,600 know, ground handling mistakes or something lost in translation 152 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:58,240 and by. Bringing it in house, they 153 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,240 control everything. If a faulty part is holding up a 154 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,240 multi billion dollar program, well spending 15,000,000 to own 155 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,120 the solution is actually pretty cheap. 156 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,080 It's an. Investment in speed And Speaking 157 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,440 of speed and power, let's shift to the engines, the shiny new 158 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:15,880 toys, the. Raptor threes, yes. 159 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:19,960 The reports say SpaceX just produced its 100th Raptor 3. 160 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,400 I think it was engine #1O2 spotted down at McGregor and. 161 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,080 This is where the engineering nerds, myself included, start to 162 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:27,680 get really excited. Well, count. 163 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,880 Me in because the stats on Raptor 3 versus Raptor 2, they 164 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,600 just look impossible on paper. It's smaller, it's lighter, but 165 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,080 it's way more powerful. How does that even work? 166 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:39,160 It's a. Total paradox. 167 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,440 OK, let's run the numbers. Raptor 2 was an incredible 168 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,840 engine, pushing around 230 metric tons of force. 169 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,000 A workhorse. But to hold a workhorse Raptor 170 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,720 3, it's hitting about 280 metric puns. 171 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,200 That's a 22% jump in raw power. Do they? 172 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,520 Just turn up the dial. How do you get that in a? 173 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,040 Way yeah, they crank the chamber pressure they went from 300 bar 174 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,640 in Raptor 2 up to 330 bar in Raptor 3. 175 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:03,520 Some tests are even hitting 350. That's. 176 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:05,400 Just I can't even imagine that kind of pressure. 177 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,440 It's like having an elephant stand on your gum, but the 178 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,040 elephant is also on fire. That's. 179 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,040 A pretty good analogy. Now, usually when you pump that 180 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,480 much more fuel and pressure through an engine, you just 181 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,960 destroy your efficiency, yeah. Dumping fuel for raw power like 182 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,520 a drag racer. And the mass flow, which is the 183 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,360 amount of fuel rushing through it did go up. 184 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,800 It went from about 1600 kilograms per second to almost 185 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:26,920 2000. So it. 186 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,960 Is guzzling more fuel it? Is but, and this is the really 187 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,840 crazy insight, the specific impulse or ISP which is the 188 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,960 efficiency metric also went up it. 189 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:39,320 Got more efficient? Yes. 190 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,600 It went from about 330 seconds to 350 seconds. 191 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:44,760 That's a 5% increase in efficiency. 192 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:46,960 Hold on. It's burning more fuel per 193 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:48,760 second, but it's getting more thrust. 194 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,720 For every drop of fuel, it burns you. 195 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:52,960 Got it. Despite that higher flow rate, 196 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,200 it actually burns about 4% less fuel for every ton of push it 197 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:57,920 generates. It's leaner and meaner. 198 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:00,280 How is that? Possible more power and better 199 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:01,720 mileage at the same time it comes. 200 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,040 Down to how they built it. If you look at a picture of a 201 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,560 Raptor 2 engine, it's just this tangled mess of plumbing. 202 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:09,040 Oh yeah. It looks like the back of a 203 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,280 washing machine exploded. Tubes and wires everywhere. 204 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:14,920 Total chaos. Now look at Raptor 3. 205 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,960 It looks naked. It looks like 1 sleek piece of 206 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:18,880 metal. OK, yeah. 207 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,480 Where do? All the pipes go they're. 208 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:23,880 Inside the walls of the engine, they're using this advanced 3D 209 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,560 printing to print the cooling channels and the manifolds 210 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,760 directly into the structure so. Instead of welding a tube onto 211 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,160 the outside, the tube is now a tunnel running through the metal 212 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:35,480 skin. Exactly. 213 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,760 And because of that one change, they got a roughly 75% reduction 214 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,520 in joints 70. 5% fewer joints, yeah, OK. 215 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:45,360 That is the killer stat for me, right? 216 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:47,000 Think about the plumbing in your house. 217 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:48,360 Where does it leak? Always. 218 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,520 At the connection, the elbow, the valve. 219 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,800 Never in the middle of a straight pipe, it's always at 220 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,360 the joint. By basically printing the system 221 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,160 as one piece, they just deleted 75% of the potential failure 222 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,240 points and I'm. Guessing fewer joints also means 223 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,360 less weight, A huge. Weight reduction Raptor 2 was 224 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:10,200 about 1630 kilograms. Raptor 3 is down to 1525. 225 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,480 They shaved over 100 kilos off the engine Which? 226 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,960 Doesn't sound like a lot until you remember there are 30, three 227 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:19,880 of them on the booster. Exactly. 100 kilos times 33 228 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:25,760 engines is 3.3 metric tons. That's 3.3 tons of free payload 229 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:28,960 capacity you just created. That's an entire pickup truck 230 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,800 full of supplies you can now take to orbit just from making 231 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:33,160 the engine lighter. That's. 232 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,720 Incredible. But the engineering is just the 233 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,600 tool, right? The big question is where are we 234 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:40,880 pointing this thing? And that brings us to the 235 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,880 biggest strategic shift in this whole update, the moon pivot 236 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,440 this. One has caused was a lot of 237 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,160 waves online. For years Elon Musk has been 238 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:53,080 laser focused on Mars. Mars city occupy Mars. 239 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:56,120 It's a whole brand. It is, but recently all the 240 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,600 rhetoric has shifted. The new focus is a 241 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,760 self-sustaining lunar base before the Mars City. 242 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:02,920 And I could. Already hear the Internet 243 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,400 screaming? Mars is cancelled, but that's 244 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:06,440 not really what's happening, is it? 245 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:07,160 No. Not at all. 246 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,040 Mars is not cancelled, but the path to Mars has changed because 247 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,720 of a really brutal reality of orbital mechanics. 248 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:14,600 It's called the alignment window, right? 249 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:15,680 The. Home and transfer window 250 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:17,400 exactly. Earth and Mars, they're like 2 251 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,800 runners on a circular track. They only line up for an 252 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,480 efficient throw from one to the other once every 20-6 months 253 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:23,880 over. Two years. 254 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,160 That's a long time to wait for the bunts. 255 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:27,880 It's. A complete disaster for 256 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:29,440 innovation. Imagine this. 257 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:32,800 You launch a ship to Mars. It takes six months to get 258 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,040 there. What if it crashes on landing or 259 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,400 a life support seal fails? You can't just send a repair 260 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,520 crew you. Have to wait almost two years 261 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,720 for the planets to line up again just to try sending a fix the. 262 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:46,440 Feedback loop is just agonizingly slow. 263 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:47,720 It's. The iteration killer. 264 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,120 SpaceX thrives on rapid iteration. 265 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:55,280 Test, break, fix, repeat. You can't do that on a 26 month 266 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,480 cycle. You'll be dead of old age before 267 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,800 you get the prototype right So. Enter the moon. 268 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,040 Enter. The moon loop. 269 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:02,920 The moon is only three days away. 270 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:05,640 If you refuel in orbit, you can get there and maybe 2 and you. 271 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,320 Can go pretty much anytime you want. 272 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:08,880 You can. Launch three times a week if you 273 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,240 had the Rockets ready, so if. Something breaks on the moon, 274 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,000 you get. The data back instantly. 275 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,040 You fix the design, you launch the new version next week. 276 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:17,720 Not in two years. That makes. 277 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:19,600 Perfect sense. It's a training ground that's 278 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,080 right in our backyard, they call. 279 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,920 It a tech accelerator, all the stuff you need for Mars 280 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:27,720 habitats, radiation shielding, water recycling, growing food. 281 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:31,760 Developing that on Mars for the first time is terrifyingly 282 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:32,360 risky. But. 283 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:36,320 Developing it on the moon is just and inconvenienced if it 284 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,120 fails, right? If your toilet breaks on the 285 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:40,640 moon, you can abort the mission and be home in three days. 286 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:42,600 If your toilet breaks on Mars, that. 287 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,280 Is a very, very bad day. So the moon lets them perfect 288 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:48,840 all the survival tech, but the sources also mention a pretty 289 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,160 big economic angle to this off planet production. 290 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:53,840 Yeah, this. Is where it starts to sound like 291 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,040 science fiction, but the physics checks out it. 292 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,240 Really does. If you have a base on the moon, 293 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,200 you can start manufacturing things there. 294 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,280 The source specifically mentioned AI satellites. 295 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:04,560 Why would? You build a satellite on the 296 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:05,640 moon. Gravity. 297 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:09,320 The moon has 1/6 of Earth's gravity and basically no 298 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,960 atmosphere. Launching from Earth is hard. 299 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,000 You're fighting thick air and a deep gravity well. 300 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:17,840 It's why rockets are 90% fuel. But. 301 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,760 On the moon on. The moon you might not even need 302 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:24,000 a big rocket for cargo you could use a mast driver, which. 303 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,600 Is essentially a giant electromagnetic rail gun. 304 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,160 That's it. You use solar powered rails to 305 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,880 just shoot the finished satellite into orbit or even 306 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:33,960 back towards Earth. You're not burning tons of 307 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,880 chemical fuel, the potential output is immense. 308 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:38,720 So by. Going to the moon first. 309 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,080 They aren't giving up on Mars. They're building the factory 310 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:44,240 that builds the technology to get to Mars. 311 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:48,240 Precisely building the moon base builds the capital and the tech 312 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:52,120 to make that Mars timeline, which is still the twenty 30s, 313 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:54,840 actually feasible. Instead of just a pipe dream. 314 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,720 It turns a crusade into a supply chain supply. 315 00:13:57,720 --> 00:13:59,200 Chain. Yeah, that sounds boring. 316 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,600 But boring is how you actually get big things done. 317 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:03,320 It is. And that really brings us full 318 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:04,880 circle. Look at what we've covered. 319 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,840 We have a frost covered Juggernaut Booster 19 that 320 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,080 survived these impossible tests because of a better design we 321 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:13,720 have. Them literally buying a company 322 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,880 just to stop leaks and get better quality control on one 323 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,440 component we. Have a lighter, stronger joint 324 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,520 free engine in Raptor 3 that basically prints its own veins 325 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,160 to be more efficient and. It all culminates in this 326 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,520 strategic pivot to the Moon to speed up the whole development 327 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,240 cycle by escaping that 26 month Mars window. 328 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:32,960 It's a. Lot of moving parts, but they 329 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,720 are all finally moving in the same direction. 330 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:37,480 That's. The big take away The So what 331 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,120 for someone listening to this I. Think it redefines what we think 332 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:45,000 of as progress in space. Progress isn't just planting a 333 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,360 flag anymore. Progress is building a 334 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,280 logistical system. It's factories, reusable 335 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,360 engines, rapid transit. It's about making space travel 336 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:55,880 mundane. Mundane. 337 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,720 Is good mundane means reliable? Mundane means maybe I can buy a 338 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:01,280 ticket one day. Exactly but. 339 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:03,760 Before we sign off, I want to leave you with one last thought. 340 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:06,400 It came from some notes on the Crew 12 mission, and it really 341 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,280 stuck with me. We talked about all this amazing 342 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,320 hardware, but the human element has these bizarre challenges we 343 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:12,560 haven't even solved. Oh, this? 344 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:14,880 Is a good one the medical supply problem, right? 345 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,520 As we look at these long missions to Mars or even long 346 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,200 stays on the Moon, think about this. 347 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:23,840 We can't even take IV fluids to Mars because. 348 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:25,360 They expire. Exactly. 349 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,840 Saline bags, antibiotics, all of it has a shelf life of about two 350 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:32,040 years. A round trip to Mars could 351 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,560 easily take longer than that. So the next Great frontier isn't 352 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,800 just a bigger rocket, it's. Space Pharmacy. 353 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:39,760 It's. Figuring out how to manufacture 354 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,560 medicine from scratch using recycled water in 0 gravity. 355 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,920 Because if you get a simple infection on day 800 of the 356 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,080 mission, the medicine you packed on earth might just be useless. 357 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,400 Chalk dust it. Really just highlights the 358 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,960 incredible fragility of keeping humans alive away from Earth. 359 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,080 The hardware is hard, but keeping the squishy people 360 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,440 insight it alive, that's the real challenge it sure. 361 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,880 Is, but that is a deep dive for another day. 362 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:05,800 Thanks for listening. Stay curious and we'll see you 363 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:06,360 on the next one.