Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The
Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink,
and I'm your host, Will Walden. If you want uninterrupted
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There's a link in the show notes Starship testing is advancing at
Starbase and now SpaceX is eyeing a possible third test
flight in March pending successful pre flight tests and
also engineer approvals. Now recent activities including
the delivery of crucial components for the Rockets
flight termination system or the FTS signal this process.
Now the FTS is essential for safely aborting the flight if
anomalies occur. Now the installation of the FTS,
which is a standard safety feature for large rockets,
involves placing explosives on the rocket to enable its
destruction mid air if necessary.
Now these systems are installed closer to the launch date due to
their limited lifespan. Now, the movement of the second
stage Starship to the test pad in Boca Chica hints at the
preparation for this upcoming test flight.
Now the test pad known for conducting static fire tests,
might soon witness such a test of the starship's second stage.
Now there might be another static fire and static fire
tests are critical for assessing the rocket's readiness for
launch. Now the Super heavy booster,
which is the bottom part of the Starship has been moved back
into the High Bay. It utilizes 33 Raptor engines
which are designed for atmospheric conditions.
The second stage, the Starship, is equipped with engines
optimized for the vacuum of space.
Now, a new launch site for Starship is being considered to
support Elon Musk's ambition to increase the launch frequency of
the Mars bound rocket. The proposed site at Cape
Canaveral, FL is part of Spacex's plans to establish a
global network of launchpads for interplanetary travel and
eventually people living on Mars.
Now Starship, which is about 120 meters tall when fully
assembled, is the largest rocket ever built, capable of
delivering about 100,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.
Its development and launches are currently based at Starbase
Facility in Boca Chica, Texas, but the proposal for the new
launch site at Cape Canaveral involves taking over SLC 37
launchpad, which is a site with historic significance from the
1960s used for the Saturn One and 1B rockets.
X plans to adapt this site for Starship super heavy launching
and landing operation. Now.
Additionally, plans are underway for another Starship launchpad
at the Starbase facility, and Elon Musk confirmed the
development of a new launch tower equipped with robot
chopsticks aimed at catching the booster rocket post launch,
highlighting the importance of having multiple launch towers
for continuous operations in Texas and in Florida now in
2021. Now all the way back in 2021,
Elon Musk announced plans to repurpose diffused oil rigs into
Starship launch platforms, naming them after Mars Moons,
Damos, and Phobos. They've since decommissioned
these platforms and now they're focusing on land based launches.
The upcoming third major Starship launch is planned to be
an uncrewed flight from Texas to Hawaii, completing a 90 minute
journey around the Earth. This follows two previous
attempts that ended unsuccessfully shortly after
takeoff, with no confirmation date yet for the third attempt.
Now also, let's step back a little bit to the FTS.
It's a critical component installed on both the booster
and the spacecraft. Now during IFT One they use the
FTS, the flight Termination system to blow up the booster
and also the ship and this is due to the stages not separating
and power loss on the engine and then it led to the destruction
of the rocket. Now the second test flight saw
improvements though was successful.
Detonation of the first stages FTS after separation it was
during the kickback burn at the 2nd stages.
FTS also function as intended during its coast phase, although
SpaceX has been reserved about the details of that part of the
test. Just recently, heavy duty
explosives or for the FTS have been sent to Starbase.
These deliveries indicate the ongoing operations for the next
test flight, and it shows that they will be launching somewhat
soon. The ongoing preparations for the
Starship's third test flight, including the installation of
the FTS, static fire tests, stacking, unstacking, moving the
booster back to the Bay, and also moving the ship off to the
pad. It's a critical step.
All these are critical steps towards the next launch, IFT 3
of Starship, as part of Spacex's broader efforts to advance human
civilization to become a multi planet species.
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