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.
I'm your host, Will Walden. During the countdown of Friday's
Falcon 9 launch attempt, the SpaceX webcast announcer
declared ignition as the clock hit zero.
Now however, the Rockets flight computers which managed the
final minute of countdown quickly aborted the engines.
The launch was halted just three seconds after the plan lift off
from Cape Canaveral Space Forest Station, marking a very unusual
scrub for SpaceX. Now following the five O 7:00 PM
Eastern post ignition abort, SpaceX stated that a new target
launch date would be provided later, with no additional
details released at the time. This incident added another
delay to the Thrace postpone Starlink 10-2 mission, which was
previously deferred due to adverse weather conditions
caused by Invest 90 L. Now, the Falcon 9 stands at 230
feet tall. It's powered by 9 Merlin engines
that burn kerosene and liquid oxygen.
These engines provide the thrust needed to carry the rocket and
its payload, which for this mission includes 22 Starlink
satellites intended for low Earth orbit to expand Spacex's
Internet service network. Friday's scrub could also affect
Spacex's upcoming schedule, particularly the planned Monday
launch of the Astra 1P satellite.
This mission, which will broadcast satellite TV channels
across Europe for SES, is also set to launch from the same
complex, and as of Friday night, no updates had been provided
regarding potential scheduling conflicts or changes.
Elsewhere, the FAA is organizing a virtual meeting to gather
public comments on the environmental impact of future
Starship Super Heavy launches from NASA's Kennedy Space
Center. The FAA is the primary agency
involved in developing the Starship Environmental Impact
Statement. Now, in a social media post,
Cape Canaveral City Hall officials encourage residents to
share their views on the project.
The emphasizes potential impacts on the city and the community's
feedback is deemed critical in the FA as decision making
process regarding the approval and regulation of Spacex's
ambitious launch activities from Florida.
Now, the abort of Friday's launch attempt was prominently
covered on Spacex's live broadcast, where the announcer
immediately confirmed the shutdown of the engines.
The precise cause of the abort remains unclear, and the company
has yet to announce a new launch date for the Starlink 10/2
mission. Now, the Falcon 9's first stage
booster involved in this mission has a notable flight history,
having been used 15 times before.
It had previously supported missions such as SES 22, ICE
Spaces, Hakutro R Mission 1, Amazonis 6, CRS 27, and
Bandwagon at 1:00, and also 10. Starlink launches now after
liftoff, the first stage booster would have been expected to land
on a SpaceX drones tip stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
This is a maneuver that SpaceX has refined to enable the reuse
of its rockets. If you've never seen this
before, it's absolutely stunning.
Now, this reusability is key component to Spacex's strategy
to reduce the cost of space travel.
And they're winning this new space race.
And the Falcon 9 rocket with its 9 Merlin engines is a crucial
assets in Spacex's arsenal, enabling the company to maintain
an impressive launch cadence. This year alone, SpaceX has
completed nearly 60 missions, with 45 dedicated to expanding
its Starlink constellation. Starlink aims to provide high
speed Internet globally by deploying thousands of small
satellites in low Earth orbit, and currently there are nearly
6100 operational Starlink satellites, making it one of the
largest satellite networks in the world.
SpaceX has been launching rockets at an average rate of
every 2.7 days in 2024. This relentless pace underscores
the company's operational efficiency and the demand for
its launch services, particularly for its own
Starlink missions in the recent scrub is very rare for SpaceX,
with the last abort happening way back in October 2020 during
EGPS satellite launch. The robustness of Spacex's
launch systems include comprehensive checks and
balances to ensure mission safety for every single launch.
Now, the weather has been a consistent challenge for SpaceX,
of course, with the 45th Weather Squadron predicting only a 30%
chance of favorable conditions at the start of the Friday
launch window. The forecast was expected to
improve to 70% by the end of the window.
And that's because Florida has such variable weather patterns.
I used to live in Orlando. Personal note here, it would
rain in the morning some days at 10:00 in the morning, would dry
up by 10:30 and it would be almost 100° for the rest of the
day. And during those 30 minutes that
it rained, it was about 65 or 70°.
It is very variable. I was very close to NASA at that
point, so I understand where SpaceX is coming from.
And the 45th Weather Squadron is talking about these variable
weather patterns. But during this launch,
meteorologists had expressed concerns about anvil and cumulus
clouds, which can create hazardous conditions for rocket
launches due to the potential launch lightning.
Now, these concerns are particularly relevant to
Florida, where thunderstorms are very common during the summer
months. And the Falcon 9 booster
supporting the Starlink 10/2 mission, identified as B1O73, is
set to launch for the 16th time sometime in the future.
It won't aim to land on the drone ship.
Just read the instructions marking the 84th such launch for
this particular vessel and 319th booster recovery overall.
This mission is part of a very busy period for SpaceX, which,
alongside NASA and the FAA, has been conducting public meetings
regarding the proposed Starship launch from Kennedy Space
Center. These discussions will help the
public express their concerns and also show some regulatory
requirements going forward. Now, SpaceX has been progressing
with its infrastructure development, recently shipping
the final segments of a second Starship tower to its Starbase
facility in Texas, where they currently launched Starship
vehicles. We're on the next one, hopefully
in July. Now, this indicates that the
company's ongoing expansion for a second tower in preparation
for future Starship missions, including catching the booster
on the chopstick arms on the launch tower.
It's going to be incredible. Now, the last second abort of
Falcon 9 on Friday shows that there's still challenges for
SpaceX. They're not perfect, and there's
complexities to every single space mission.
There's thousands of parts in these rockets that anything
could go wrong. But with the cause of the abort
still unknown, Space XS ability to quickly resolve the issue
will determine the timing of the next launch event.
And while the company continues to work on the Falcon 9, they're
going to at the same time continue to work on the Starship
facility in Boca Chica, Starbase, Texas.
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