Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink,
and I'm your host, Will Walden. SpaceX has announced its
intentions to carry out as many as 9 Starship missions in the
next year, with spacecrafts expected to land all the way in
the Indian Ocean. These operations, which are set
to be launched from the Boca Chica Starbase, Texas site, are
detailed in an extensive environmental assessment by the
Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA.
Now the FAA's report, which is 119 pages long, indicates the
possibility of up to five total losses of the starships which
would occur as they crash into the ocean at the highest speed
possible after re entering from orbit while still intact.
Of course, now these incidents termed over pressure events in
the document would be caused by the impact with water leading
the structural compromise and subsequent combustion of the
liquid methane and oxygen on board.
In addition to these potential explosive landings, SpaceX is
also looking into the viability of controlled water landings,
wherein the spacecraft would softly approach the water
surface before tipping over as described by the FAA document.
Now, the FAA report points out that the starship's propellants,
liquid methane and oxygen, are not toxic, unlike some other
rocket fuels, which is an important consideration for
environmental safety. Now, the document also
acknowledges the chance the starships might break apart
during the RE entry process, adding another potential outcome
to these planned missions. Now SpaceX moves forward with
these plans and continues to receive the necessary
authorizations from the FAA. A large number of starships,
either whole or in pieces, will likely end up on the ocean floor
in a region between Australia and Madagascar.
Now, the FAA's environmental assessment details what could be
expected if Starship landings in the Indian Ocean do not go as
planned, predicting a field of debris primarily made-up of
heavy metals and some composite materials now.
The majority of this debris, especially the stainless steel
components, is expected to sink quickly due to its heavy nature
and material composition. However, some lighter pieces
might float or remain suspended before eventually sinking.
Now, in case of explosion upon impact, the resulting debris is
expected to be contained within a radius of about .5 nautical
miles from the point of impact, and the FAA has stated there
will be no attempts to retrieve or clean up the Starship
remains, whatever their condition after landing in
pieces or not. And the report also considers
the potential impact of these operations on marine life such
as sea turtles, fish, sharks, whales and others in the
intended landing zones. Now the FA as assessment
suggests that the direct impact on marine life from either
impact or breaking apart starships is highly unlikely,
thanks to the Ocean's vastness and the relatively small size of
the spacecraft components compared to, well, millions of
tons of water, and also they have to hit tiny fish, so it's
very unlikely. Now it's reasoned that although
debris hitting an animal underwater could cause harm or
death, the low frequency of Starship operations and the
natural underwater behavior of marine life makes such
occurrences highly unlikely. And on March 14th, 2024, a large
crowd gathered to watch a Starship launch from Spacex's
Boca CHIC facility. Marking an important moment for
this company, this launch was particularly notable.
As well known to be the most powerful rocket in existence, it
successfully reached orbit, a significant achievement for
SpaceX and everybody in the spaceflight community.
Now these developments and the planned future missions show
that SpaceX is working towards fully operational and fully
reusable large scale massive rockets that can take massive,
massive payloads the low Earth orbit to the moon, Mars and
beyond. Hey, thank you so much for
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