1
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,880
Your ultimate authority for 
daily Elon Musk news. 

2
00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,520
Exploring the world's biggest 
ideas with your host Will 

3
00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,240
Walden. 
There's something new every day.

4
00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,800
Elon Musk believes that SpaceX 
has an 80% chance of having 

5
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,960
fixed the engine bait issues 
that caused explosions in 

6
00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:29,280
Starship's last two flights. 
So he talked about the 9th 

7
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,520
Starship flight South Texas 
recently. 

8
00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:37,720
As a question though, how close 
is Starship making a reliable 

9
00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:42,000
and reusable vehicle that can 
actually support future Moon in 

10
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,240
Mars missions? 
Now the current Starship test 

11
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,560
flight is focused on collecting 
data, especially at about the 

12
00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,640
spacecraft's heat shield tiles, 
teams experimenting with 

13
00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,520
different tile coatings, 
fabrication methods and 

14
00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,320
attachment techniques to see 
what performs best during the 

15
00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:01,640
intense heating of re entry. 
SpaceX also wants to ensure that

16
00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,480
they have addressed the failures
in the upper stage engine Bay 

17
00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:06,720
that previously led to 
explosions. 

18
00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,520
Now, this is going to be a step 
by step approach to making 

19
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,240
Starship ready for repeated use,
and they're going to continue 

20
00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,400
doing this until they get it 
right now. 

21
00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,600
Elon Musk said the team 
discovered that they needed to 

22
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,680
tighten bolts connecting the 
thrust chamber to the injector 

23
00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,800
head after each engine firing. 
During earlier tests, some bolts

24
00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,280
loosened slightly, creating tiny
gaps that allowed fuel and 

25
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,280
oxygen to miss where they should
not have. 

26
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,680
Now, that unwanted mixture led 
to engine explosions. 

27
00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,840
Now, Musk also admitted that 
while an 80% solution feels 

28
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,360
good, the team won't reach full 
confidence without redesigning 

29
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,760
certain engine parts. 
Now, SpaceX already demonstrated

30
00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,600
that it can reuse boosters 
efficiently. 

31
00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,560
Starship's booster is designed 
to return to the launch site, 

32
00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,000
get caught by a tower, and reset
directly out of the launch 

33
00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,680
stand. 
Now, Elon Musk has pointed out 

34
00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,840
that this method eliminates the 
need to transport the booster 

35
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,400
back from a drone ship, saving 
days and reducing the work 

36
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,639
needed between flights. 
Starship's design goal as 

37
00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,280
immediate reflight readiness, 
we're In principle, propellant 

38
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,000
loading could begin just minutes
after the booster returns and 

39
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,160
lands at the chopsticks. 
Now, SpaceX aims to fly upgraded

40
00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,200
Raptor 3 engines by the end of 
this year. 

41
00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:29,120
The new engine design eliminates
the need for heat Shields around

42
00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,240
the thrust chamber and the turbo
pump. 

43
00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,080
This change will simplify the 
booster in upper stage 

44
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,720
structure. 
The new design exposes more of 

45
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,160
the engine hardware, creating a 
cleaner look of fewer parts that

46
00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,640
can burn off. 
And this pushes his team hard to

47
00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:48,200
remove any unnecessary secondary
structures that could cause 

48
00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,280
problems during flight. 
Now Starship remains Spacex's 

49
00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,280
most important bet for the next 
decade. 

50
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,280
It's a key to building a fully 
reusable orbital launch system, 

51
00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,160
something no one has ever 
achieved. 

52
00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,920
So things like the space 
shuttle, which despite its 

53
00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:09,120
reusable parts, proved very 
expensive and difficult to 

54
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,640
refurbish. 
The shuttle's high cost per 

55
00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:15,480
flight and a Saturn 5 as well, 
which could carry four times the

56
00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,960
payload. 
But it was expendable. 

57
00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,520
Now, the success of Starship 
will unlock the ability to build

58
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,400
a civilization, civilization on 
Mars. 

59
00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,400
It's kind of like the Union 
Pacific Railroad on California's

60
00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,520
growth. 
We need to get supplies to Mars,

61
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,240
and SpaceX and Starship are the 
way to do it. 

62
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,440
How do you get people to Mars? 
Right now you don't really do 

63
00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,400
it. 
There's no ship that can take 

64
00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,920
you there without extensive 
overhauls. 

65
00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,360
There's this is a reliable 
transportation that goes to 

66
00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:53,960
Mars. 
It's the foundation for creating

67
00:03:53,960 --> 00:04:00,560
new opportunities from essential
industries here on Earth all the

68
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,880
way to Mars and everyday 
businesses on Mars eventually, 

69
00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,000
and that's going to take a long 
time, That's not going to be in 

70
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,400
our lifetime. 
There's not going to be a 

71
00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:13,000
Starbucks on Mars, by the way. 
But Spacex's main job is to 

72
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,880
solve the transportation 
challenge so others can focus on

73
00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,160
building everything else. 
A society will need to SpaceX, 

74
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,080
build the Rockets and the 
transportation to get the stuff 

75
00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,120
there. 
And other companies will build 

76
00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:29,400
the stuff and the businesses 
that will be on Mars. 

77
00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,560
And so Elon Musk has also stated
recently that the US space 

78
00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,400
program should aim beyond 
returning to the moon. 

79
00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,520
He believes that Mars should be 
the goal, given that the US 

80
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,280
reached the moon more than half 
a century ago, over 50 years 

81
00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:49,560
ago, and the current lunar plans
are lacking ambition and future 

82
00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,160
missions should aim for 
something more advanced than the

83
00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,680
Apollo program. 
He thinks that people shouldn't 

84
00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:57,720
just go collect rocks on the 
moon anymore. 

85
00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,040
If the US goes back to the moon,
Elon Musk thinks building a 

86
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,280
permanent base would be a 
meaningful next step. 

87
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:05,760
They can also launch rockets 
from the moon. 

88
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,080
They can. 
They can mind the water ice on 

89
00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,280
the moon and make propellant and
then send those rockets off into

90
00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:16,920
space. 
Elon Musk also said that he 

91
00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,280
recently said that he's been 
spending too much time with 

92
00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:22,760
politics over the last year. 
The media coverage of his 

93
00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,640
political involvement, According
to him, made it seem like he 

94
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:27,520
larger distraction than it 
actually was. 

95
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,680
But Elon Musk also said that he 
has now shifted his attention 

96
00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,440
back towards his companies, with
SpaceX once again at the top of 

97
00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:39,000
his priorities. 
He described reducing his time 

98
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,120
spent on government matters 
within the last few weeks. 

99
00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:49,160
Now Spacex's flight 10 is coming
up, hopefully within the next 

100
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,000
month. 
That's projected next month ish 

101
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:57,440
and if the FAA is good and 
SpaceX Starship is being tested 

102
00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,080
at Massey's within the next 
week. 

103
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:05,000
Booster is down at the launchpad
and if they can get the booster 

104
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,640
in the ship ready I don't see 
why they shouldn't be able to 

105
00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,000
launch it in around a month. 
Everything seems OK. 

106
00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,160
You know, if the FAA signs off 
on the next launch, that's great

107
00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:20,600
and we'll start seeing signs of 
the launch as far as, you know, 

108
00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:26,560
the the test flight plans and 
also the no fly zones, no 

109
00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,040
boating zones, things like the 
keep out zones, basically we'll 

110
00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:31,880
start seeing those things pop up
pretty soon. 

111
00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,560
But they're going to basically 
do the same thing they did with 

112
00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:36,880
Flight 9. 
There were some Starling 

113
00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,360
satellites that they wanted to 
launch with Flight 9, some dummy

114
00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,200
test satellites that they didn't
get to do because basically the 

115
00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,400
easiest part of the flight, 
which is the Bay door didn't 

116
00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,080
open. 
And you think to yourself, it's 

117
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,520
a door. 
You just built this gigantic 

118
00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:59,880
rock that's around 400 feet tall
that can launch into Earth's 

119
00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,640
orbit, can launch to the moon, 
into Mars, but you just can't 

120
00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,600
get the door right now. 
They didn't get it right in 

121
00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,840
Flight 9. 
Also, the booster exploded on 

122
00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,560
the way back down to Earth, and 
there's reason for that. 

123
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,120
They wanted to push that 
booster, which is a reused 

124
00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,160
booster, the first time it's 
ever been reused. 

125
00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,200
They wanted to push it to its 
limits so they can test for 

126
00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:22,960
data. 
They want to see how far they 

127
00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,480
could push it and what kind of 
data they can collect with this 

128
00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,680
thing. 
And also, the ship blew up. 

129
00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:33,240
That's what we're talking about 
earlier with the leaks and that 

130
00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,560
caused the explosions. 
They have to figure that out. 

131
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,320
And if they can figure this out,
like Elon Musk said, there's an 

132
00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:44,480
80% chance that they can 
successfully do Flight 9's 

133
00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:49,480
mission and then move on to 
Flight 10 and 11. 

134
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,240
So right now it's going to be 
10, but they want to redo Flight

135
00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:53,840
9's mission. 
Basically, except for the 

136
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,920
expendable booster. 
They're going to send the 

137
00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,240
booster back to Starbase so they
can keep testing the landings of

138
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,960
these boosters. 
No reason to land in the ocean 

139
00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,360
or in the Gulf. 
Nobody, nobody really wants to 

140
00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,800
dig that thing out or pull that 
thing out again. 

141
00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,360
They want to land that back at 
Starbase. 

142
00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:18,960
So when this flight 10 happens, 
booster will land, Starship will

143
00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,600
make it to the Indian Ocean and 
do a soft landing in the Indian 

144
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,760
Ocean. 
And if they can figure those two

145
00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:29,840
things out, Flight 11, Flight 
12, Flight 13, they're all going

146
00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,039
to see. 
I don't know if there's going to

147
00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:40,679
be an exponential growth here. 
They do need to do some really 

148
00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,040
interesting things for the next 
few flights, but I don't think 

149
00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:49,840
there's going to be a big jump 
as far as technology goes. 

150
00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,000
Elon Musk wants to land a ship 
back at Starbase by the end of 

151
00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,840
the year, but we're going to see
how that goes. 

152
00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,120
The they've already landed a 
booster, but they also have to 

153
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,840
orbit the Earth. 
You have to get into Earth 

154
00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:10,760
orbit, deorbit the ship. 
They have to also do in orbit 

155
00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:12,400
refueling. 
There's so many things that they

156
00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:17,080
need to do in order to get the 
NASA contract, or they have the 

157
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,400
NASA contract, but they need to 
get the Starship to the moon. 

158
00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,920
So they need to refuel in the 
Earth's orbit. 

159
00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:27,400
So there's incremental small 
steps along the way that they 

160
00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:29,560
need to do. 
It's not like the way that 

161
00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:32,480
somebody like Blue Origin does 
it, which builds the whole thing

162
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:38,240
and then launches it. 
They do all the tests in, you 

163
00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,240
know, on computers. 
They test all the scenarios they

164
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:44,320
do in wind tunnels that they do,
you know, all those things. 

165
00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:47,800
So they do all the tests before 
they fly. 

166
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,320
And basically SpaceX is testing 
as they fly. 

167
00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:53,160
They're gathering data as they 
fly. 

168
00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:56,880
They think it's the best way, 
Blue Origin Ula etcetera. 

169
00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:58,680
I think it's a different way to 
do it. 

170
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,760
It's still a good way, though. 
You know ula sends things to 

171
00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:03,800
Mars. 
That's cool. 

172
00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:09,280
SpaceX hasn't sent a Starship to
Mars yet, so there's a direct 

173
00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:13,720
comparison. 
And Starship is built for humans

174
00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,280
to go to Mars Ula does not have 
a plan for that. 

175
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,920
So what we're expecting for 
Flight 10 is going to be pretty 

176
00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,800
impressive. 
But SpaceX continues to move 

177
00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,840
forward, making Starship the 
first truly reusable orbital 

178
00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:34,240
rocket, while also working to 
resolve the final technical 

179
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,480
challenges with engines and heat
Shields from Flight 7-8 and 

180
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:42,920
Nine. 
And hopefully Flight 10 coming 

181
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,240
up will be a success. 
Hey, thank you so much for 

182
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,440
listening today. 
I really do appreciate your 

183
00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,000
support. 
If you could take a second and 

184
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,960
hit the subscribe or the follow 
button on whatever podcast 

185
00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,920
platform that you're listening 
on right now, I greatly 

186
00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:57,600
appreciate it. 
It helps out the show 

187
00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,240
tremendously and you'll never 
miss an episode. 

188
00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,800
And each episode is about 10 
minutes or less to get you 

189
00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,560
caught up quickly. 
And please, if you want to 

190
00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:12,680
support the show even more, go 
to patreon.com/stagezero and 

191
00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:15,120
please take care of yourselves 
and each other and I'll see you 

192
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:15,640
tomorrow.