Hi everybody and welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast.
I'm your host will Weldon. And I'll today's episode, we're
going to be talking about spacex's Starship rocket.
Now this is a highly anticipated.
Launch That was supposed to happen today, but it got
scrubbed. For one reason.
It has been called off today, due to a pressure issue with the
massive super heavy booster engine ears, attempted to
troubleshoot the problem, but with the countdown clock showing
less than 10 minutes remaining, the launch was officially
scrubbed by SpaceX and SpaceX engineer, John Innes Brucker
stated that the team would work to determine when the next
launch attempt could be made. In addition to the
pressurization issue, John said that there's a possibility that
they could launch within two days.
Elon Musk actually tweeted about it and said there is a 48-hour
turnaround time for this kind of engineering problem.
Now Starship which sits atop a super-heavy booster is covered
with Really 20,000 hexagonal black tiles and they're designed
is heat shields to protect the spacecraft as it re-enters
Earth's atmosphere after the flight That was supposed to
happen. These tiles are only applied to
one side of the Starship is the vehicle re-enters.
Horizontally with the tiles coating its belly.
Now, this is important because when the Starship takes off,
there's a possibility that these hexagonal black tiles could fall
off the ship. That's because the rumbling of
the super-heavy booster and the friction is caused by the
atmosphere. And this actually has happened
before with the space shuttle. If you remember now, this
Starship launch. It was supposed to happen today.
It's a huge significant Milestone not only for SpaceX
but also for the United States. Government's ambition for human
space. Exploration Masa is awarded
SpaceX contracts and options worth several billions of
dollars to use Starship to Or it NASA astronauts to the Moon
Under the Artemis program. Now, however, SpaceX is history
of embracing, mistakes, mishaps explosions, these all, refine it
spacecraft designs and means that the pressure is not solely
on the inaugural test flight That was supposed to happen.
Today, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX has set expectations low
for the Starship launch stating that getting far enough away
from the launch pad before. Something goes wrong.
Would be considered a Success. Now SpaceX has been testing
Starship designed for years at a Spaceport near Brownsville,
Texas on the u.s. Mexico border.
The company started with brief. Sort of hop tests of early
spacecraft does this Thames and prototypes before evolving to
how you altitude flight tests, many of which resulted in
dramatic explosions is the company attempted to land the
craft upright. Like their Falcon 9 rocket sin
in May 20 21, a suborbital, flight test ended in success,
And they landed perfectly super-heavy booster which houses
33 Raptor two engines designed to carry the Starship
spacecraft. During launch has also been in
development in this time when fully stacked the Starship,
which sits Atop The super-heavy booster stands around 400 feet
tall. Now, while the weather is always
a determining factor in a launch, several other
considerations must be taken into account before.
Starship can be cleared for takeoff Engineers must Monitor
data from the rocket throughout the morning and any issues
detected could trigger a scrub at any time.
And even in the final moments before liftoff onboard,
computers and II could detect a problem and halt, the launch.
Now despite today's setback vocals and Spectators around the
world eagerly await the rescheduled launch of SpaceX is
Starship. Now for those in Texas South
Padre Island offers an amazing viewing location while
Spectators in Hawaii. You may also be able to see the
Starship spacecraft effort as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
You can check it out from Florida as well.
If you're in the south coast of Florida you may be able to see
this Starship launches. Well that was SpaceX Works to
address the pressure issue with a super-heavy booster and clear
other things from the launch cycle, anticipation is building
for the Starship eventual Journey towards an orbital
flight test. It's almost orbital, it's pretty
close. And with the Potential to
revolutionize, space travel and exploration.
The Starship launch is a huge milestone and it'll be
remembered for years. And it's important that SpaceX
get this right the first time. Because if something were to
happen on the pad on the Launchpad for the Starship, it
could set SpaceX back. Six months.
Maybe a year to rebuild all of this systems in the orbital
launch Mount. It's a custom launch Mount.
There was built specifically for this rocket.
So they would have to possibly rebuild the whole thing and it
could take a long time. Now, Falcon heavy, this is
another rocket that SpaceX has it held the title for the most
powerful rocket before the NASA SLS rocket took flight last year
in Ilan said it only had a 50-50 chance of succeeding.
He jokingly told CNN at the time people came from all around the
world to see what will either be a great rocket launch or the
best fireworks display they've ever.
Ever seen the Falcon heavy launch proved to be a huge
success. Now, the stakes are high for
Starships, Maiden flight and is crucial.
Not only for SpaceX has further growth, but it's also important
to get people to the moon for the Artemis 3 mission safely.
And if SpaceX can conduct itself and can do this launched
properly, they'll show NASA and they'll show the world that
Starship is capable of A perfect proper launch and possible
Landing. So we're going to be doing with
this Starship. The booster is going to go into
the Gulf of Mexico and while it's above the Gulf of Mexico
with a Starship on top of it, the two will separate in the
Starship will continue up for its orbital flight test.
And the booster will flip in midair and boost back, it will
use some of its booster fuel to boost back towards the Gulf of
Mexico Landing site. And then it'll flip vertical and
they're going to be attempting a soft launch or a soft Landing.
I'm sorry. In the Gulf of Mexico.
It's going to be incredible. Now, with the Artemis program,
they have to make sure that the Starship itself is capable of
surviving the launched, by itself, clearing the pad
clearing into the Gulf of Mexico.
And then separating from the booster.
Now, this is also just the Girl flight.
So this is a test flight, this isn't going to have people in
it. This may not even have Cargo in
it. There was nothing said by SpaceX
that there's any sort of cargo within the Starship itself.
So there's a possibility, it's an empty Starship and they don't
want to lose anything of importance for this.
Inaugural flight now is SpaceX prepares for the reschedule
launch though. The company will no doubt be
taking every precaution to ensure safety.
And for the success of For this flight.
Now, as musk is emphasized, numerous times setbacks and
failures are all part of the development process for Starship
in a SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of space,
exploration, the lessons learned, and the data gathered
from every single launch attempt of the Starship, whether
successful or not will contribute to the development of
or Advanced and reliable Starships in the future.
And those eager to witness this missed this history-making
Launch SpaceX will be providing a live stream of the rescheduled
launch. It is possible.
It could happen on the 19th of April, while it may not be
possible for spectators around the world to catch live views of
the Rock in Flay. The live stream looks absolutely
incredible. So Starship launched its highly
anticipated. It's a huge milestone for SpaceX
and the space industry as a whole and today Scrub may have
been disappointing too many but it serves as a, reminder of the
complexities involved in sending a spacecraft into orbit,
especially something this huge and it's SpaceX Works to
resolve. The pressure issue with a
super-heavy booster and they clear the pad.
Again, anticipation continues to build for the next launch
attempt on possibly the nineteenth of April in this will
potentially revolutionize all space travel, all space
exploration and it will be a historic moment.
So I I urge you to please tune into spacex's YouTube channel to
witness this for yourself. Thanks for listening to the Elon
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