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SpaceX Gears Up for Fourth Starship Test Flight: Major Upgrades and New Challenges Await! · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
• 0:05
  This is a show where we discuss. The Critical.
• 0:07
  Crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X The Boring Company.
• 0:12
  And Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
• 0:16
  SpaceX is preparing for its fourth test flight of the
• 0:18
  Starship rocket from its Starbase facility in Texas.
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  It's approximately 2 months after the third flight reached
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  space but was lost upon re entry.
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  This upcoming test represents the fastest turn around for
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  Spacex's mega rocket and Super Heavy booster from its launch
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  site in Boca Chica along the Texas coast, the southernmost
• 0:38
  tip of Texas if you will. Now, since April of 2023, SpaceX
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  has been attempting to achieve orbit with the Starship.
• 0:45
  The third attempt in March saw the Starship make it to space
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  but failed during re entry. Now, following each test flight,
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  SpaceX undergoes a mishap investigation led by the Federal
• 0:55
  Aviation Administration or the FAA, and it implements necessary
• 0:59
  changes before the next launch. The FAA, alongside NASA and the
• 1:02
  National Transportation Safety Board, has been conducting a
• 1:05
  mishap investigation since the March test flight.
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  Now, should the FAA grant SpaceX a modified launch license, the
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  company aims to attempt the 4th test flight of Starship and a
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  Super Heavy booster as soon as June 5th.
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  Now, SpaceX has released its findings from the third test
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  flight and detailed the modifications made to the
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  Starship to address previous issues.
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  Now the third flight was the most successful yet, with
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  Starship reaching space and attempting a landing burn for
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  the first time, although both the rocket and the booster were
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  ultimately destroyed before achieving a controlled landing.
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  Now during the third flight, Super Heavy booster began its
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  boost back burn for landing, but encountered issues when 6 Raptor
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  engines shut down prematurely. The booster was lost
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  approximately 1500 feet above the Gulf of Mexico about 7
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  minutes after launch. And SpaceX identified the root
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  cause of the boost back burn shut down as filter blockages in
• 1:58
  the liquid oxygen supply to the engines, which led to a loss of
• 2:01
  inlet pressure in the oxygen turbo pumps.
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  And engineers have since added more hardware inside the oxygen
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  tanks to improve filtration and prevent blockages.
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  Additionally, the third flight Starship rates the coast phase
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  in space and successfully conducted a payload door test
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  demonstrating propellant transfer by moving fuel from one
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  thing to another. And this fuel transfer
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  capability is crucial for future missions, including Nasas
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  Artemis program for lunar missions.
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  However, each entering the coast phase Starship lost its ability
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  to control its position, which led to a unplanned re entry.
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  The lack of altitude control caused more heating than
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  anticipated, resulting in the vehicles destruction about 40
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  miles above Earth nearly 50 minutes into the flight.
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  Now SpaceX traced the issue with Starship to clogging in the
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  valves responsible for vehicle roll control, and in response,
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  the company has added additional roll control thrusters to
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  provide redundancy and improve the liability during future
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  flights. Now the FA as review process was
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  expedited this time because neither the Starship nor the
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  Super Heavy booster were destroyed by the vehicle's
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  automated flight safety system. They said during Flight 3,
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  neither vehicles automated flight safety system was
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  triggered and no vehicle debris impacted outside of predefined
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  hazard zones. Now, pending the FA as finding
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  of no public safety impact, a license modification for the
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  next flight can be issued without formal closure of the
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  mishap investigation As SpaceX has conducted a launch dress
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  rehearsal in May and is aiming for a launch as soon as June 5th
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  providing regulatory approval is received and if the 4th test
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  flight achieves its landing goals, the Starship will launch
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  from Texas and splash down in the Indian Ocean.
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  The SpaceX has fueled its Starship mega rocket stepping up
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  preparations for the upcoming test flight.
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  Now the latest pre launch operation known as a wet dress
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  rehearsal or AWDR took place on May 28th at Spacex's Starbase
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  site in Texas and the company loaded large quantities of
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  liquid oxygen and liquid methane into Starships first and 2nd
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  stages known as Super Heavy and Starship or just chip and
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  Starship and Super Heavy loaded more than £10 million of
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  propellant in a rehearsal ahead of flight 4 launch is targeted
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  for as early as June 5th pending regulatory approval.
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  This is the second W jets rehearsal for the Starship
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  vehicle, the first occurring on May 20th.
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  Now these tests are part of the pre launch preparations for
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  Starship's fourth flight which could launch on June 5th,
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  pending approval of course. Now the first three Starship
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  test flights took place in April 2023, November 2023 and March
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  14th of this year. Each flight was demonstrated
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  improved performance and this first flight saw the vehicles
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  two stages failed to separate ending 4 minutes after the
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  flight and it was pretty spectacular.
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  Go back and watch it on YouTube, it's pretty amazing and in
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  contrast the third flight lasted about. 50.
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  Minutes ending when the Starship broke apart during RE entry into
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  Earth's atmosphere. That's a pretty big jump, but
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  the primary goal for the 4th flight, according to SpaceX.
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  Is to. Get through Max re entry heating
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  when fully stacked Starship stands nearly 400 feet tall.
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  It's 122 meters, making it the largest and the most powerful
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  rocket ever built. It's designed to be fully and
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  rapidly reusable. And eventually, Starship will be
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  transforming spaceflight, potentially enabling Mars
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  settlements and other ambitious exploration feeds by making them
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  economically feasible. NASA supports this vision,
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  having selected Starship as the first crude lunar Lander for its
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  Artemis moon program. And Starship is scheduled to
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  land NASA astronauts on the moon and around 2025 as part of the
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  Artemis 3 mission. However, the vehicle must
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  successfully complete several test flights before carrying
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  astronauts. Hey, thank you so much for
• 6:06
  listening today, I really do. Appreciate your.
• 6:08
  Support, if you could take a second and hit the subscribe or
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• 6:33
  And please take care of yourselves and each other, and
• 6:35
  I'll see you tomorrow.