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Elon's SpaceX Mega Rocket Put on Hold according to Jeff Bezos · Elon Musk Podcast

0:01
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
0:04
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
0:07
the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
0:11
Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
0:15
Can we for one second think about SpaceX launching hundreds
0:21
of Starships every single year, both from Boca Chica, Starbase,
0:26
Texas, and Kennedy Space Center in Florida?
0:30
Now there are two companies that made it very apparent that they
0:36
don't want this to happen. They did this the other day.
0:40
And this is a thing that we have to talk about as a community and
0:46
as people that want to see humans go to space, live on the
0:50
moon, live on Mars. And these two companies want
0:56
SpaceX to be halted from sending anybody to the moon for the
1:01
Artemis program or in the future to live on Mars.
1:07
They made this very apparent in some posts the other day.
1:11
And Christian Davenport on X posted this in a finally with
1:18
the FAA regarding Spacex's proposed use of Pad 39 A for
1:23
Starship. Blue Origin Jeff Bezos company
1:28
asked for a cap on the rate of Starship Super Heavy launch,
1:31
landing, and other operations, including but not limited to
1:35
test firings, transport operations, and fueling.
1:39
Blue Origin also says there should be mandatory penalties
1:44
for SpaceX for conducting operations not included in an
1:49
EIS or other environmental restrictions, violating a launch
1:53
license or any other laws, regulations, or other rules for
1:59
operating. OK, let's take a look at this O
2:05
this read's super heavy operations are expected to have
2:08
a greater environmental impact. Remember that part, The
2:10
environmental impact part is extremely important here than
2:14
any other launch vehicle currently operating at KSC.
2:19
Super Heavy can hold up to an unprecedented 5200 metric tons
2:23
of liquid methane for propulsion, resulting in
2:26
qualified distances for safety margins that potentially overlap
2:30
the operational sites of other companies, the government and
2:34
the public. Now Blue Origin is talking about
2:36
their own facilities at Kennedy Space Center here also the
2:40
government, we pull them into this too, and the public which
2:44
does regular people doing regular jobs, which is just
2:47
people landscaping or doing whatever, you know, whatever
2:51
they do. Now the scary part is they
2:54
included environmental impact with this.
2:58
And this is where it gets a little bit dirty.
3:01
Now the data qualified quantifying these qualified
3:05
operations operation distances has not been published, but
3:09
given the anticipated Super heavy launch rate and vehicle
3:12
impact, the impact of Super heavy operations at Kennedy
3:15
Space Center maybe even greater than at Starbase.
3:19
Now let's go on a little bit further.
3:21
According the EIS should thoroughly evaluate the
3:24
considerable risks, alternatives, mitigations and
3:28
resources listed below. The issues raised herein are
3:31
reasonably foreseeable. OK.
3:35
Capping the rate of Super Heavy launches, landings and
3:39
operations. Capping basically cutting off
3:43
SpaceX at the kneecaps so they can't do any launches or very
3:47
few launches from Kennedy Space Center.
3:50
Also, no test firings, transport operations, fueling to a number
3:55
that has a minimal impact on local environment, locally
3:59
operating personnel and the local community.
4:02
They're just talking about the locals in consideration of all
4:06
risks and impacts, including but not limited to anomaly risk, air
4:10
toxin and hazardous materials dispersion, Rd. closures, and
4:13
heat and noise generation. They're basically calling out
4:16
SpaceX here. It's making them seem like
4:19
monsters. Government investment in
4:21
additional launch infrastructure that would make more launch pads
4:24
available to other entities in a manner that de conflicts the
4:27
Super heavy operations from other launch providers.
4:29
Basically saying, hey, give us the opportunity to continue
4:33
doing our own launches while SpaceX is doing their Starship
4:36
stuff. It's a pretty big document and
4:41
it seems pretty sketchy in my opinion, and I'm going to get
4:44
into that a little bit later. Why it's sketchy?
4:46
What they want to do is put a public perception of SpaceX into
4:51
the zeitgeist. The SpaceX is bad and Blue
4:54
Origin is good. Jeff Bezos, oh, he's such a good
4:57
guy. Elon's unhinged.
4:59
He's crazy. Look at this guy.
5:01
He does all sorts of wacky stuff.
5:03
He's a Wildman. Jeff Bezos secretly undercover
5:06
builds this massive rocket that's in direct competition
5:09
with SpaceX. Direct competition was super
5:11
heavy. So by softening the blow with a
5:15
greater environmental impact statement on the 1st sentence,
5:20
they make people think. They make the government think,
5:22
oh, this is going to be bad. It's bad for the environment.
5:26
Nobody wants to mess up the environment.
5:28
I don't I, I mean, you don't want the water to get polluted.
5:32
You don't want all of that wildlife to die.
5:36
Oh my God, what could happen if SpaceX, if something happens to
5:39
SpaceX is super heavy rocket at Kennedy's Space Center.
5:43
That's what they that's what they say.
5:44
This is a direct attack against SpaceX.
5:47
Now, mind you, the second sentence, unprecedented 5200
5:51
metric tons of liquid methane for propulsion resulting in
5:55
qualified distances for safety margins.
5:57
I understand this part that potentially overlap the
6:00
operational sites of other companies, the government and
6:03
the public. OK, so this part is true.
6:08
When Starship launches, the safety precautions that will be
6:12
needed for people, planes, boats, other companies, it's a
6:19
big kind of blast radius for this thing.
6:23
They have to be 7 miles away. And some of these companies,
6:26
including Blue Origin, aren't in that.
6:29
They are inside that blast radius.
6:31
They're not in the safe zone. So Blue Origin during these
6:36
launches, if there's going to be hundreds of launches per year,
6:40
that could be 100 days that SpaceX takes over Kennedy Space
6:46
Center. So this part of it totally
6:49
understand Bezos totally get it dude, you look like a super
6:54
villain. OK, you have your giant yacht.
6:56
You have all the money in the world and you also don't want
7:01
this to stop your giant rocket from launching and for your from
7:08
your company from making money which totally get it.
7:12
Bezos is a savage businessman and he will go after anybody
7:16
that impedes his companies in any single way.
7:19
So SpaceX here, if Blue Origin is in the blast radius of
7:26
Starship super heavy, the keep out zone from launches and of
7:30
test flights. SpaceX, Elon actually said
7:33
they're not going to do test flights from Kennedy Space
7:35
Center, but they have to, right? They have to get the the
7:41
Starship ready to go at Boca Chica, Starbase, Texas.
7:45
But the first flight that they do from Kennedy Space Center,
7:48
it's not not a test. They're going to be testing all
7:51
the systems the first time. Sure, it might be a successful
7:55
launch and landing of the Super heavy Starship, but it also
7:59
could be, you know, a, a test of sorts because they've never
8:06
flown from that position before from that spot.
8:09
So from the Kennedy Space Center launch tower that isn't even
8:13
built yet, it's kind of a test. So Bezos and company over here
8:19
at Blue Origin, they kind of have a point.
8:22
I mean, that part of it, yeah. But the whole environmental
8:25
impact thing, that's just a cover up for what they really
8:29
want. And that's for SpaceX to get
8:33
sued. They want legal precautions put
8:38
in place, mitigations, if you will, for SpaceX.
8:41
So they can't launch from Kennedy's Space Center.
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They want to hold them within red tape, strangle them for
8:49
years to come for within a environmental assessment,
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environmental impact studies possibly could take years to
8:59
complete. Environmental impact studies,
9:03
you know they say here. Accordingly, the EIS
9:06
Environmental Impact Study should thoroughly evaluate the
9:09
considerable risks, alternatives, mitigations, and
9:13
resources listed below. Issues raised herein are
9:16
reasonably foreseeable. Now, here we go.
9:20
This is the part that gets a little bit wonky.
9:27
They're way ahead of everybody else.
9:29
So why would SpaceX not want to keep going forward here?
9:36
Elon and company, they're going to keep working no matter what.
9:39
They're going to keep doing whatever.
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Whatever they do at Boca Chica, they're going to make that
9:43
second tower. They're in the process right now
9:46
on everyday Astronauts channel. He interviewed Elon and Elon
9:50
said they're building a brand new tower.
9:52
Everything's brand new. The tower that we see now, it's
9:56
going to be garbage compared to this new tower apparently.
9:58
And they're going to upgrade everything, a new water system,
10:03
new flame trench type system, he said.
10:06
Elon said the engineers are going ham on this thing and
10:10
building a, a better tower. So bigger tower, better tower.
10:15
And in here they say the government investment in
10:19
additional launch infrastructure that would make more launch pads
10:22
available to other entities. So basically, hey, we won't have
10:26
the ability to launch when SpaceX has super Heavy ready to
10:30
launch. We won't be able to do any of
10:31
our operations. We need, we need the room, we
10:34
need the space, we need the time.
10:37
So build us another pad, get us all the other stuff that we
10:40
need, the the roads, whatever we need.
10:43
We need like some other ways to do our job.
10:46
Totally get it. And is Elon and SpaceX pushing
10:51
the boundaries of Space Flight? Yes.
10:53
But is he pushing back on people that are slow?
10:56
Yes. You know, if if Blue Origin
10:59
can't keep up with them, then what is what is Blue Origin
11:04
supposed to do? They're going to sue them, you
11:07
sue, you sue the hell out of them, and the FAA is going to go
11:10
along with it. You know the FAA isn't going to
11:12
go along with it, but the FAA. This is a letter to the FAA, by
11:14
the way. This isn't just something they
11:16
put out there. So here's another second
11:19
company. So not only was it bad that Blue
11:23
Origin was doing this, but also the ula has entered the chat.
11:29
What is up, Tori Tori Bruno? You have a cool cowboy hat.
11:34
You have a cool mustache when you grow it out.
11:36
You ride a horse. You have a giant rocket company
11:39
that's worth billions of dollars, but yet you joined up
11:44
with Blue Origin to also attack SpaceX, and it seems kind of
11:50
sketchy. I'm not gonna lie here.
11:53
I want everybody to get along. I want all these rocket
11:55
companies to work together so people can work and live on the
11:59
moon and go to Mars. Why would you want to stop that?
12:04
The reason is it's Monday. Moolah Big green.
12:08
Now this is what Ula had to say. As a threshold matter, the EIS
12:13
must acknowledge that Starship is still in experimental stages.
12:16
SpaceX plant operations at LC39A Kennedy Space Center have
12:20
evolved and continue to evolve. We know it's a test vehicle
12:24
right now the FAA knows Starship is the largest rocket ever built
12:30
and is currently tested at Spacex's private base in Boca
12:33
Chica, Texas. And in prior test results test
12:35
flights SpaceX now this is the scary part.
12:38
People has experienced several technical accidents.
12:42
In addition, SpaceX has acknowledged that the vehicle is
12:45
not meeting anticipated performance levels, and as a
12:48
result, SpaceX has indicated that it plans to increase the
12:52
size and thrust level of the vehicle stages to address this
12:57
performance shortfall. This would result in
13:00
environmental and safety issues greater than those witnessed at
13:05
Boca Chica. Let's scare the pants off
13:08
everybody. Let's just scare them, OK?
13:13
They have a big rocket. We know that it's going to have
13:15
more thrust than anything. Everybody knows that the FEA
13:18
works completely hand in hand with SpaceX.
13:22
So it's not like the FEA doesn't know this stuff.
13:25
And I can't believe they did this on the same day as Blue
13:29
Origin within the within 24 hours of each other.
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Come on, Tori. You know what, Tori?
13:36
I'm not mad about this. I'm just disappointed in you.
13:43
You could have taken the High Road.
13:45
You could have done the right thing.
13:47
You could have competed with SpaceX directly.
13:51
You could have spent money building reliable reusable
13:56
rockets that could be launched from an American launch provider
14:00
with such a heritage and prestige.
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Like ula you could have just fought them hand to hand combat.
14:09
But instead you're using sneaky tactics.
14:13
You're being a little sketchy here.
14:15
You're talking at the side of your mouth.
14:17
You should be talking straightforward instead of
14:20
saying this environmental stuff, these rockets, they're going to
14:24
hurt things. Yeah, it's in a it's, it's a
14:28
deal, right? The FAA, SpaceX, it's a big
14:31
deal. It's a big rocket.
14:34
But instead you took the low Rd. Tory Ula and Blue Origin.
14:40
If you think they're not working together on this, they're both
14:42
posted within the same 24 hours. There's some stuff going on here
14:47
between these two companies. People talk, they're in the same
14:50
industry. They work right down the road
14:52
from each other. So of course, somebody wrote an
14:57
e-mail, hey, we're going to release this thing or ula saw
15:03
what Blue Origin did and said, hey, we can do the same thing.
15:07
Let's get on. Let's get them guys, make a
15:10
better rocket that can compete with the Super Heavy.
15:13
You wouldn't have to worry about this.
15:15
OK, so there's other parts to this that we can go through, and
15:20
Blue Origin covered most of it. But they're disguising this as
15:25
an environmental issue when in all actuality, this is about
15:31
money, baby. Billions of dollars that they
15:34
could be getting from the government and from other
15:37
sources. Department of Defense, private
15:40
contractors flying satellites into orbit, whatever it is ula
15:48
Blue Origin. See the writing on the wall?
15:50
They're scared. They're backed up into a corner.
15:52
SpaceX is eating their lunch. Now these two are trying to
15:56
fight back. They're trying to be the
15:57
bullies. But what they're doing here is
16:00
they're being sneaky, and they're being, let's just say, a
16:05
little bit underhanded. They're using the system, the
16:10
FAA and the government to their advantage, and they're coming
16:14
directly at SpaceX for this. Now, remember, if SpaceX gets
16:19
tangled up in this red tape, they could be stuck in it for
16:23
years to come. And we couldn't see a SpaceX
16:26
Starship launch from Kennedy Space Center for two, maybe
16:32
three years because of this. What happens to the Artemis
16:34
program because these two petty companies are attacking SpaceX?
16:40
I understand where they're coming from.
16:44
If they're in the blast radius of a Starship, figure it out.
16:47
The FAA, SpaceX, Kennedy Space Center, they'll all figure it
16:51
out. And because these two bigger
16:54
companies, these two big companies, massive rocket
16:57
companies are working with the government and they're working
17:00
with NASA, Kennedy Space Center, etcetera, they have some pull.
17:05
So I get it. I totally get it, but just do it
17:10
the right way. Let them handle their business.
17:12
I understand where you're like where you're airing this out
17:15
right now, but it's pretty sketchy.
17:18
It's pretty like obviously you work together on this.
17:22
No matter Like show us, show us, show us that you didn't show us
17:27
that you didn't work together. How about that?
17:31
OK, that's pretty. It's very funny though, that
17:35
like they didn't, they didn't expect us to get that.
17:38
Do you do it right? Let them go through the proper
17:41
channels, let them go through the FAA.
17:45
Let them do their thing. If the FAA says they're ready to
17:48
go, then they're ready to go. SpaceX intends to launch a
17:52
larger model at LC39A than it is currently testing in Boca Chica.
17:58
SpaceX reveal plans to at minimum quadruple payload size
18:03
to make up for shortfalls. I'd like this, the shortfalls
18:06
and predicted performance. Starship will eventually be 492
18:10
feet tall by the way. That's freaking huge. 500 feet
18:15
tall. 50 story building. What in the world is going on?
18:21
Super Heavy booster is expected to hold up to 4100 metric tons
18:24
of propellant, a Starship up to 2600 metric tons.
18:27
The maximum liftoff thrust is anticipated of 103 Mega Mega
18:32
Newtons resulting in launch impacts would far exceed current
18:35
impacts seen during current Boca Chica launches.
18:38
Yeah, it's a bigger rocket. We know.
18:42
Additional growth of the Starship launch vehicle may be
18:44
planned if performance continues to fall below expectations.
18:48
Given these changes, the EIS must perform a comparative
18:52
analysis between current usage impacts and the proposed
18:55
operations, with a rocket proposed to be more than double
18:58
the size of any current licensed launch vehicle and with
19:02
increased frequency of launches. So hundreds of launches per
19:06
year, hundreds of launches, say 100 launches, say even 50
19:12
launches per year, 50 launches. That's fifty days that some of
19:18
these engineers and workers in the office anywhere, any driving
19:22
a truck, who knows what you're doing out there.
19:25
You could just be like watering the lawn, doing landscaping at
19:29
Kennedy Space Center, but you couldn't do it because SpaceX is
19:33
launching a Starship. I get it, Tori, I, I understand
19:38
where you're coming from. SpaceX and the FAA work like
19:43
this. They work like this.
19:45
They also do this. That's a magic trick, by the
19:48
way, children. Yes, that's a trick my dad
19:50
taught me anyway, that to be a little bit weird.
19:54
But that's a cool thing you can do, by the way, and show people
19:58
that you have magic fingers. And if you do it to a little 3
20:01
year old, they're going to be like what just happened.
20:05
SpaceX knows what they're doing. They've been working with the
20:07
FAA. Since inception, and the FAA is
20:12
very knowledgeable about what's going on in Boca Chica.
20:16
They have to be because they're operating with SpaceX.
20:21
They're authorizing SpaceX to launch these rockets from Boca
20:25
Chica. So they know exactly what's
20:27
going on. They did damage reports for the
20:30
first, second, third, and upcoming launches.
20:34
They're doing all that stuff with SpaceX and they know what
20:36
SpaceX is planning. So anything they do here,
20:39
anything that Blue Origin or ula does, it's just them beating
20:45
their chest and shoving SpaceX to the side and saying, hey,
20:49
let's wrap you up in some red tape.
20:52
Let's do another environmental impact study.
20:54
You think putting up pressure on the FAA, it could happen and
20:59
SpaceX could be stuck in that red tape for two years while
21:05
they do an environmental impact study to see if anything is
21:09
going to happen with the Starship if anything goes wrong.
21:16
Do you think this is right ula and Blue Origin, do you think
21:21
this is the right way to do it? Or do you think that, you know,
21:25
making this public and posting these things on the same day?
21:29
You don't think this is an attack, direct attack on SpaceX?
21:34
2 two of the biggest Space Flight companies in existence
21:40
just just so happened to have the same idea on the same day.
21:42
It's so cute. It's so cute.
21:45
June 25th, Hey, I got this idea. I think I'm going to post
21:50
something on my account about the FAA.
21:54
This is pretty cool. And then that was Blue Origin by
21:57
the way. And then ula goes, I got an
22:00
idea. I got this really great idea.
22:03
I think I too am going to post something that I don't know
22:07
anything about Blue Origin, but I'm going to do it myself.
22:10
Let me just post this. And nobody, nobody knew that
22:14
this was going to happen. Whatever, dude.
22:18
These companies, they're talking to each other.
22:21
There's some background stuff going on.
22:23
They're both like, yo, what are you going to post today?
22:27
Hey, let's post this up, dude. There's like two people, you
22:31
know, there's, there's like this scheme, you know how you always
22:34
think like those people that are like, oh, there's like a dark
22:38
whatever in the background that's controlling things.
22:42
It's just people, right? But these people are weird.
22:46
Like these two entities ula and Blue Origin, they're like, let's
22:50
make the maximum impact against SpaceX.
22:52
Let's do it together, let's fight SpaceX.
22:56
And if we do it and there's two of us, SpaceX can't fight us
23:01
because we're gonna get the FAA involved.
23:02
We're gonna wrap him up in this red tape and they'll never get
23:05
out. And then me being Blue Origin,
23:09
I'll be able to launch my giant rocket from Kennedy Space Center
23:14
before SpaceX launches their rocket from Kennedy Space
23:18
Center. You get a little bragging
23:22
rights. You might get some contracts
23:24
that SpaceX doesn't get because you have a flight proven rocket.
23:28
SpaceX doesn't have that yet. You might get big contracts, you
23:32
might get government contracts, you might get Department of
23:35
Defense contracts that are only awarded to rockets that have
23:40
made it to orbit or have done other certain things.
23:44
And if Blue Origin can push SpaceX back from doing that from
23:48
Kennedy Space Center, who knows what kind of contracts they
23:51
could get. Millions of dollars, billions of
23:53
dollars worth of contracts the SpaceX might not get because
23:56
Jeff Bezos and company ula included Tori calling you out.
24:00
Cowboy hat looks cool. That big mustache that you had
24:03
look cool. But you know what?
24:04
You're a punk. Stop it.
24:06
Stop it, Jeff Bezos, stop it. Tori, you're being babies about
24:10
this. SpaceX is going to work with the
24:14
FAA. You didn't have to do this.
24:17
This is such a bitch move, dude, come on, come on.
24:22
I know my channel's like for fun, but this is a real bitchy
24:26
thing to do. So come on.
24:28
It's all I'm saying. Christian, thanks for posting
24:31
this. Washington Post, Christian
24:34
Davenport, good, good tweets. But if you like this kind of
24:39
commentary and you want to be part of this community, please,
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26:01
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