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SpaceX Starship Unlikely to Launch in 2023 · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the show.
• 0:02
  In today's episode, we're going to be talking about SpaceX and
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  Starship program. And after the initial Starship
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  launch ended in a dramatic explosion above the Gulf of
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  Mexico, the company's forward momentum has stalled on the
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  launch front. Three months have passed since
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  the incident, and the company's yet to submit a final accident
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  report to the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA.
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  Now this indicates that the rocket program remains grounded
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  for now, and a second launch may not happen this summer, unlike
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  what Elon Musk has said now overseeing the investigation
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  into April 20th launch. The FAA stated on Wednesday that
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  it still awaits the critical report that will identify the
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  necessary corrective measures SpaceX must undertake before
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  gaining clearance for another launch from Boca Chica Starbase,
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  Texas, And an FA spokesperson avoided conjecture regarding the
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  potential completion date for the agency's investigation,
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  explaining that public safety and actions yet to be taken by
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  SpaceX will dictate the timeline.
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  Now, according to the FA, any return to flight operations will
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  only be sanctioned when it is determined that any system,
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  process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect
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  public safety or any other aspect of the operator's
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  license. Now, they emphasize that the
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  mishap investigation is still ongoing, though now adding to
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  the situation's complexity. SpaceX is also trying to modify
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  its current license, which was suspended after the first
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  launch. Now, despite these regulatory
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  roadblocks, though, Elon Musk and SpaceX are projecting a
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  swift return to launching operations.
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  The company, which is held privately, has been showcasing
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  repairs to its orbital launch mount now.
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  This facility sustained significant damage from
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  starships first launch, raising public safety and environmental
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  concerns. The rocket, after a chaotic
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  liftoff and loss of control, was annihilated over the Gulf of
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  Mexico and while dealing with the aftermath, SpaceX has made
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  enhancements to its launch site. Among the new additions is a
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  steel plate designed to shield the pad in future test launches.
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  Last week, the company shared on Twitter that had transported a
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  new Super heavy booster prototype to the pad for testing
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  ahead of Flight A continuing its updates.
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  On Monday, SpaceX revealed that it's completed propellant load
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  tests on two different boosters. Booster 9 and Booster 10 images
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  displayed the boosters glazed with frost after being filled
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  with liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
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  The absence of a completed investigation report and the FAE
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  approval for another launch suggests that Musk's timeline
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  for resuming test flights may be overly optimistic.
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  Musk, who's also responsible for Tesla, The Boring Company,
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  Neurolink Operations, as well as Twitter, has stated on June 13th
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  that the Starship would be ready for another launch within 6 to 8
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  weeks, aligning with the end of July or early August time frame.
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  A SpaceX Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, was
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  launched from its Starbase facility at Boca Chica on April
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  20th of this year. It managed to clear the launch
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  tower, which Elon Musk said was a hope at most and at recent
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  altitude, of 24 miles above Earth before culminating in an
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  uncontrolled explosion over the Gulf of Mexico.
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  At liftoff though, the Rockets 33 Raptor engines fired up, but
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  there were only 31 that were actually firing.
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  And they also fired chunks of concrete and metal from the
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  launch site across 385 acres, igniting wildfires and kicking
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  up a dust storm of pulverized concrete.
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  Scattering debris possibly up to 6.5 miles away from the launch
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  site must conceded the launch had caused an unforeseen rock
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  tornado under the Starship super heaviest booster stage during
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  liftoff, and despite the havoc, he insisted there were no
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  significant environmental damage.
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  And since the launch, SpaceX has progressed.
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  At the launch compound has been closely monitored, and since the
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  three months this Starship debuted, SpaceX has made a huge
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  amount of progress on the hardware of the boosters and the
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  ships, and also on the launch site, ground systems down a
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  Starbase Boca Chicas, Texas. Now, despite the optimism,
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  SpaceX still has legal hurdles to overcome before resuming
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  flight testing from Starbase. Along with the FAA, SpaceX is a
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  codefendant in a federal lawsuit contesting the FA A's initial
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  approval of the Starship launch program, and the suit was filed
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  by environmental and indigenous groups that challenge the FA A's
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  review and approval of Spacex's plans.
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  The plaintiffs are pushing for the agency to carry out an
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  environmental impact statement, a process that could potentially
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  ground the rocket program for many years to come.
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  Now, the suit alleges that the F approval violated federal laws,
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  including the National Environmental Policy Act, due to
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  an adequate consideration of potential harm to wildlife.
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  The FA and SpaceX have largely denied these allegations and
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  court filings and have requested the lawsuit's dismissal.
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  SpaceX is the most valuable aerospace and defense company in
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  the United States, and the company has asked to intervene
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  in the lawsuit, citing a direct subsequential economic interest.
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  Now Musk has stated the SpaceX has invested 3 billion dollars
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  since 2014 and developing the Starbase facility, and the
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  facility is pivotal to the company's growth though, with
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  plans to use Starship for launching more Star Link
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  satellites into orbit and returning NASA astronauts to the
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  moon with the Artemis 3 program. Musk also has ambitions to use
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  the reusable rocket to transport human beings to Mars for the
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  first time. Now, after the initial Starship
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  launch, Musk stood edit this out.
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  After the initial Starship launch, Musk said he expected to
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  spend an additional $2 billion on the rocket program, hoping to
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  attempt at least five launches by the end of 2023.
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  However, the test is in limbo right now and NASA has actually
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  voiced concerned over Spacex's ability to have its lunar Lander
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  version of Starship ready and time to carry astronauts to the
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  moon According to the space agency schedule and early June,
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  NASA indicated that it's Artemis 3 moon mission originally
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  planned for late 2025 is likely to be postponed until 2026 due
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  to Spacex's complications with the Starship program.
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  NASA's Associate Administrator Jim Free commented on the
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  situation. They said with the difficulties
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  the SpaceX has had, that's really concerning now.
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  Thank you so much for listening to the show today.
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  I really do appreciate you stopping by and hanging out and
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  being part of this community. If you want to help out even
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  more, please take a second and hit the subscribe.
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  Or if you want to help out a little bit more, please hit the
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  follower subscribe button on the podcast platform that you're
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  listening on right now. It would really help us out,
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  really help you out too because you get cool SpaceX news all the
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  time. So that's about it for today.
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  Take care of yourselves at each other, and I will see you in the
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  next one.