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Starship Launching 9 times this year? · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
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  This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The
• 0:08
  Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink,
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  and I'm your host, Will Walden. If you want uninterrupted
• 0:17
  episodes of the Elon Musk podcast, please go to
• 0:20
  clubelon.supercast.com to find out how there's a link in the
• 0:26
  show notes SpaceX is setting its sights on a robust launch
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  schedule for the Starship rocket in 2024.
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  Aiming for at least nine missions is stated by a Federal
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  Aviation Administration FAA official in the Starship, which
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  is immense, has power and size, which we haven't seen before in
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  a rocket, and it's central for Spacex's aspirations of taking
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  people to Mars. Now, despite the goals, SpaceX
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  acknowledges the challenges ahead and making the Starship
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  Mars ready Company is under significant pressure to advance
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  its test flight program to meet its targets for the year.
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  And Kevin Coleman, the FAA Commercial Space Transportation
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  Administrator, highlighted Spacex's intention launch agenda
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  for 24. He said that the workload
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  involved preparing in these numerous launches said that
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  there's continuous dialogue between SpaceX and the FAA to
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  facilitate this brand new and aggressive schedule for this
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  monstrous rocket. Now, the FAA previously mandated
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  a cap of Starship launches about 5 attempts annually following an
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  in depth environmental assessment.
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  This restriction is something SpaceX is keen to modify to
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  accommodate its expanding launch itinerary.
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  And if they need to go to the moon, they need to launch
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  hundreds of these rockets to make sure that everything works
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  perfectly. Now SpaceX is inaugural
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  integrated flight test before the Starship occurred in April
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  of 2023, marking a moment in history that the Rockets
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  eventual failure happened during the first stage separation.
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  Now the event underscored the risks and the complexities of
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  the Starship program. And then they did a follow up
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  test IFT 2 conducted in November.
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  So they only did two tests that year.
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  But this laid the groundwork for future launches.
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  SpaceX is now gearing up for the third test flight anticipated
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  around mid March. Ish, which could set the pace
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  for monthly launches until the year's end.
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  The Department of Defense is exploring a potential new launch
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  site for Starship in Florida too, and this would be of
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  strategic importance for the rocket and also for the DoD.
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  This moves involves an extensive environmental impact study to
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  assess the feasibility of such launches for the Space Coast of
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  Florida. And as SpaceX prepares for its
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  first Starship launch of 2024 from the Starbase facility in
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  South Texas, regulatory hurdles remain a significant focus.
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  The FAA is actively working with SpaceX to streamline the
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  licensing process for new Starship launches going forward.
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  Now the environmental ramifications of Starship
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  launches have come under scrutiny, and especially after
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  the first launch in April 2023, which caused considerable damage
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  to the launch site and caught a few things on fire and raised
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  environmental concerns. And these incidents highlight
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  the challenges of balancing Spacex's Starship program, but
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  also their own environmental stewardship.
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  Now the second Starship launch proved more successful, though
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  with a super heavy first stage booster performing very well.
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  However, the upper stage encountered issues leading to
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  its loss, though without ground damage, reflecting iterative
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  improvements in Spacex's launch protocol.
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  Now, mind you, the first stage did blow up as well, so it was
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  better than the first trip, but that second one was better.
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  Now, Spacex's founder Elon Musk has indicated a target window
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  and early to mid March for the third Starship launch attempt,
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  and this launch is viewed as having a reasonable chance of
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  reaching orbit. The FAA's Commercial Space
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  Transportation division has grown significantly in response
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  to the increasing number of US launches and the emergence of
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  new spaceflight companies. This expansion is part of a
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  broader effort to enhance the FAA's regulatory capacity in the
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  rapidly growing space industry and the private space industry.
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  Now the Space Force and the Air Force, alongside other federal
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  agencies is conducting an environmental impact statement
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  EIS for potential Starship launches from Florida.
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  Like we discussed before now, this is a very stringent level
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  environmental review. There's high stakes here, and we
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  know that if SpaceX passes the environmental review, we're
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  going to see a few launch towers happen as soon as possible from
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  this launch site because the Department of Defense is
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  involved. SpaceX has conducted 2 notable
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  launches from Starship facility in 2023 at Starbase, with both
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  missions ending in explosions shortly after takeoff.
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  The potential for Starship to support NASA's missions and the
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  Department of Defense's interest in its capabilities shows that
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  Starship is very important. It's a strategic rocket.
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  It's not just a rocket that will get people to the Moon and Mars,
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  It'll be a rocket that sends cargo to orbit for the
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  Department of Defense. Numerous armed forces as well,
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  and the ongoing EIS process is exploring various options for
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  accommodating Starship launches from Florida going forward.
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  Hopefully that can be done within the next six months, but
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  we're expecting it to be 8 months to 12 months before this
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  all happens. And the EIS is just another set
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  of red tape that SpaceX has to go through in order to launch
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  from the Space Coast. It's not the primary mission, So
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  this is a secondary mission that SpaceX would do.
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  Public meetings are scheduled to discuss the environmental impact
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  of potential new Starship launch sites, and this is great for
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  community engagement and transparency for Starship,
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  SpaceX and the Department of Defense and the state of
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  Florida. Now Starship, with its giant
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  capabilities, is poised to revolutionize space travel, with
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  plans to replace the Falcon rocket family eventually and
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  support missions like Mars colonization for Starlink and
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  more satellite operations. It's payload capacity makes it a
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  key asset for both commercial space activities and defense
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  applications and the drive to overcome regulatory and
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  environmental hurdles. It's a huge challenge for
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  SpaceX. They've had to do it at Starbase
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  a few Times Now, and they've always come up.
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  The winner of stakeholders, including military officials,
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  emphasize the need for national support and investment to
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  realize the potential of transformative space
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  technologies like Starship on the Space Coast of Florida.
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  Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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  I really do appreciate your support.
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  and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.