Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / SpaceX Starship Facility Updates 12-27-2020

Transcript

SpaceX Starship Facility Updates 12-27-2020 · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:06
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the show.
• 0:08
  My name is Will Walden and I'm your host today, we're going to
• 0:11
  be talking about SpaceX and the FAA SpaceX Starship actually is
• 0:19
  the subject today. Starship super-heavy Boca Chica,
• 0:23
  Texas and Cameron County and the FAA wants to No, everybody's
• 0:30
  opinion on this which is really weird.
• 0:33
  Usually they don't ask people's opinion on this kind of stuff
• 0:37
  but it's a, it's a different kind of matter.
• 0:40
  Boca Chica is a small community and they're in the middle of a
• 0:44
  national site. So it's near Brownsville.
• 0:50
  South Padre Island, they have a vehicle launch or Vehicle
• 0:56
  Assembly area. There is Space X and And they
• 1:01
  want to send Starships to orbit from Texas, Natalie to orbit,
• 1:07
  they want to be able to send them repeatedly to orbit and
• 1:10
  repeatedly to anywhere in space. So what the FAA and SpaceX are
• 1:17
  kind of working on. It's a kind of a compromise
• 1:23
  SpaceX needs more places to put things basically they need more
• 1:27
  manufacturing facilities because they want to be able to pump out
• 1:30
  Starships. They want to be able to pump out
• 1:33
  super heavy rockets and they can't do that with their
• 1:37
  facility. Now it's just a little bit too
• 1:39
  small. They need bigger landing and
• 1:41
  launch areas right now. It's basically in parking lot.
• 1:46
  You know, they have a bigger parking lot and they have they
• 1:49
  have a big parking lot where they launch the Rockets from.
• 1:52
  Then they have the place where they put their cars on the other
• 1:54
  side, and yeah, it's a, it's a pretty decent size facility.
• 1:58
  But Compared to something like, you know, launch complexes it at
• 2:04
  Nasa in Florida, it pales in comparison.
• 2:09
  And to have a multiplanetary launch facility.
• 2:13
  You need a lot of room. So the FAA, released, a document
• 2:18
  that says SpaceX proposes to conduct Starship super heavy.
• 2:22
  Launch operations, from the Boca, Chica launch site in
• 2:24
  Cameron County, Texas, the proposed operations would
• 2:28
  include sub orbital launches, and or orbital.
• 2:31
  Launches the action would also include the associated actions
• 2:35
  of take tests. Static fire, engine tests.
• 2:39
  Of the vertical launch area and solar farm and construction of
• 2:43
  additional infrastructure. So they're going to need to be
• 2:46
  able to transport vehicles to. And from this facility, they're
• 2:51
  going to need to be able to transport big machinery around
• 2:56
  here. So they need some space to do
• 2:59
  that stuff. So they go into the FAA goes
• 3:02
  into where the location is. They say, Boca, Chica launch
• 3:06
  site is located on SpaceX own land and Camera County Texas
• 3:10
  near the cities of Brownsville and South Padre Island.
• 3:13
  The launch site consists of the vla, which is controlled by the
• 3:16
  launch and Landing control center.
• 3:17
  The llcc. The vla is approximately 2.5
• 3:21
  miles, north of the u.s. Mexico border and the LCC is
• 3:25
  approximately 1.3 miles north of the u.s.
• 3:27
  Mexico border. So the very close to Mexico
• 3:30
  State Highway 4 provides access to the launch site and
• 3:32
  terminates directly adjacent to the vla.
• 3:34
  Say the LCC consists of a two-story building for to as
• 3:38
  Star Gate and is located west of the vla along svh for Now, what
• 3:46
  does this all mean? Well, it means that SpaceX has a
• 3:51
  facility like we're talking about before near the Mexico
• 3:55
  border. They have some structures there
• 3:57
  that, you know, that they need to build Starship.
• 4:03
  They need to test our ship. They need a tank farm.
• 4:06
  They need some more solar panels Etc, but the plan is for SpaceX,
• 4:13
  they want to expand, you know, they don't want this small small
• 4:18
  area anymore. They want.
• 4:19
  To continue to expand so they can make bigger and more
• 4:23
  Starships. So this is speaking of
• 4:27
  Starships. Let's go into it.
• 4:29
  FAA says, the launch vehicle, the fully integrated launch
• 4:31
  vehicle, is comprised of comprised of two stages.
• 4:33
  Super heavy is the first stage or booster and Starship is a
• 4:37
  second stage fully integrate a Starship.
• 4:39
  Super heavy. Launch vehicle will be
• 4:41
  approximately 400 feet tall, and 30 feet diameter.
• 4:44
  Super-heavy will be equipped with up to 37 Raptor engines and
• 4:49
  our ship will employ up to six Raptor engines.
• 4:51
  The Raptor engine is powered by liquid oxygen and liquid
• 4:54
  methane. So that's an overview of how big
• 4:59
  this thing is. Super happy, Starship
• 5:02
  configuration 400 feet tall 30 feet diameter.
• 5:07
  That is a massive massive rocket and it's just a massive
• 5:13
  structure altogether. It's like sending a skyscraper
• 5:17
  into space thing is Giant and they go into some of these
• 5:22
  operations in the FAA article as well.
• 5:25
  Take tests prior to conducting a subordinate suborbital.
• 5:28
  Launch of a super heavier, Starship prototype SpaceX.
• 5:31
  Must conduct tank test to ensure the tanks reliability.
• 5:35
  This involves performing pressure test prior to
• 5:37
  performing a static fire engine test to confirm the structural
• 5:40
  Integrity of the launch vehicle during take tests SpaceX.
• 5:43
  Pressurize the tank with gaseous Media or liquid propellants that
• 5:47
  we've seen this We see this numerous times with, you know,
• 5:53
  the SM series of Starships, they do pressure test, tank tests and
• 6:00
  some of them failed subform implodes of them.
• 6:02
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• 8:15
  So they want to be able to do these things with a lot of
• 8:17
  space. Right now, it's not bad right
• 8:20
  now. It's not bad.
• 8:20
  They have everything they need but they want to expand
• 8:23
  pre-flight operations. Now from the FAA, pre flight
• 8:26
  operations include Mission rehearsals and static fire.
• 8:28
  Engine tests, that's what happened with sna.
• 8:31
  You know, they have static fire engine test while it's on the
• 8:34
  mount. The goal of mission rehearsals
• 8:36
  is to verify that all vehicle and ground systems are
• 8:38
  functioning properly as well as verify that all procedures are
• 8:41
  properly written after final systems.
• 8:43
  Check out SpaceX would conduct a mission rehearsal, without
• 8:46
  propellants on the launch vehicle, which Dry dress
• 8:49
  rehearsal, followed by a mission rehearsal, with propellants on
• 8:52
  the launch vehicle, which is a web for dress, rehearsal to
• 8:55
  verify full launch Readiness. And in addition to conducting
• 8:59
  dress rehearsal space X would conduct static fire.
• 9:02
  Engine tests. We've seen this with sna.
• 9:05
  So, if you watch the whole process, you've seen all the
• 9:07
  setting fires, they did, they've done multiple static fires of
• 9:11
  sn8 and that aesthetic fire test is identical to a wet dress
• 9:14
  rehearsal except engine ignition occurs.
• 9:16
  It is very brief. Usually, it's It's a couple
• 9:19
  seconds and during ascetic fire engine test, the launch vehicle
• 9:23
  engines are needed for approximately 15 to 30 seconds
• 9:25
  and then shut down right. So like 1530 seconds, couple
• 9:28
  seconds anywhere in between like a quick 15. 30 seconds, they can
• 9:33
  go a little bit more if they need to but usually 30 seconds
• 9:36
  is plenty of time for them to get this done.
• 9:41
  Now, the they talk about launches to in this document
• 9:44
  SpaceX is proposing to conduct suborbital and orbital launches
• 9:48
  launches It would occur at the vla and include Landings of both
• 9:51
  stages at the vla, on a platform / barge in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 9:56
  No closer than 12 miles off the coast.
• 10:00
  So we have a little hint here, something that could be 12 miles
• 10:04
  off the coast, the SpaceX could be building a barge in the next
• 10:09
  couple years. Really crazy construction SpaceX
• 10:14
  proposes, new launch related, construction, activity consists
• 10:17
  of expanding, the solar farm, adding infrastructure facilities
• 10:20
  at the vla. A liquid natural gas
• 10:22
  pretreatment system and liquefier at the vla SpaceX is
• 10:27
  proposing. Constructed redundant launch pad
• 10:29
  in Commodities, redundant landing pad to integration
• 10:31
  Towers tank, structural test dance in ad salinization plan,
• 10:37
  So the Saturn 5 was about 360 feet tall.
• 10:44
  There was 33 feet wide on the first stage and Starship is 30
• 10:50
  feet wide all the way up. It doesn't Point like it doesn't
• 10:56
  go to a point like the Apollo Program Center 5 rocket.
• 11:00
  It's just a big cylinder. It's just like a straight tube.
• 11:04
  Starships, fully reusable land, the super-heavy, put another
• 11:09
  Starship on top, send that sucker to orbit, again, send it
• 11:12
  to wherever, you got to send it, you know, Mars or wherever, but
• 11:17
  they need these facilities in order to do it.
• 11:19
  But the thing that really gets me right here, the thing that's
• 11:22
  really interesting, is the barge in the Gulf of Mexico, they were
• 11:29
  talking about this, a bunch of times.
• 11:31
  Elon Musk has talked about this a bunch of times.
• 11:34
  And they have said, you know, we would love to do land Landings
• 11:41
  on the earth or you know, you could possibly do in the ocean
• 11:46
  and the gulf. So this is kind of confirmation
• 11:49
  that the FAA has talked to SpaceX.
• 11:51
  And that they want to have a barge out there where people
• 11:54
  would be ferried in and out to the barge so they could launch
• 11:58
  from the Starship and how crazy would that be?
• 12:02
  12 miles off the coast, that's not too far.
• 12:05
  But this thing is massive and they don't have the launch
• 12:10
  facilities. Quite yet to pull this off. but
• 12:16
  if they're going to start making it a barge, You know, 12 miles
• 12:21
  out. Is this going to be a platform
• 12:24
  or is it going to be a part? We're not sure oil old oil
• 12:27
  tankers that could be a thing. Oil rigs could be a thing and
• 12:34
  they could possibly Stitch a couple of those together.
• 12:37
  You know, weld a bunch of all those together and you have a
• 12:40
  landing, barge Landing platform for star ships Landing /.
• 12:47
  You know, refueling. / everything.
• 12:50
  But see, that's the other thing too.
• 12:53
  If they do, put it out there in the ocean or in the in the Gulf,
• 12:57
  12 miles out and they have to Ferry fuel back and forth
• 13:01
  because these things are supposed to be fully reusable.
• 13:05
  So that doesn't make a lot of sense.
• 13:07
  You know for the infrastructure to do that like are they going
• 13:11
  to run lines from the coast all the way out to their barge?
• 13:16
  12 miles out, doesn't make a lot of sense.
• 13:20
  So we're going to have we're going to look into that and see
• 13:22
  if we can come up with any more information about that because
• 13:27
  it just seems a little bit like too much.
• 13:31
  You know. It seems like a little bit too
• 13:33
  much and I don't I'm not exactly sure when they're going to start
• 13:39
  that process of building these things or if they have anything
• 13:43
  in place to do that but we'll see in the future.
• 13:47
  What happens with the SpaceX Boca Chica A site.
• 13:51
  Now I want to say thank you for listening.
• 13:53
  If you have any questions or anything, just let me know.
• 13:56
  You can hit me up at space, new spot.com or on Twitter at space
• 14:00
  news pod, thanks again, make sure to subscribe.
• 14:03
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• 14:06
  And thanks again everybody take care of yourselves, we'll be
• 14:10
  back with more news soon enough, take care.
• 14:13
  Bye bye. A site.
• 13:51
  Now I want to say thank you for listening.
• 13:53
  If you have any questions or anything, just let me know.
• 13:56
  You can hit me up at space, new spot.com or on Twitter at space
• 14:00
  news pod, thanks again, make sure to subscribe.
• 14:03
  Make sure to give us a good rating if you like the show.
• 14:06
  And thanks again everybody take care of yourselves, we'll be
• 14:10
  back with more news soon enough, take care.
• 14:13
  Bye bye.