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Elon Musk Weekly News Update: Tesla, SpaceX, X, Neuralink, and More · 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
Well. These lights are bright.
0:19
See Elon, you know, a lot of times you say things me or you
0:24
and they edit them. So I noticed this panel
0:26
description was A conversation with Elon Musk.
0:33
The real title of this panel was How to Save the Human Race and
0:40
other like topics, A Conversation with Elon Musk.
0:45
And so before we begin, Elon, I thought we might want to go back
0:51
in time 11 years when you were sitting on this stage.
0:56
That's hot water. And this is regularly you can
0:59
take your choice. Alright, sounds good.
1:01
OK. So eleven years ago, Alon was
1:07
talking about the things that will have the biggest impact on
1:13
the future of humanity that he was thinking about in college.
1:19
And so let's run that video of 11 almost 11 years ago to today.
1:28
I guess, you know, when I was in college that I thought about
1:30
things that were supposed to affect the future of humanity
1:32
and, and there were three areas that I thought would have the
1:36
biggest impact and those were the Internet, sustainable
1:38
energy, of which solar power is the production side and electric
1:44
cars the consumption side. And then humanity becoming a
1:49
multi founded species. And so we cut that short, but
1:53
there was two others you talked about.
1:56
One was modifying the human genome.
1:59
Yeah, I'm just, I'm not saying we should.
2:01
I'm just saying that that's the thing would really affect the.
2:03
Future and next AI. So a lot of people didn't
2:08
thinking about these same five things when they were in school,
2:13
particularly humanity on multi planets at that time.
2:18
Well, sci-fi was certainly thinking about it, but you know,
2:21
I think at some point we want to make science fiction, not
2:23
fiction forever. And yeah, so like, let's make
2:28
life multi planetary and be a space parking civilization, be
2:30
out there among the stars. You know, I think there are
2:34
things that like you have to be excited about the future life.
2:39
Life cannot just be about solving one problem after
2:42
another. They have to be things that
2:44
that, that really sort of move your heart and that make you
2:48
excited to wake up in the morning.
2:52
And I think being becoming a spacefaring civilization is one
2:55
of those things. If you ask kids anywhere around
2:56
the world, like what is, what are some of the most inspiring
2:59
things? You know, you can ask like 5
3:01
year old, 6 year old anywhere in the world and they're going to
3:04
say, you know, space exploration is one of those things.
3:08
And, and we want to make sure that we, we're, you know, that
3:12
Apollo is not the high watermark.
3:14
In fact, you mentioned at one point that you wrote a letter
3:17
offering to run the Apollo program.
3:19
I believe you would have done a fantastic job.
3:24
But the but the point is that the, the Apollo program was
3:27
something that was inspiring to everyone around the world.
3:31
And we, we don't want the Apollo program to be the high watermark
3:35
of, of human exploration. And yeah, we want, I think you
3:40
want to have some some sense that the future is going to be
3:44
better than the past, that we're going to be out there going to
3:47
other star systems. And you know what?
3:52
What you see in a science, science fiction, non dystopian
3:56
sci-fi story, of which there aren't many, but like Star Trek
4:00
I suppose. Well, Speaking of Star Trek, a
4:03
lot, you know when I think about you.
4:05
Let's look at sparks from Star Trek here.
4:14
Space, the Finding Frontier. These are the voyages of the
4:20
Starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission to explore
4:26
strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new
4:31
civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
4:39
So when I think about you, I think about Spock and Captain
4:43
Kirk, and you're going to take us to places we've never gone
4:47
before. Yeah, that's the idea.
4:54
You know, if we if we send probes out there, we might, I
4:57
mean we might find the remains of long dead alien
5:00
civilizations. If physics is correct, the the
5:04
universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
5:08
Earth is about four and a half billion years old.
5:10
So but at 13.8 billion years, a civilization that even lasted a
5:14
million years is 3 digits past the decimal point.
5:17
And if you consider human civilization, I, I, I dated from
5:22
like the first writing. So that first writing was the
5:25
ancient Sumerians, archaic Greek Preak uniform around 5500 years
5:30
ago. So that is one millionth of
5:33
Earth's lifespan. That's how long writing has
5:36
existed. So if we were to last as a
5:41
civilization for a million years, that would be incredible.
5:45
And we would actually probably be in every part of the Galaxy.
5:50
So that this is, this causes me to to think that, well, where
5:54
are the aliens? It's the Fermi question.
5:57
You know, the, the great physicist, Italian physicist,
5:59
Enrico Fermi, he, he's like, where are they now?
6:05
A lot of people think there are aliens among us.
6:07
Well, there was that. There was that movie Men in
6:11
Black. Yes, yes, yes.
6:13
Told us they're among us. And Elvis really went back to
6:17
his own planet. Yeah.
6:20
Well, I mean, really, a lot of people think there are aliens,
6:22
but I get asked that a lot. And for for some reason, a lot
6:27
of the same people who think there are aliens among us didn't
6:29
think we don't think we went to the moon, which I'm like, think
6:33
about that for a second. Yeah.
6:38
So, but I, I, I think I would, I mean, if I've not seen any
6:43
evidence of aliens. And SpaceX with the Starling
6:47
constellation has roughly 6000 satellites.
6:51
And and not once have we had to maneuver around a UFO.
6:54
OK. So we were like, hey, what's
6:58
that? Is that an alien has occurred
7:02
Never. So.
7:05
So I'm like, OK, I don't see any evidence of aliens.
7:09
And I look at it and if somebody has evidence of aliens in a, in
7:15
a, you know, that's not just a fuzzy BLOB, then I'd love to see
7:20
it, love to hear about it. And but I don't think there is.
7:23
So which is actually reason for concern because you could if, if
7:30
any civilization in the Milky Way, in our Galaxy were to last
7:34
for a million years, even with a speed of travel that's far below
7:39
the speed of light, you know, like a few percent of speed of
7:42
light, they could easily have explored and colonized the whole
7:46
Galaxy. So, so they haven't.
7:49
So why not? I think the the the answer might
7:54
be, or perhaps probably is that that civilization is precarious
8:00
and rare, and that we you should really think of human
8:05
civilization as being like a tiny candle in a vast darkness,
8:10
and we should do everything possible to show that that
8:12
candle does not go out. Well, Ron, I thought one of the
8:21
interesting things for the people on X viewing this session
8:26
and the people in the audience here is that maybe I'd give you
8:31
a few of your quotes and you can comment on them.
8:34
OK, let's start with this one. Free speech, freedom of speech
8:40
is the bedrock of democracy. Without it, America ends.
8:47
Yes, it's it's obviously not possible to have democratic
8:50
elections if people do not have access to the information that
8:53
would allow them to make the right decision on a candidate or
8:56
a party. So if, if speech is constrained
9:01
in a fundamental way, you, you just can't expect people to make
9:05
the right decision or an informed decision because they
9:09
are prevented from being informed.
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I think it's, it's, it's a very foundation element.
9:15
It's, you know, if they're like, why?
9:17
Why is free speech free of speech?
9:20
The 1st Amendment is because people came from countries where
9:24
if you spoke freely, you would be imprisoned or killed.
9:27
That was why they were like, you know what, we should make sure
9:30
that we got that one. Remember that time when they
9:35
tried tried to kill us back in the other country just just for
9:39
saying we didn't like a political candidate?
9:41
Well, let's, let's, let's make sure that's OK in America.
9:45
So and so actually in a lot of parts of the world, you know,
9:48
you can't really say most parts of the world, you can't really
9:51
say what you want to say without some bad consequences.
9:56
So as long as people forget, like why is the Constitution
9:59
there? The Constitution there is to
10:01
protect the the people from the government.
10:06
So like if if they're it's to make it hard to change things.
10:11
That's why the Constitution exists.
10:14
Yeah. I mean, if anyone here has been
10:15
through the legal immigration process, I mean, I've been been
10:18
through it. It's only gotten worse since 911
10:21
and with COVID it's, it's an it's, it's a sort of Kafka,
10:26
Kafka esque very long bizarre process to immigrate legally to
10:34
the US when I have friends of mine who you know, they, they
10:38
can't get their their wife to have a green card.
10:41
It's like insane. So on the other hand, it's you
10:47
can hop across the border in the South probably.
10:50
It's just like very easy. I went to the border myself to
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see like what's going on? Is this real or like, is this
10:55
propaganda or real? And so I just went there and I'm
10:58
like, oh, it is real. OK, this is crazy.
11:04
You know, we've got situations where people are pouring across
11:06
the the border like it's World War Z and I'm like, it just
11:10
doesn't seem healthy. So I'm like, are we checking
11:15
anyone here or like what's going on?
11:16
And you know, we don't. It does not say that.
11:21
I mean, I'm a big believer in immigration, but to have
11:23
unvetted immigration at large scale is a recipe for disaster.
11:30
So I'm in favor of greatly expediting legal immigration,
11:35
but but having a secure southern border.
11:38
So there's there's some vetting of who comes into the United
11:41
States. I think this is just sensible.
11:48
All right, let's let's now link Starlinked education.
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We're basically building the Internet in space.
12:00
Why it matters? Starlink is a massive enabler
12:04
for people in remote locations to learn anything.
12:08
Yes, you can learn almost anything for free on the
12:12
Internet right now. For example, MIT has all of its
12:17
lessons online. That's if you have Internet.
12:22
If you don't, you're limited to books.
12:26
It might be the number one technology that improves
12:30
people's standard of living around the world.
12:33
Starlink. Yeah, absolutely.
12:36
So once you have access to the Internet, you have access to all
12:40
the world's information. But if you don't have access to
12:43
the Internet or it's too expensive or low bandwidth, then
12:47
you you cannot access the MIT lessons, you can't access all
12:50
the information and you can't sell the goods and services that
12:54
you produce. So Internet connectivity, I
12:57
think is I think it might be certainly a candidate for one of
13:01
the things that would do more to lift people out of poverty, out
13:04
of poverty than anything else. Because they can now sell their
13:08
goods and services, they can learn anything and but without
13:13
connectivity, they cannot. So I think, I think, I think
13:18
Starling will actually like like move the GDP of countries, like
13:22
it's going to be that kind of thing because what is what is
13:27
GDP as a function of average productivity per person?
13:31
And so if there's a technology that improves productivity per
13:33
person, you would expect to see that actually reflected in the
13:38
gross domestic product? All right, civilization is
13:41
fragile. I think it is.
13:44
We should always regard civilization as fragile, Yeah.
13:49
There is not an inevitable upward trajectory.
13:52
A lot of civilizations have risen and fallen in recent
13:58
years. Yes, I I suspect most people in
14:03
this room have actually read history, but if you haven't, I
14:06
strongly recommend it. It sounds obvious, but you know,
14:14
there's, there's been so many civilizations that have risen
14:18
and fallen, many that we just don't have much of a record of,
14:27
you know, like you mentioned, the ancient Sumerians, like
14:31
their language was forgotten for a long time until it was finally
14:35
decoded only in the last, I don't know, 2-3 hundred years,
14:39
but like it's not 1800 and something right In the 1800s, I
14:43
think, but it's been very recent.
14:46
Like so for several thousand years, nobody understood what
14:49
those tablets meant. And because there were the ruins
14:55
of a long dead civilization and there are many long dead
14:57
civilizations, at some point our civilization will come to an end
15:01
too. We just don't want it to be any
15:03
time soon. So.
15:09
Well, you've been quoted a number of times, Elon, on You'd
15:14
like to die on Mars, but not on landing.
15:18
Yes, yes, I was, I was asked that in an interview if I wanted
15:23
to die on Mars. But then I considered the corner
15:25
case of dying on impact. And I'm like, except for that
15:28
case, you know, you got to consider the various corner
15:32
cases. So I mean, if I'm going to if
15:37
you're going to die somewhere, might as well be Mars.
15:41
I'd like to explore for a bit before, you know, dying.
15:44
But yeah, I think I think we want to be a multi planet
15:47
civilization and like I think. I don't know if that's a
15:57
response to my mission statements.
16:00
Let's let's talk about that just for one second, then we're going
16:03
to take some questions from the. I mean, I could accomplish this
16:06
actually this year if I if I was willing to die on impact.
16:14
The fundamental invention that is necessary for humanity to
16:19
become a multi planet species is rapidly reusable, reliable
16:27
rockets. Yeah, I was trying to sound like
16:29
a pirate. RRRRRR.
16:32
But yeah, rapidly reusable, reliable rockets.
16:36
So Space Pirates for the win. All right, here's some questions
16:40
from the Audience Salon. Which one would you like to pick
16:44
here? Well, I guess let me, let me,
16:48
let me just touch upon why I think making life multiplanetary
16:52
is important, because I think it's one of the things that gets
16:55
us past one of the Fermi Great filters.
16:59
So in in trying to sort of explain why do we not see
17:03
aliens, there are various explanations for why we don't
17:06
see aliens. Like what stopped those
17:08
civilizations from from expanding beyond their solar
17:12
system and and and and, and what were the what were the sort of
17:16
the, the sometimes called like Fermi filters?
17:21
Well, if you don't become a multi planet civilization, then
17:24
you're then you're simply waiting around until you you die
17:28
from a self-inflicted wound or from some natural disaster like
17:32
the dinosaurs. You get hit by a big meteorite
17:35
or something like that. The eventually something like
17:40
that's going to happen. And if you wait a lot around
17:42
long enough, the sun will expand to engulf Earth and will be
17:46
incinerated. So that that for sure is going
17:48
to happen. Now we've got a we've got some
17:52
time before that happens. There are more near term risks,
17:55
but we want to try to get past the Fermi filter of being a
18:00
single planet civilization. Now this is going to this is
18:03
also this is going to be somewhat cerebral to many people
18:06
listening. But I mean, if but like, I think
18:10
this is pretty this is actually very important.
18:12
We want to get past the Fermi filter of a single planet
18:14
civilization. The point is not to to move from
18:17
Earth to another planet and let Earth die.
18:20
That's not what I'm saying at all.
18:22
I want to be a multi planet civilization so that we have
18:24
planetary redundancy such that no single event can end can be
18:29
the end of our civilization. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $46
18:37
billion stock options package faces a critical vote at the
18:41
company's annual shareholder meeting.
18:44
Investors are deeply divided, with some arguing that the
18:47
compensation is excessive and indicative of poor governance,
18:51
while others, particularly small retail shareholders, have
18:55
already expressed their support for Musk.
18:58
Now, at a recent meeting of Tesla investors, including New
19:00
York City Comptroller Brad Lander, arguments were made
19:04
against ratifying Musk's 2018 pay package again.
19:07
Lander, whose office manages $271 billion in assets across 5
19:13
New York City retirement funds, criticize the Tesla board for
19:17
failing to provide independent governments for shareholders.
19:21
Now, Lander noted that the NYC retirement funds hold 3.4
19:25
billion Tesla shares valued at approximately $672 million.
19:31
He declared that the funds would vote against Musk's pay and the
19:35
re election of board members Kimball Musk, who's Elon Musk's
19:39
brother, and James Murdoch, citing conflicts of interest.
19:44
Now, this vote is not a referendum on Elon Musk as CEO.
19:47
He is a visionary whose role in Tesla has been critical.
19:51
But independent shareholder governance must ensure a
19:54
reasonable pay package. This pay package is not
19:58
reasonable, they said now. Tesla did not immediately
20:01
respond to requests for comments.
20:03
The company's compensation package for Musk was nullified
20:06
in January by a Delaware Chancery Court judge, who cited
20:10
the lack of independence in the board's process and improper
20:13
negotiation of the deal. Following the ruling, Musk
20:17
announced plans to relocate Tesla's headquarters from
20:20
Delaware to Texas, aiming for more favorable judicial
20:23
treatment. The Tesla board is now asking
20:26
investors to reapprove Musk's pay and the move to Texas, and
20:31
shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional
20:35
Shareholder Services have recommended voting against the
20:38
pay package. Lander argued that Tesla lacks a
20:41
full time CEO focus solely on the EV maker's growth.
20:44
He criticized Musk for being distracted by ventures like
20:47
social media and other companies, including XXAI,
20:51
SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company.
20:54
Ivan Frisburg, chief sustainability officer of
20:59
Amalgamated Bank, echoed these concerns, noting Musk's
21:03
distractions and significant challenges for Tesla, including
21:07
global competition, development delays and labor disputes.
21:11
Frischberg mentioned that 2 corporate directors resigned,
21:14
citing board reference to Elon Musk at Frisburg's bank, whose
21:18
clients hold 600,000. Tesla shares plans to vote
21:22
against the re election of Kimball, Musk and Murdoch due to
21:24
the lack of board independence. Lander warned that Musk's pay
21:27
issues could have broader impacts on capital markets.
21:30
Emphasizing the need for independent oversight, Lander
21:34
said when billionaires are allowed to flout the rules,
21:38
normal people suffer. The billionaire can't have his
21:41
brother and friends decide on governance rules.
21:44
Lander expressed frustration at not being able to get a response
21:48
from the Tesla board, describing Musk's pay package as
21:52
outrageously large and insufficiently governed.
21:56
Now Marilyn Comptroller Brooke Lierman added her concerns about
21:59
Tesla's workforce management and the board's inattention to human
22:03
capital, presenting these as risks for shareholders to
22:06
consider them voting. She said to succeed, Tesla needs
22:09
a management team that is on the ball, urging for an effective
22:13
board that can stand up to the CEO when necessary.
22:17
Contrastingly, major investor Ron Baron, founder of Baron
22:20
Capital, supports Musk's pay package, emphasizes Musk
22:25
critical role in Tesla's success over the years.
22:28
Baron highlighted Musk's relentless Dr. and commitment,
22:31
including sleeping on the factory floor during difficult
22:33
production periods. In 2018, Tesla's compensation
22:36
package granted Musk the option to purchase 304,000,000 shares
22:41
at $23.34 each, contingent on meeting challenging milestones.
22:46
Nearly 75% of shareholders initially approved this package.
22:51
Despite achieving all of the milestones, the Delaware court
22:55
invalidated the package due to the flawed approval process.
22:59
Tesla is now seeking a re ratification of the package and
23:03
approval for moving its incorporation to Texas ahead of
23:06
the annual meeting on June 13th. Now the proposed compensation,
23:11
potentially the largest for AUS executive, was worth $56 billion
23:16
at its peak and is currently valued at $46 billion.
23:20
And several funds represented by Lander will vote against it,
23:23
along with the re election of Kimble, Musk and Murdoch, of
23:25
course. And Musk has been lobbying
23:27
shareholders through social media, factory tours and by
23:31
attacking critics of his pay package.
23:33
Proxy firms like Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder
23:36
Services have recommended voting against it, citing the excessive
23:40
size and dilution of shareholder value.
23:44
Now miss Musk's aggressive push for the compensation package.
23:47
Tesla faces declining sales, increased competition and
23:50
internal challenges, including layoffs and aging vehicle
23:53
models. Musk argues he needs a
23:55
significant stake to drive Tesla's future in AI and
23:58
robotics, and his demands for greater control, coupled with
24:02
threats to spin out Tesla's AI work if his demands aren't met,
24:06
have heightened the stakes. And despite shareholder
24:09
concerns, Musk's influence remains strong, particularly
24:12
among retail investors. The stock is heavily held by
24:16
retail investors, comprising 44% of his total shares, the highest
24:20
among the top ten S&P 500 companies.
24:23
This demographic has shown strong support for Musk,
24:26
influenced by his public appeals and promises of continued value
24:31
creation. Now, Tesla is rallying support
24:34
through its website. Vote.
24:35
Tesla.com urging shareholders to recognize the value that Musk
24:39
has created and vote in favor of the compensation package.
24:43
Early voting indicates significant support for Musk
24:45
among retail shareholders. However, regardless of the June
24:50
13th vote outcome, the compensation issue is far from
24:53
over. Shareholders will vote, but any
24:56
decision will likely serve as evidence in ongoing legal
24:59
proceedings, which could extend for months now.
25:02
Tesla reassured a Delaware judge that despite the proposed move
25:06
to Texas, the company will continue to litigate the
25:09
compensation case in Delaware. Meanwhile, shareholder lawsuits
25:13
alleging insider trading and fiduciary breaches by Musk and
25:17
the board are emerging. And as Tesla's annual meeting
25:20
approaches the debate over Musk's compensation package and
25:24
corporate governance continues, shareholders face crucial
25:28
decisions that will impact the company's direction and
25:31
governance structure. And the upcoming?
25:33
Vote will reveal the extent of shareholder support for Musk's
25:36
leadership and compensation. While some advocate for tighter
25:39
governance in a full time CEO, others believe Musk's unique
25:44
drive and vision are irreplaceable now.
25:47
The contentious issue underscores the broader
25:50
challenges facing Tesla right now, from internal management to
25:54
external competition. And as the vote draws near, the
25:58
company's future hinges on the balance between governance and
26:01
Elon Musk's visionary leadership.
26:07
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup XAI.
26:11
Is set to establish a supercomputer facility at the
26:14
former Electrolux site in Memphis, TN.
26:17
This new Gigafactory of compute will be among the largest AI
26:21
supercomputers globally. Hey everybody, welcome back to
26:26
the Elon Musk Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
26:30
the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
26:34
Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host Will Walden.
26:38
Spacex's Starship rocket launched successfully from
26:41
Starbase in Texas. This marks the 4th test flight
26:45
aimed at missions to the moon and to Mars in the future.
26:50
This rocket is 400 feet tall and it flew over the Gulf of Mexico.
26:54
It achieved a controlled splashdown.
26:56
This marks the longest and most successful flight for Starship
27:00
to date. Now, another thing that happened
27:03
which was very cool is Spacex's Super Heavy booster did a soft
27:07
landing successfully in the Gulf of Mexico, which is an important
27:11
milestone for the company. Now, the Starship, known as the
27:14
most powerful launch vehicle ever built, completed its fourth
27:18
test flight with a successful landing, burn, and splashdown by
27:21
the booster. This flight received approval
27:24
from the FAA and included upgrades and software changes to
27:27
enhance performance. Now, despite some of these
27:30
challenges in the Starship lineup, the flight was
27:33
successful, showcasing the rocket's resilience and the
27:36
potential for future space exploration to the Moon and
27:39
beyond. For the first time, both
27:42
elements of the nearly 400 foot tall rocket launched
27:45
successfully from Spacex's Starbase facility near
27:48
Brownsville, TX and return to Earth for controlled splashdowns
27:53
at sea. This demonstration paves the way
27:55
for future Starship test flights.
27:57
They'll bring the booster and eventually the upper stage back
28:01
to land at Starbase for rapid reusability.
28:05
Now the two stage rocket took off from Starbase it's 7:50 AM
28:09
CDT and headed E over the Gulf of Mexico with more than
28:12
£15,000,000 of thrust, roughly twice the power of NASA's Saturn
28:17
5 rocket from the Apollo lunar program of the 1960s and 70s.
28:21
And the success of the flight is crucial for SpaceX as it aims to
28:25
develop a fully reusable transportation system for crew
28:28
and cargo to Earth orbit. The Moon to Mars.
28:32
And into the outer solar system. Now, NASA also has a significant
28:36
interest in Starship success because the agency selected it
28:39
to serve as a human rated lunar Lander for the Artemis program,
28:43
which aims to ferry astronauts to and from the surface of the
28:47
moon. However, dozens more Starship
28:49
flights will be necessary before it can carry astronauts, likely
28:53
not before the latter part of this decade.
28:55
Now the 4th flight of Starship made major strides to bring us
28:59
closer to a rapidly reusable future, said SpaceX on its
29:05
website. Also said its accomplishments
29:07
will provide data to drive improvements as we continue
29:10
rapidly developing Starship into a fully reusable transportation
29:14
system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit the
29:18
Moon, Mars, and beyond. Now this flight was the 4th
29:21
launch of a full size Starship rocket and was the first to end
29:24
with the booster in the ship reaching Earth's surface in one
29:27
piece. While it wasn't perfect, the
29:29
flight's success cannot be overstated.
29:31
The payload for this test was the data says SpaceX in Starship
29:36
delivered. The launch involved two of the
29:38
33 methane fueled Raptor engines of the Super Heavy booster,
29:43
failing one on ascent and 1:00 during the booster's final
29:46
breaking burn just before splashdown in the Gulf of
29:49
Mexico. And despite these failures, the
29:51
remaining engines guided the booster to a gentle splashdown
29:55
after a vertical descent just off the coast of Starbase about
29:58
7 1/2 minutes after liftoff. Engineers identified a filter
30:04
blockage in the lines feeding liquid oxygen propellant into
30:07
the Raptor engines as the cause of the landing failure in March.
30:11
However, this did not appear to be a significant issue.
30:13
On Thursday, SpaceX also made another change to the booster
30:17
descent by jettisoning the Rockets hot staging ring where
30:20
the Starship's upper stage attaches to the Super Heavy
30:23
booster for launch. The Starship's upper stages 6
30:26
Raptor engines burned a few seconds longer than planned to
30:29
compensate for the boosters performance shortfall.
30:31
This adjustment put the ship on the proper suborbital
30:34
trajectory, reaching a peak altitude of 132 miles before
30:38
Earth's gravity pulled the 160 foot long vehicle back into the
30:43
atmosphere around 47 minutes after launch.
30:46
During Spacex's third Starship test flight in March, the
30:50
scorching heat of re entry destroyed the rocket as it
30:53
descended into the upper asses here over the Indian Ocean.
30:57
Clogged thrusters caused the ship to lose control of its
30:59
orientation, leading to its destruction, but this time,
31:03
Starship maintained control throughout the flight.
31:06
Dazzling live views from cameras aboard the rocket, relayed to
31:09
the ground through Spacex's Starlink broadband network,
31:12
showed purple and orange plasma pouring over the vehicle as it
31:15
glided through the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
31:18
And although some ceramic thermal protection tiles peeled
31:21
away, the damage control flap still functioned, allowing the
31:24
vehicle to maintain control during re entry.
31:29
Starship made a controlled re entry, successfully making it
31:31
through the phases of peak heating and Max aerodynamic
31:34
pressure, and demonstrating the ability to control the vehicle
31:38
using its flaps while descending through the atmosphere at
31:41
hypersonic speeds. These were mission objectives as
31:45
outlined by Elon Musk before the launch.
31:48
Now, finally, three of the Raptor engines on Starship
31:51
reignited, flipping the rocket from a belly down orientation to
31:55
a vertical position. A few 100.
31:57
Feet above the Indian Ocean. Despite these challenges, the
32:00
rocket managed a soft landing in the ocean, and despite loss of
32:04
many tiles and a damage flap, Starship made it all the way to
32:08
a soft landing in the ocean. Congratulations to SpaceX on an
32:12
epic achievement. Now SpaceX employees celebrated
32:15
at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, CA.
32:18
It was a little bit of use your imagination as you were going
32:21
down with what we could actually see, but we were able to hear
32:25
the ship do its landing burn, said a spokesperson for SpaceX
32:29
during the flight. And Starship made it through re
32:31
entry and did its first ever landing burn from South Texas to
32:35
the other side of the Earth. Starship is in the water.
32:39
SpaceX engineers were particularly interested in
32:41
observing Starship's heat shield performance during Thursday's
32:44
flight. The thermal barrier consists of
32:46
around 18,000 hexagonal ceramic tiles, similar to those used on
32:52
NASA space shuttle temperatures during re entry can reach 2600
32:57
Fahrenheit. Now that's hot enough to melt
33:00
aluminum, a metal commonly used in launch vehicles.
33:03
Engineers selected a stainless steel alloy for Starship's
33:06
primary construction. This material, though heavier
33:09
than aluminum or carbon fiber, is strong at cryogenic
33:12
temperatures, an important characteristic because Starship
33:16
consumes methane and liquid oxygen to chill to several 100°
33:20
below 0. Stainless steel also has a
33:22
higher melting temperature than other materials commonly used in
33:26
rockets. For a reusable ship, you're
33:29
coming in like a meteor. You want something that does not
33:32
melt at a low temperature. You want something that melts at
33:35
a high temperature. And this is where steel is
33:37
extremely good as well. Now looking ahead, the 5th test
33:40
flight of Starship could occur within a couple of months.
33:43
The FAA ordered mishap investigations following the 1st
33:47
3 Starship launches, but this likely won't be necessary this
33:50
time. SpaceX has already test fired
33:52
the ship for the next flight, and the booster could be hot
33:55
fired soon. The successful soft splashdown
33:58
of a Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico has made Musk
34:01
confident enough to aim for an onshore landing next time, he
34:04
said. I think we should try to catch
34:06
the booster with the Mechazilla arms next flight.
34:10
We'll see how that works out. Are the priorities for the next
34:13
phase of Starship testing include demonstrating the
34:15
ability to restart a Raptor engine in space?
34:18
This capability is crucial for putting Starship into a stable
34:22
low Earth orbit and guiding it back for entry.
34:25
Now, once in orbit, Starship could deploy Starlink Internet
34:28
satellites and perform refueling tests necessary for SpaceX to
34:32
fulfill NASA's lunar Lander contract.
34:35
Now, SpaceX may also make changes to the Starship heat
34:38
shield to address the loss of tiles encountered on Flight 4.
34:42
Engineers will investigate the reasons behind the two Raptor
34:45
engine failures during the launch and landing of the
34:48
booster, aiming to refine the design and improve future
34:52
flights reliability. Find a filter blockage in the
34:57
lines feeding liquid oxygen propellant into the Raptor
35:00
engines as the cause of the landing failure in March.
35:03
However, this did not appear to be a significant issue.
35:06
On Thursday, SpaceX also made another change to the booster
35:09
descent by jettisoning the rocket's hot staging ring, where
35:13
the Starship's upper stage attaches to the Super Heavy
35:15
booster for launch. The Starship's upper stages 6
35:18
Raptor engines burned a few seconds longer than planned to
35:21
compensate for the booster's performance shortfall.
35:24
This adjustment put the ship on the proper suborbital
35:26
trajectory, reaching a peak altitude 132 miles before
35:31
Earth's gravity pulled the 160 foot long vehicle back into the
35:35
atmosphere around 47 minutes after launch.
35:39
During Spacex's third Starship test flight in March, the
35:42
scorching heat of re entry destroyed the rocket as it
35:45
descended into the upper and sphere over the Indian Ocean.
35:49
Clogged thrusters caused the ship to lose control of its
35:51
orientation, leading to its destruction, but this time
35:55
Starship maintained control throughout the flight.
35:59
Dazzling live views from cameras aboard the rocket, relayed to
36:02
the ground through Spacex's Starlink broadband network,
36:05
showed purple and orange plasma pouring over the vehicle as it
36:08
glided through the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
36:11
And although some ceramic thermal protection tiles peeled
36:13
away, the damage control flap still functioned, allowing the
36:17
vehicle to maintain control during re entry.
36:21
Starship made a controlled reentry, successfully making it
36:24
through the phases of peak heating and Max aerodynamic
36:27
pressure, and demonstrating the ability to control the vehicle
36:31
using its flaps while descending through the atmosphere at
36:34
hypersonic speeds. These were mission objectives as
36:38
outlined by Elon Musk before the launch.
36:41
But finally, three of the Raptor engines on Starship reignited,
36:45
flipping the rocket from a belly down orientation to a vertical
36:48
position a few 100 feet above the Indian Ocean.
36:52
Despite these challenges, the rocket managed a soft landing in
36:54
the ocean, and despite loss of many tiles and a damage flap,
36:58
Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean.
37:02
Congratulations to SpaceX on an epic achievement.
37:06
Now SpaceX employees celebrated at the company's headquarters in
37:09
Hawthorne, CA. It was a little bit of use your
37:12
imagination as you were going down with what we could actually
37:15
see, but we were able to hear the ship do its landing burn,
37:19
said a spokesperson for SpaceX during the flight.
37:23
And Starship made it through re entry and did its first ever
37:25
landing burn from South Texas to the other side of the Earth.
37:29
Starship is in the water. SpaceX engineers were
37:32
particularly interested in observing Starship's heat shield
37:35
performance during Thursday's flight.
37:37
The thermal barrier consists of around 18,000 hexagonal ceramic
37:42
tiles, similar to those used on NASA's space shuttle.
37:46
Temperatures during re entry can reach 2600 Fahrenheit.
37:50
Now that's hot enough to melt aluminum, a metal commonly used
37:54
in launch vehicles. Engineers selected a stainless
37:57
steel alloy for Starship's primary construction.
38:00
This material, though heavier than aluminum or carbon fiber,
38:04
is strong at cryogenic temperatures, an important
38:06
characteristic because Starship consumes methane and liquid
38:10
oxygen to chill to several 100° below 0.
38:14
Stainless steel also has a higher melting temperature than
38:17
other materials commonly used in rockets.
38:20
For a reusable ship, you're coming in like a meteor.
38:23
You want something that does not melt at a low temperature.
38:26
You want something that melts at a high temperature.
38:28
And this is where steel is extremely good as well.
38:31
Now, looking ahead, the 5th test flight of Starship could occur
38:34
within a couple of months. The FAA ordered mishap
38:37
investigations following the 1st 3 Starship launches, but this
38:41
likely won't be necessary this time.
38:43
SpaceX has already test fired the ship for the next flight,
38:46
and the booster could be hot fired soon.
38:49
The successful soft splashdown of a Super Heavy booster in the
38:51
Gulf of Mexico has made Musk confident enough to aim for an
38:55
onshore landing next time, he said.
38:57
I think we should try to catch the booster with the Mechazilla
39:00
arms next flight. Well, we'll see how that works
39:04
out. Are the priorities for the next
39:06
phase of Starship testing include demonstrating the
39:08
ability to restart a Raptor engine in space?
39:11
This capability is crucial for putting Starship into a stable
39:14
low Earth orbit and guiding it back for entry.
39:17
Now, once in orbit, Starship could deploy Starlink Internet
39:20
satellites and perform refueling tests necessary for SpaceX to
39:24
fulfill NASA's lunar Lander contract.
39:28
Now, SpaceX may also make changes to the Starship heat
39:31
shield to address the loss of tiles encountered on Flight 4.
39:35
Engineers will investigate the reasons behind the two Raptor
39:37
engine failures during the launch and landing of the
39:40
booster. Aiming to refine the design and
39:43
improve future flights for liability.
39:48
And on this episode we're going to be talking about IFT 4 some
39:52
because that just happened, which is really great.
39:55
It turned out pretty great for a SpaceX.
39:58
Also, we're going to be talking about what's next for Starship,
40:00
IFT 5, IFT 6 possibly. And then we're going to get into
40:06
some of the next thing, which is a huge deal.
40:11
SpaceX and Starship on the surface of Mars retrieving some
40:18
samples. What's that all about?
40:21
OK so let's go to IFT 4 happened yesterday.
40:24
Absolutely. As perfect as you can get for
40:28
this flight with SpaceX was aiming to do for this is to soft
40:34
land the booster in the Gulf of Mexico, which they performed
40:38
Florida State, absolutely perfect.
40:40
There's one Raptor out, but that's OK.
40:42
As they flew out, it was fine. Everything was fine.
40:46
All the systems worked great. Booster landed in the Gulf of
40:49
Mexico. They tip it over.
40:53
It's in the Gulf of Mexico now somewhere and it's about 7
40:57
minutes into the flight. That all happened.
41:01
Boost back burned. Everything was great, and then
41:04
stage separation, everything, everything was perfect.
41:07
Everything looked great, and then the ship kept going.
41:11
The ship separated, kept going all the way to the Indian Ocean,
41:17
did the belly flop maneuver, which who knew that was going to
41:21
happen and who knew if that was going to be successful?
41:24
SpaceX had a pretty good hunch that it was going to be
41:26
successful and they did all the engineering possible to make it
41:30
successful. And what we saw was the Starship
41:36
going through the atmosphere, going as hot as possible and
41:41
then soft landing after it did the kick maneuver.
41:45
So it could go. Straight, vertical and soft
41:48
landed in the Indian Ocean. Perfect.
41:51
We didn't have any video of it landing, but they did hear the
41:57
Raptors roar as it touched down. Soft landing in the Indian
42:01
Ocean. Now this is for IFT. 4.
42:04
So IFT 4 is a massive success for Starship.
42:09
Not only did they successfully do this mission, but now they
42:13
set themselves up for the next few missions and what they can
42:17
accomplish now. Before IFT 4 started, before
42:22
they even launched the thing, Elon was on social media.
42:25
He was talking about what's next.
42:27
What's up for IFT five? Well, he wants to continue down
42:31
this path. Same thing.
42:33
He wants to nail the landing. He wants to make sure the
42:36
Starship lands in the Indian Ocean, but he wants to make sure
42:40
that the booster lands at Starbase, on the chopsticks at
42:48
Boca Chica, Texas, next to the Gulf of Mexico, on land at their
42:54
facility where they launch these things, not in the Gulf of
42:58
Mexico where it's safe, where they won't destroy anything if
43:02
they mess up or nowhere close to land.
43:06
They, you know, like IFT 4 was nowhere close to land.
43:09
So the IFT 4 incident report will be much less than IFT 3
43:16
because nothing really happened that was out of the ordinary.
43:18
This is exactly what they wanted.
43:20
So landing the booster in the Gulf of Mexico and landing the
43:23
ship in the Indian Ocean. Exactly what they wanted.
43:27
So IFT 5 Elon wants to bring the booster back to the star base
43:33
facility after only doing one test of the landing of the
43:40
booster. Is this kind of an insane idea?
43:45
And he was on Ellie in space too.
43:48
She interviewed him. Go check out that interview,
43:50
it's great. But watch this whole thing
43:52
first. I need.
43:53
I need. The the watch time so.
43:57
She interviewed him, he was adamant about landing it.
44:00
He's super excited about landing it for IFT 5.
44:03
Are they going to do that? I'm not 100% sure if they will.
44:08
It seems like Elon wants to and if they get enough data from the
44:11
booster landing. This shows that they were
44:13
absolutely pinpoint precision in the Gulf of Mexico.
44:17
I don't see why they wouldn't try it, other than there's not a
44:22
really more than one test case. When I redo engineering, when I
44:29
redo science, anything. When you're testing coding
44:31
anything, test it against a few different things.
44:34
Test it a few times, test it three or four times, make sure
44:37
everything works properly. Because the next one, there
44:40
might be something that's busted on, it might be something that's
44:42
not exactly perfect and it might not land precisely, but even in
44:46
that case you could. Detonate it over the Gulf of
44:49
Mexico if you see something. 'S wrong, but what happens if
44:53
something's wrong in the last few seconds or the last, I don't
44:57
know, 20 seconds when it's over Starbase ready to land?
45:02
Well, that's a whole different thing.
45:05
And yes, the booster is about. 250 feet tall, it's made out of
45:10
stainless steel and it's absolutely massive.
45:12
So if it does come into Starbase scream in a hot and they can't
45:17
destroy it on its way back, well, there's going to be some
45:20
problems. And that's something that I
45:22
don't know if the SpaceX engineers will push back against
45:25
with Elon, because sometimes Elon pushes back against them.
45:30
There was early times in Space XS history that the engineers
45:34
want to do something with carbon fiber or some sort of synthetic.
45:39
And Elon pushback said, hey, let's do this in stainless steel
45:42
because stainless steel is easy to get.
45:45
It's easy to manufacture. And also we can ramp this up
45:50
really fast because we have to iterate these designs.
45:53
We have to do hundreds of these rockets in order to make life on
45:57
Mars a thing. So do you think the engineers
46:00
are going to set like push back on Elon?
46:02
I don't know. That's going to be, that's going
46:04
to be a tough one for the engineers because Elon's the
46:07
head of engineering over there. He's the head of everything.
46:09
So if they push back against him, I don't know.
46:13
I, I think that they should wait a few times.
46:16
I've talked about this before, but I do think they should wait
46:18
a few times before they actually land the rocket back at Starbase
46:25
just to make sure that everything is absolutely
46:27
accurate with the landing. Let me know in the comments down
46:30
below if you think it'll land on the fifth attempt.
46:33
IFT 5. Now there's something else that
46:39
Elon and company over at SpaceX are going to be part of in the
46:43
near future. Well, I would shouldn't say near
46:45
future, but in the future with NASA, this is a huge deal.
46:49
So right now we have a Rover on Mars which is collecting samples
46:53
of soil and possible life, you know, old life on Mars.
47:01
And they need some way to go pick up those canisters.
47:04
And Eli and the company of SpaceX have just won a contract
47:08
with NASA to go try, and I shouldn't say go try and pick it
47:13
up yet, but they're going to demonstrate how they could pick
47:16
up these little canisters like this, big like.
47:20
I don't know how to. Say it on the screen, but about
47:21
that big of Martian soil, Martian Martian regolith that
47:29
could contain ancient life. So if they get this contract,
47:35
it's like a $1.8 million contract around there, almost
47:39
$2,000,000. I think it's 1.5 actually.
47:42
Then if they do this properly, SpaceX would be launching a
47:46
Starship to Mars. But the Starship alone can't get
47:52
the the samples of the regolith of the soil from Mars.
47:56
They have to have some sort of Rover.
47:58
So SpaceX may fit what I think they're going to do.
48:01
I think they're going to get a cyber truck and put it on Mars
48:06
and equip it with something, I don't know, or maybe a small
48:08
Rover, I'm not sure. But they can fit a massive
48:11
amount of things into a Starship.
48:13
So whatever they have to do, whatever they have to do,
48:16
whoever they have to team with to get another Rover down there
48:18
to go pick up all these samples. I think SpaceX will one, they're
48:24
already partnered with NASA to land on the moon, right?
48:27
They're already partnered with NASA to fly astronauts.
48:30
They're already partnered with NASA for all the Falcon Nine
48:34
things. So Starship, once it's proven on
48:39
the moon, could easily, I shouldn't say easily because
48:43
engineering's super hard, but they could make it.
48:48
And Elon has said this, that it's easier to land on Mars than
48:51
it is on the moon because there's actually some gravity
48:54
there. And it it'll be a fun, fun thing
49:00
to watch if they can actually get the Starship to Mars, land
49:05
it, and then a Rover pops out of the Hatch.
49:09
Or what if they send people to Mars?
49:12
What if that's their proposal? What if what their proposal
49:16
isn't, hey, we're going to send a Rover like everybody else.
49:20
We have 4 astronauts that are willing to do this and we can
49:23
train them. We can give them space suits.
49:25
We can do everything. And they can walk on Mars, go
49:28
grab these samples, bring them back, and maybe there's a Rover
49:33
that would look like a cyber truck that they drive around to
49:36
get these samples. That would be, they'll be so
49:41
cool. But that's all speculation right
49:43
now. They haven't won the contract
49:45
yet and they have a little while to do this, so we're going to
49:49
keep our ears and eyes open to see what happens with this.
49:51
But this, that's a huge, huge deal.
49:54
Now, IFT 6, what's going to be happening with that?
49:57
We're not 100% sure because if they try to do the landing at
50:00
Starbase, then IFT 6 is going to be similar to what they do with
50:05
IT5. Unless IFT 5 completely fails,
50:08
then they'll go back to the drawing board and go back to the
50:10
go back to the Gulf of Mexico. But IFT 6, IFT 7, not 100% sure
50:15
what they're going to be doing, but if they do land a booster on
50:19
IFT five, I think IFT 6, they're going to try to go to orbit and
50:24
I think they're going to launch a few Starlink satellites just
50:28
as a test. Even one would be a a great
50:30
test. So let me know what you think in
50:32
the comments down below. And also if you could hit the
50:34
subscribe and the like button because that helps out the show,
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may not have heard yet. So I think doing that for every
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spaceflight channel is always a good thing.
51:02
So thanks everybody for watching today.
51:04
Take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you in the
51:06
next one. Hey, thank you so much for
51:13
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51:41
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