Space Engineering captivates us with that Relentless Drive of the unknown it's a theater really one where the triumphs and setbacks unfold on a cosmic stage well in this week's exhilarating Journey amazing Innovation and setbacks in the never-ending drive to explore hey hey Marcus house with you here for the first time in quite a while it has been a little quieter at spacex's Star based launch site this week that is a good thing though because it shows just how prepared they are for flight you will hopefully recall last week I talked about the updates to the water tanks needed for the orbital launch pad delu system the installation of that seems to have gone smoothly because loads of water tank is rolled in at the start of the week to begin filling the system that is a great sign that the final preparation is underway for the test now this is a pretty strange one halfway through the week the launch sites LR 11000 crane picked up a load spreader and moved it over above booster 9. it then moved over so could be connected up to the hot staging ring they unlatched it and up it Rose off the booster around an hour later now while this looks concerning it's more than likely a step to do some sort of Maintenance or simply check up on how the booster forward Dome area is doing remember there are complex systems underneath that hot staging ring grid fin Motors and Associated components avionics and a bunch of other stuff that would likely need inspection every so often the pad Crews began creating a scaffolding platform out to the booster a little while after the ring was removed and started working at the top there so heading into some vehicle production activity booster 13 became even taller this week with a four ring liquid oxygen section moved in for stacking with all the previous sections once it was welded together that brings it to 16 Rings tall in total inside the original megabay next door in the highway Sean with NSF caught this pretty snazzy photo of ship 29 with a few thermal protection tiles beginning to cover up the lifting Point area now the current system design needs the lifting points to be there so that they can be used by the crane to lift ships onto suborbital pads for testing if you keep in mind that ship 29 hasn't yet done any of that kind of testing this is a little strange isn't it cast your mind back to April this year SpaceX was seen testing out this new type of lifting system that connects the ports below the flaps instead of the lifting points on the nose this was expected to be a fairly immediate replacement for the nose cone lifts that we are so used to the benefit of which means that they could cover up these areas with heat shield tiles immediately rather than needing to mess around with them later which seems to be a bit of a struggle at times this would all help to create an even more efficient process from production to launch back when we observed them first attempting this it seemed to result in smashing some of the tiles so we've not seen that design used since well as a nice surprise parts of what appears to be a new design of that lifting jig appeared on Saturday assembly of The Jig kicked off after being moved to the I buy only five days later from here it was attached to the bridge Crane and there it was in action lifting ship 29 that then came down onto the ship thrust simulator that had been recently moved from masses I think that process looks to have worked really well and we're yet to see any evidence of any tile damage well down the road at the masses test site we left off last week with Boost retainer performing a successful cryogenic proofing test of its methane tank up the top there but much has happened since then these types of tests of course help verify that the tanks themselves can hold the required pressure plus a good safety margin before they can move on to the next stage of testing this week it continued on with another two cryo tests both of them focused this time on the bottom larger liquid oxygen tank the first test went as you would expect with it being fully filled up and it then sat around for a while still loaded most likely performing thrust simulation tests on the booster skirt once these tests looked to be complete the vehicle was detanked the second test of the week looked very much the same the only visual difference being that they added a little into the top methane tank as well again it's detanked late into the night so that looked like a pretty good set of tests for booster 10. in fact only a few days after those it was back on the road again heading to the production site but it arrived into the mega Bay I assume to begin having engine installation kicking off it was of course later lifted onto the engine installation stand leaving the thrust simulator stand to head back out it's all great news because after some checks it should all be fine to head to the launch pad for some static fire action obviously after Flight 2 has gone I just can't wait to see that full stack up there venting again preparing for the big event not unlike this model here stacked right behind me that sits there venting away the creators by the way have an absolute blast making those and there's also an SLS version too the link is in the description if you're interested in that so it has been a pretty big week at masses as it happens because the 26.1 test tank was tested to destruction on Thursday in an event here which we don't really get to see that much anymore captured nicely here by NSF to witness that massive pop and it looks to me like it ruptured from the bottom there these tests allow SpaceX to determine where the weakest points of the structure are and how much pressure it can hold lampadri also caught it a little further back a literal cool event with that liquid nitrogen making for some spectacular views since then ship 29 has also been picked up from the build site on the thrust rig and rolled over here for testing two now on the legal side of things the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a statement to NASA space flight that the agency had sent a draft biological assessment of the launch site to the U.S Wildlife service back in August along with that a letter requesting the service restarts consultation of The Endangered Species Act now in that same act it states down here in section 7 that a console rotation is required anytime a project changes significantly to determine any new impact what flagged everybody's attention specifically was that this review could take between 30 and 135 days to complete essentially it could be a study of how the Deluge system can affect the surrounding environment given that the Wildlife Conservation Area and wetlands are right there Elon was quite unhappy with this response to Ellie saying that this is unacceptable highlighting the difference between how long it takes to build Starship prototypes and how long the agency can sort out the desk work now SpaceX obviously wants to get this moving and the government services have important jobs to do albeit a little slower than we'd all like I think right now it's best to keep in mind that this is all a fairly standard response for a public request for comment and none of us know what is going on behind the scenes to get all this worked out there could already be plans moving along to get this sorted rapidly as said last week based on the faa's response it's possible that we could still be looking at a launch of Flight 2 by the end of October Uber speaking of which apologies to all of you that were trying to pick up our new flight to merge design last weekend spreadshop for whatever reason had some issue with the cart process that seemed to drag on all weekend it has since been fixed so sorry about that and of course appreciate you being right here my friends just look at this 9 000 left to go The Final Countdown is on thanks very much amazing subscribers right now this was I think one of the most exciting things to see there was more starlink action with a record of being broken but early in the week just look at this SpaceX released this stunning view of a set of starlink version 2 minis being deployed from the mission prior just look at the mirror finish of those satellites it is so clear that you can even see the camera here looking back at itself as the stacker drifts off to the right and you can see the tension rod system flipping back onto the second stage of the Falcon 9 isn't that incredible remember that we've only ever seen deployment footage of the version 2 minis once before in this shot the camera in this case though was on the tension rod system itself really is amazing to see that brings us to the actual starlink mission of the week which of course was SpaceX achieving another fantastic record-breaking flight on Tuesday booster 1058 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space 4 station and this was the first ever to fly for the 17th time that truly is an incredible thing it doesn't seem like that long ago that I was wondering if they could reach 10 easily enough but we are now close to double that now its very first flight was the crew Dragon demo 2 mission all the way back in 2020 one of my favorite missions of all time actually this Fleet reuse leader separated as normal and it screamed back down to make its record Landing attempt there on the Drone ship a shortfall of Gravitas now we've just got to talk about another small yet giant leap for Stoke space as they just aced this crucial hop test of their prototype second stage article this came just after they nailed that static fire test just days prior Hopper 2 as it is called for this Mission uses a combination of liquid hydrogen and oxygen as its propellant just watch these Vapors here pouring out which then rapidly disappear right as the thrust is ignite that would I suspect be excess hydrogen Vapor that instantly burnt off invisibly once it had ignited a few seconds spinning up and Hopper 2 sword to a height of around 9 meters before landing here within about 15 seconds or so that is one of the most Kerbal Landings that I have ever seen there this test was a huge success meeting all of their objectives and they now have loads of data to sift through before the next test I will say it has been really intriguing watching them develop this approach to the second stage design and check out how it performs in action instead of a large Central and engine or engines this design has 30 of these little Thruster Chambers around the diameter of the base instead well the hopper actually just had the 15 as it is a smaller test vehicle but yes it's still essentially one engine firing which feeds into all these Chambers together they sort of form this aerospike inspired effect and the great thing is is that the differential throttle for each nozzle also provides extremely effective attitude control during the engine Burns now stokespace is of course planning on killing two birds with one stone with this reusable second stage notice that there is no ablative heat shield protecting the underside for when it re-enters the atmosphere that's because this is using the cryogenic propellant as a regenerative thermal control system simply by running it through the base if all of this works in reality as they plan this could potentially be a revolutionary idea since the design of this engine can perform quite efficiently all the way from sea level to a full vacuum along with all this stocks space is already building the first stage which is not yet named that's going to have seven of these more traditional rocket engines and they say that they are aiming for a launch as soon as 2025 or maybe even sooner there is a lot to be done before that but saying that they've come this far since they've been founded in 2019 is really a great sign it was sadly a less fortunate week for Rocket lab I'm afraid they had an anomaly in their second stage during the capella space Acadia mission that was not a fun day with the entire Mission rendered a failure lost on board was capella space's Earth observing synthetic aperture radar satellite the first of which was launched just a couple of weeks ago so this was quite a shock it was rocket lab's 41st launch of electron and the fourth that hasn't made it in total I will say though we should keep in mind that it has been quite a while since the last anomaly with the running out of toe's mission in May of 2021 reliability since then had been looking good up until this point so what happened well first the launch was temporarily put on hold for a while due to unfavorable solar activity levels but soon the countdown started ticking again and the launch was back on quite a great view of the liftoff here from New Zealand as always and everything was going great as the rocket hit Max q but right after the first stage separate added we got this a few seconds of footage and then it just froze immediately after that you could see the Telemetry data showing the velocity dropping yep that presumably meant that the second stage had not fully ignited at all rocket lab released an obviously apologetic message but in that there really wasn't any further detail on the anomaly for now all that any of us can do is speculate perhaps there was an issue with the electrical system seeing that the camera just froze there as the second stage tried to fire up I'm wondering if that space weather could have had something to do with it regardless we should get more information soon so best of luck rocket lab going through that anomaly investigation it is certainly never an easy time now the interim cryogenic propulsion stage for NASA's Artemis 3 mission is undergoing tests now in Florida that is going to be incorporated into the same mission that plans to have humans back on the surface of the Moon after over 50 years as far as we know that testing is going well with this stage being responsible for in space propulsion really great information and stats on this stage were published by NASA recently and that of course includes one of my favorite engines the rl-10 now there is a problem with Artemis though which may not come as a huge shock the United States government accountability office is getting stuck right into the space launch system and it's really starting to make the future of plans to the moon and Mars seem well less reliable than we would like to see let's put it that way Starship is currently considered to be a bit too explodey but hopefully a problem to be rectified in Flight 2 and of course SLS is too expensive this report which I've got linked for you if you want to read the Deep dive into it has looked into the many billions spent finding this unacceptable nothing really all that new there but what was more of a shock was NASA admitting that indeed it is too expensive to support the planned Moon exploration missions laid out with the Artemis program um well that is a big problem then isn't it right here word for word senior NASA officials told GAO that at current cost levels the SLS program is unaffordable now obviously this is estimated at current costs assuming the plan goes to plan in fact other officials have said that it's likely that the estimate would increase due to the delays through to Artemis 4 which is already pushed back now to 2028 well just stand by because NASA has therefore implemented a four-step plan to bring the SLS and Artemis Mission back into control by number one stabilizing the flight schedule yeah it turns out that repeated changes to the Plan contribute to uncertainty and cost blowout well they are now trying to cut those back and they are apparently succeeding number two achieving learning flight efficiencies basically the first is expensive but making lots more of them should be less expensive so I mean yeah right number three encouraging Innovation NASA is encouraging contractors to pursue Innovative manufacturing techniques or tools to streamline production especially the ridiculous expense of course of those RS 25 engines a recent report indicated the cost of these were up around 100 million dollars each but they are working on bringing that cost down then we have number four adjusting the acquisition strategies this is the main one obviously and this is for NASA to shift away from Cost Plus Award fees which has the government taking all the risk on cost blowouts to fixed priced contracts where companies actually deliver things for the cost that they say they will I mean that would be nice anyway regardless I sure want to see SLS Starship and everything involved in making our moon mission dreams a reality remain plausible do you think that they can reduce the costs enough to make the plan practical or should everybody be holding tightly onto their straws while they go grasping let me know now something that you want to keep your eye on is this huge event over the weekend before we dive into that a big thank you to ag1 sponsoring this video a great way to support your immune system and take ownership of your health especially good for me since I spend most of my time indoors creating content to combat the vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can come from this sort of Lifestyle I used to take a bunch of different supplements every day especially vitamin D in the winter months and actually that is why they add the free one-year supply of vitamin D3 and K2 with the first purchase but how many other essential nutrients are missing it can be a bit tricky to figure out right well by adding a drink with ag1 in the morning I've been feeling great more motivated better rested and just generally more focused now instead of Downing a heap of other stuff I just mix one scoop of ag1 with water as part of my routine it leaves me feeling clearer and more focused throughout the day and it totally makes sense because this stuff is loaded with vitamins minerals and nutrients to boost health and energy levels if you check out the impressive lineup of ingredients packed into each serving you can see why ag-1 supports adrenal health and brain recovery which is a lifesaver during those weeks where we're putting in big hours with all the crazy news to understand research and cover right now I tell you I definitely need all the energy and focus that I can get so if you want to supercharge your morning routine consider adding ag1 to the mix just head to drinkag1.com Marcus house
and get an added one-year supply of immune supporting vitamin d3k2 and the five travel packs for free thank you ag1 so yes we are going to be witnessing history in the making with NASA's osiris-rex seven-year Mission returning those precious samples from the asteroid bennu the sample capsule of course releases from the main spacecraft and if all goes well it'll re-enter the Earth's atmosphere tomorrow on Sunday the 24th of September it will then hopefully make a safe landing in the Utah desert now osiris-rex launched on that Epic Journey way back in 2016. so if you don't know much about it think of it as a kind of cosmic scavenger hunt type of mission it's already given us some breathtaking images of bennu's surface back in October of 2020 of course and after all this time we are on the brink of having actual pieces of that asteroid here on Earth NASA's live coverage of the event is going to kick off at about 10 a.m eastern time so whatever time zone you're in adjust your alarms accordingly so what do we hope to find bennu may contain lots of carbon in the form of organic molecules which is all necessary for life to even exist as far as we know it also perhaps water ice that is mixed into clay-like materials which would be interesting for the future of resource harvesting whatever we find scientists can use that sample collection data to confirm its surface mineral composition not only will we be using this data to help Prospect for future missions but also this is going to help us with our understanding of what the building blocks of our solar system actually are and how the planets were formed the other awesome thing to remember is that after the drop-off osiris-rex becomes Osiris Apex that's because the spacecraft will then fly by the Earth ejecting out to its next Target that is Apophis which will actually make a close pass of the Earth in April of 2029 at that time Osiris Apex will have observed it followed by orbiting around it for 18 months or so it's actually then going to perform a maneuver very similar to to what he did at bennu using its thrusters to disturb the surface and then expose some of the material underneath so I hope you enjoyed this video if you did don't forget to hit subscribe so we get to keep making them and of course for the many great comments and the feedback on the new merch love you guys if you would like to help more directly like all these many many people here all of this support makes it possible to do what we do here with the wonderful team we appreciate you and if you want to continue more space goodness the algorithm thinks that you will enjoy this video here next or maybe these videos thanks for watching as always all this way through and I'll see you all in the next video
2023-10-03