SpaceX Starship Booster 4 coming down and The Claw goes up, Inspiration 4 and Landsat 9 Launch Soon
this video is sponsored by brilliant hey hey marcus house with you here and today we've got a lot to cram in loads of starship updates to talk about especially around the launch tower and the ground support equipment systems more interesting insights from the recent environmental assessment document released by the faa a week ago the amazing return of inspiration 4 and some challenges there as we found out about as well we also have a united launch alliance mission for the first time in a while with the atlas 5 kicking off with the landsat 9 mission next week so we're starting off this week with major progress at the orbital tank farm for the first time spacex has begun deliveries of cryogenic fluids to the orbital launch pad in the morning on september the 19th a semi-truck carrying liquid nitrogen arrived at the new orbital tank farm and began to offload the liquid nitrogen at a number of brand new field stations in this footage we can see some cryogenic fluids moving through the pipes at the orbital tank farm starship's orbital launch tank farm is a group of eight massive storage tanks that were built by spacex in the same fashion as the ships and the boosters ground support equipment or gse tank number eight is the only tank yet to be placed into the farm but it looks to be close now all of those nine meter wide tanks are surrounded by huge 12 meter wide cryo shells with insulation in between the two layers to keep the cryogenic liquids well cryogenic all of them that is with the exception of the massive water tank which is a larger 12 meter wide behemoth that obviously doesn't need insulation given that water will be quite happy at the temperature outside the orbital tank farm has been under construction for all of 2021 beginning with work on its concrete foundation in january nine months later the tank farm is nearly complete and that brings us one step closer to the orbital launch on tuesday this past week a shared valve between gse5 and gse3 had started venting it's believed that these tanks were filled and tested with the liquid nitrogen that had been delivered days prior some interesting things to talk about with the tower and support systems as well during an intermittent road closure on monday the quick disconnect or qdr extension entered highway 4 at around 9 a.m local time arriving at the launch site shortly after ober created a render here of how the entire tower with the catching arms included should look and this we think is pretty accurate early on tuesday afternoon the qd arm extension was flipped around to its correct orientation and then later hooked up to the massive crane dubbed kong ready to be lifted and installed for the first section of the arm after a few days wait that lift finally happened and wow there it was thursday morning and it was installed by early that afternoon on the pad itself a cryo hose was attached to the auto launch mount as part of the quick disconnect system early in the week raptor center engine number 67 was removed from booster 4 and that was sent back to the build site so we're assuming that something wasn't testing out correctly there soon after raptor 64 was delivered to the launch site and moved under booster 4 and then rapidly installed the more interesting thing though is that the entire booster needs to be lifted back down and indeed that may have already happened by the time this video is put live the booster transport stand arrived at the launch site just yesterday and the crane was hooked up but why are they taking it down well that we believe is all in preparation for the booster catch arms and the attached sled to be installed on the tower over at sub-orbital pad b a raptor vacuum engine was removed from ship 20 and that was transported back to the build site for unknown reasons as well pedro here tweeted an image of the engine after it was removed with elon musk replying that the raptor vac is not a tiny engine the engine bills on these vacuum raptors really are massive essentially of course the engine itself is near identical to the sea level engines it is just that huge engine bell that is optimized for the vacuum of space that all comes down to reducing the exhaust pressure at close to zero as possible and increasing the specific impulse making it much more efficient spacex makes the bells as large as they can practically be whilst still fitting in the starship's engine bay lots of updates going on at the build side as well in the high bay booster 5's liquid oxygen tank was stacked in another four ring section and that makes it 20 out of the 23 rings tall only a few rings to go now for that entire section ship 21 which should fly on top of booster 5 is also continuing at a rapid pace the likely common dome for this ship was spotted on the sleeving stand and that was then sleeved early in the week we are fairly certain now that this nose cone in the tent that has been worked on for a while now is indeed for ship 21. on tuesday it received a thermal blanket layer which is the insulation that sits between the steel and the heat shield tiles interestingly in front of the low bay where the nose cone sections are being worked on we actually saw its middle liquid oxygen tank section there as well on wednesday its forward dome was placed onto the sleeving stand and that was sleeved shortly after looking at brendan's latest diagram all of ship 21's tank and nose cone body sections have now been spotted and thanks to the recent flight by rgv we now have spotted the ford fence for this ship as well now road closures next week are indicating that there could be quite a bit of activity that may finally be happening with testing that is good news and yes as always there would always be a lot of activity hidden undercover as well we love covering starship updates with you here every saturday and thanks to you the interest in this is all continuing to grow just remember to communicate this excitement to friends and family as well because the more people that take notice the larger the space community gets to help promote this groundbreaking story you let us do what we do here but just as importantly you help share the terrific work by so many others out there such as brendan lewis he is tirelessly spending his free time creating these infographics to help you visualize what we are all watching doing what you can do to subscribe and share the creators helps all of us here a link to brendan's awesome material is down in the description i'm just so grateful for all of you here to think that we could have 400 000 people subscribed here by the end of the year maybe wow that is just amazing now as promised we had a closer look into the programmatic environmental assessment or pea for short done by the federal aviation administration that's the prerequisite for the faa's licence requirement for future starship testing and launch operations in boca chica last week i was a little confused about the 37 engines the faa mentioned for super heavy elon very quickly corrected it on the spot saying that spacex are still going for 33 engines on the booster so this we believe was simply an outdated value the 37 engine design was a thing until it was changed over a year ago their view on the launch vehicle therefore is at least in part quite outdated given the impact that this launch vehicle will have you would think that such figures would have been a little bit more up-to-date saying that having a look on spacex's website they still have several outdated pieces of information there as well so what's interesting to me is that the assessment done here is much broader than what's needed for the faa's licensing process and there are several licenses required since spacex doesn't appear to have provided plans for the long-term operation the first licence given may only cover the initial tests now that is good to read because having a look at page 23 we see that only three orbital launchers are planned for the testing phase and that none of them will include the landing of the super heavy booster the five orbital launches per year are expected for the operational phase given that this document is in part apparently written by spacex i'm wondering how they expect to test the booster catching anytime soon elon musk has already mentioned wanting to try catching booster number five so more licenses that extend beyond this assessment are needed and the faa would be aware of this so there are lots of questions already arising from the first pages but it does not stop here apparently according to this document at least they are still evaluating if they use a flame diverter and a water deluxe system although elon always seemed to shy away from using a flame diverter it seemed clear that a water deluxe system would certainly be used in that regard i don't think we're talking if that is needed so saying all this there are some positive items to look at regarding all environmental impacts the pea comes to the conclusion that it is manageable launches along with running the power plant may emit the equivalent of about 50 000 metric tons of co2 per year this is mostly coming from methane venting because raw methane has around 80 times the greenhouse effect than co2 we've already seen methods to help mitigate this such as flare stacks in the past that help burn most of this off and to a degree spacex should be recondensing it back where they can already so not sure how accurate these predicted figures are there is of course an impact with everything we do rocket launchers are no exception elon musk has talked about offsetting such things with carbon capture technology which is how a mars refill system would work anyway so this should evolve over time the document has well covered the areas of air quality noise social financial and cultural impacts and also it discusses impacts on land use the coast water management and the biological aspects for all those areas spacex seems to offer sufficient mitigation seeing all of this certainly makes me feel optimistic regarding the cooperation of spacex and the faa towards starbase launch operations before that though the public hearing needs to be concluded beginning october and any issues addressed given that the faa started this assessment in november of 2020 it's been almost a year-long project hopefully the flight licenses and the various approvals will be a lot faster than that the current approved license spacex has on hand is only valid until may of 2022 but of course that does not include the super heavy booster so some of these delays may push the timeline back but just how far keep your eye out for my midweek video coming on tuesday where i'm diving a little deeper into starship's reusability goals how long might it be to come to fruition you might be surprised so in what must seem like a whirlwind adventure they are back and of course i'm referring to the all civilian crew of spacex's inspiration for they have had an absolute blast in space interestingly as well it sounds like there are a few upgrades coming for crew dragon for future missions inspired by this trip a little oven for heating food starlink wi-fi and by the sounds of it there may have been a few interesting problems with the toilet facilities elon said here that they had some challenges with it in this flight now i'm not sure exactly what that means it looks here like there may have been an issue with one of the fans i mean we've all seen the image here right i'm just scratching my head wondering how the heck this thing works someone please enlighten me i believe in this mission they needed to have the forward hatch closed while using the facilities which i think is quite unfortunate as having the dome open would have provided the best seat in the solar system there is a curtain of sorts providing a little privacy above the rest of the crew though for all of you asking that question i will say it is quite interesting just imagining the logistics involved with that process i hope the challenges there weren't too problematic anyway after launching three days prior the four-person crew safely splashed down in the atlantic ocean just off the east coast of florida one week ago on saturday the 18th of september and wow was this amazing to watch live we had jared isaacman cyan proctor haley arsenau and chris sombroski set off for a mission not just a space but also to raise awareness and ultimately funds for saint jude's children's research hospital this pediatric research and treatment center is reported to cost around 2.8 million dollars per day just to run jared contributed a staggering 100 million dollars of his own funds elon musk then contributed 50 million and a further 60 million dollars have also been donated from other sources no family is billed for some jude's services so this comes as a well-deserved contribution for such an amazing organization if you would like to help support their incredible work i have included the support link once again for easy reference so yes with an orbit around 580 kilometers in altitude above earth the crew of dragon resilients were kept busy with science and public engagements as well as taking in the awe-inspiring views from the most incredible front row seat of the kubula haley's reaction here is just priceless i don't think there would be sufficient words to do justice to this experience absolutely or inspiring and fundamentally life-changing seems to be the general theme for those that have made this trip to space and it's easy to see why unfortunately the stay was always going to be brief and soon it was time to head back home with two retrograde burns completed the orbital altitude had been reduced to around 365 kilometers above the earth this is done by using the forward bulkhead thrusters to slow the dragon down which then lowers the altitude the deorbit burn took approximately 15 minutes to complete followed by the closure of the nose cone that covers the cupola and at that point the crew were committed to re-entry the expected communication blackout due to plasma generated from the blistering speed was over some seven minutes later with infrared cameras picking up the capsule in freefall we all watched it head to the primary splashdown site the density of the earth's atmosphere slowed the capsule considerably and before we knew it the drogue shoots were out and the mains there put their brakes on even more that reduced the speed down from around 560 kilometers per hour to around 25 ready for splashdown and there we go right there just beautiful and with that this historic mission had come to an end once the capsule was secured it was up to the recovery vessel go searcher to hoist the crew aboard the hatch opening is always a special moment as excited crew and support personnel get to greet each other first out was hayley and how could you not be smiling after all that cyan disembarked and clearly looked pleased with the whole experience as well and chris soon followed there before the final crew member commander jared isaacman he emerged there bringing a close to an odyssey that has inspired so many and highlighted a most worthy cause afterward the crew were flown off by a helicopter from the recovery ship back to kennedy space center for private reunions and a post-flight celebration meanwhile the crew dragon resilience returned to port being captured here by the very talented greg scott a very toasted dragon right there now since the return of the crew they have been super active on social media as well what amazing footage we've already seen and of course we will see in the finalized netflix series on it all a quick shout out as well to cosmic perspective recording this incredible footage from the launch itself so thankful there to ryan and mary liz out there being able to capture this and share it with the community a link to the full video is also there in the description check it out so what comes next now for crew dragon nasa's crew 3 is scheduled for october the 31st the next private mission after that is for axiom space which is scheduled for a launch no sooner than january next year in this mission the crew will spend a week aboard the international space station so spacex has certainly seen an increase in private mission inquiries just recently inspiration for as jared put it just at splashdown is just getting things started and they are not alone on this either on the 5th of october this year a soyuz is launching this film crew to do a movie shoot on board the international space station as well furthermore yazakumazawa the japanese billionaire behind the 2023 starship mission dear moon will fly on board a soyuz to the iss as well that hopefully will occur in december this year so the commercial space race is really heating up so we also have a united launch alliance mission for the first time in a while as well this mission for the landsat 9 satellite is scheduled to launch on monday the 27th of september from space launch complex 3 at vandenberg space force base we'll talk about that more in just a second but first a huge thank you to brilliant today for sponsoring this video brilliant is a website and mobile application that is built to make learning stem subjects fun engaging and interactive if you're anything like me you would find that learning a subject is always easier when you can visually see concepts and break them down into small understandable components the course material with brilliant is built off this very idea and they've recently upped the interactivity on their platform taking it to another level as an example if you've ever taken a calculus class they often start the derivative discussion off with a bunch of limits and greek letters not with brilliant here you start off with a relatively simple example what happens when you shoot a cannonball into the air visually you can see here why the math works the way it does which makes it so much easier to understand the theory behind it this calculus in a nutshell course is packed with many such interactive examples that explains the why behind these calculations it is just so useful to absorb information in this way it's not just a typical monotonous series of exercises that force you to memorize formulas or regurgitate facts for a test this is a real learning experience at its core just explore the courses until you find one that you're interested in and you just jump right in if you are naturally curious and want to build up those problem-solving skills then consider checking out brilliant at the same time you can join me and a community of 8 million learners and educators by heading to brilliant.org marcus house that will give the first 200 people 20 off the first year of brilliant premium you'll find that link in the description below so yes for this mission an atlas 5 401 rocket will slowly rise from the pad this variant is actually the least powerful atlas 5 configuration with a thruster weight ratio of around 1.15
what we're seeing here is the landsat 9 satellite being lifted and mated inside the integrated processing facility this will of course join its sister satellite landsat 8 in orbit to continuously collect images from across the planet every 8 days now while we're talking about united launch alliance they also shared a few images this week showing pathfinder tanking test operations continuing with the vulcan centaur rocket we see it here being successfully filled with liquefied natural gas and united launch alliance tweeted out the success soon after now i'm not sure of the purity of liquid methane for this typically of course liquefied natural gas will have a small percentage of ethane and propane together mixed with other trace gases tory bruno has in the past confirmed that the fuel will be pure methane so wondering if the liquefied natural gas term is thrown around more for marketing purposes than anything methane being a potent greenhouse gas can get a bit of negative publicity after all regardless it is nice to see progress on vulcan right here so thanks a lot for watching all the way through that has been yet another interesting week of updates i don't know about you but i've just been so thrilled watching all of the inspiration for updates just imagine being able to do what they did one day do you think that tourism flights to orbit may ever be attainable for the average human oh man would that certainly be something for the bucket list if so hopefully starship will help get us there over time this new shirt that you see right here if you're interested you can pick up below all of that helps support the channel here and hey we all need some new clothes from time to time this one right here is available with the dark lines on light colors as well if that's more appealing to you if you are interested in helping support us the patreon link is right there or the join button below also technically patreon takes less fees away so if you're on the fence becoming a patron is better in that regard i certainly find patreon better for direct communication as well youtube membership sadly doesn't give a way to communicate one-on-one which is why the discord roles that come with either method of support are so beneficial that support also means that you can get your name listed right here like these other amazing people and you also get earlier and ad-free videos to watch before anyone else big thanks to the production crew working with me here and if you're interested in these topics and you'd like to keep up to date remember to subscribe here below and follow me on twitter at marcus house in the tile in the bottom left today we have my video from last week in the top right is my latest video and in the bottom right content that youtuber has selected from a channel just for you once again keep an eye out for that midweek video coming on tuesday thank you everyone for watching and we'll see you all in the next video
2021-09-29 00:33
