Wait! What was that? So, what now?
My name is Felix, and I’m your host for today's episode of What about it.
Today we’ll take a look at SpaceX’s Starship Booster 7 and its recent unexpected test.
There’s a naked Starship at Starbase, and we’ll see why, data buoys are about to be deployed into the sea,
and SpaceX is ramping up for several launches this year with completely different Starships.
Last but not least, we’ll follow NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover along after the two-year anniversary.
Will it be around to greet us when we land next to it with a Starship?
Stay tuned, and let’s dive right in!
Starship Updates
SpaceX’s Starship development program is branching out into two different paths.
There are many milestones to be met in the next few years, so time is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity in south Texas.
This is Ship 26, as seen through lab padre’s 24/7 cameras.
It’s been in production for some time, and SpaceX decided to roll it out to the pads a few days ago.
Chief made an incredible 209-megapixel panoramic shot of the new prototype.
If you’d like to see the full resolution, either become a Patron or follow me on Twitter.
This picture reveals quite a few smaller design differences and a few self-explanatory ones.
It has no heat shield, which has been a part of SpaceX’s Starship development for some time now, as it’s needed for a proper reentry,
it is missing the four characteristic flaps, and it does not have a payload bay.
If you look closely, though, you can see that all the parts at least were made with that in mind.
It has pins for the 10000 heat tiles.
It has hinges for the flaps, and it has the missing internal stringers for the payload bay.
Ship 26 is on Suborbital pad A by now.
The name of this pad is slightly misleading.
They’re called suborbital pads because SpaceX launches SN8 to SN15 from here in 2021.
Nowadays SpaceX uses these pads for cryo proof testing, as suborbital flights are now a part of the past.
So, the more correct name should by now be proof test pad or something.
Nonetheless, ship 26 is on pad A now and very likely for just that.
Cryo-proof testing. The first step in SpaceX’s test campaigns.
Can it hold the pressure? Does everything tank side work correctly?
Having all these unnecessary parts like unused heat shield pins or flap hinges on it can only mean one thing.
It wasn’t planned like this. SpaceX is either in a hurry with ship 26, or plans have changed so much in the meantime that this just became necessary.
There’s no official word yet, but there are several use scenarios for such a naked Starship.
It’s incapable of reentering the atmosphere without a heat shield and flaps, so it will be a one-way trip to space if and once it flies.
It’ll also not be an expendable Starship for payload delivery, as it doesn’t have a payload door.
So, what could be a possible use case for such a ship?
There’s one other project SpaceX really needs to advance.
NASA’s Artemis. And there are at least two different Starship variants needed to fulfill SpaceX’s contract with NASA.
SpaceX is working hard on it in the background with NASA to make it happen by 2025.
There’s not much time left. It is supposed to land Astronauts on the Moon in 2025 and for Artemis III.
Being very different from a normal Starship, it also needs another Starship variant to be able to do its work.
The delivery to the Moon requires the Lunar Starship to be refueled in Earth orbit utilizing a Tanker Starship.
Now, if you fuel a depot in Space, you’d always have fueling capability in low Earth orbit for such missions.
This is where Ship 26 could come into play.
Fuel can also be a payload. A Starship without flaps or a heat shield could be sent to Leo.
Then another Starship could fly up without a payload, fuel the depot and fly down again.
This way, the fuel would become a payload of its own.
There’s no official confirmation right now, and there’s no obvious docking or fuel transfer equipment on Ship 26.
This does seem like a plausible explanation for the naked Ship 26, though.
NASA awarded SpaceX 53 million dollars in 2020 to achieve the mandatory task.
The goal? Large-Scale flight demonstration to transfer 10 metric tons of cryogenic propellant, specifically liquid oxygen,
between tanks on a Starship vehicle.
As said, SpaceX will have to branch out Starship development to be able to develop regular Starships and NASA’s Artemis plans simultaneously.
At some point in the next three years, we’ll see the first Lunar Starship prototype on a test pad.
There are some very exciting developments coming.
What do you think? Is hip 26 a fuel depot or something completely different?
I’m eager to read your thoughts in the comments!
In the comments!
At the same time, Booster 7 is undergoing more tests after the recent 31-engine static fire.
It’s nothing new that SpaceX tests several things at the same time.
While Ship 26 is getting ready for cryo-proof testing and ship 24 is going through launch prep,
booster 7 did some more testing on the orbital launch mount on February 17th.
Cryo test in combination with a single engine spin prime test.
Was this one of the engines that shut down during the static fire test?
SpaceX workers also replaced one of Booster's [HPU units].
Presumably, one that came from the unused and scrapped booster 8. These HPUs are already outdated, as Booster 9 doesn’t have them anymore.
On Booster 7, they’re used to power the engine thrust vector control.
Booster 9 already has an electric TVC.
No, animals were harmed recording this episode, but still, some torture is coming.
NC31 is about to get squished.
NC stands for nose cone, and 31 is a test candidate.
Arrived at the Sanchez site, so right next to the production site, on February 15th,
you can tell at first glance that something is different with this one.
It has a cut-off nose that was replaced with something else.
This picture from Chief’s WAI cam shows it even better.
Cut off at the top.
And this is the cap to be placed on top of NC31.
The reason is rather interesting.
Because the cap will be connected to this.
This whole thing is a perfect example for why all those renders from so many talented 3D artists in the spaceflight community are so important.
Did you get what I am trying to explain?
There’s a good chance you have a huge question mark above your head right now.
Let’s get rid of that.
Juan from Starship 3D jumped in and helped out.
This is how it all connects. NC31 loses its nose tip.
It gets lifted onto a test stand with the black structural beam going inside the nose cone.
Then the black cap is put on top, and on the inside, it is connected to the black beam.
Now, if you pull on the cap on the inside, the whole nose cone is squished together, simulating aerodynamic load on the nose and testing the structure.
Explaining it without the render would have been almost impossible.
Thank you, Juan! You rock! And why do they test this on NC31?
At first glance, NC31 doesn’t have many differences compared to Ship 24’s nose cone.
If you look closely, though, you can see differences in the weld marks on top.
Those are from internal design changes, likely related to the internal layout at the very tip of the nose.
There are also differences below the six sensors on the side of the nose cone,
which could come from more internal stringers in the lower nose cone section.
This could even be related to the Payload door issues, which led to SpaceX welding them shut on Ship 24 and other prototypes.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what SpaceX does.
The littlest marks on a nose cone can tell a whole story of what’s happening on the inside.
This one is another really interesting picture from Chief’s WAI cam.
It shows several large CB-450 data buoys at SpaceX’s Starbase construction site.
Funny enough, they’re directly connected to SpaceX’s orbital Starship launch plans.
They’re part of a so-called Automatic Identification System Private Aid.
SpaceX filed for a permit here in Texas and in Florida to be able to deploy them in the ocean.
For the upcoming launch, they will watch the perimeter of the booster’s touchdown site, listening for sounds, watching with cameras,
and alarming SpaceX and the Coast Guard if someone enters the area.
The first orbital launch is drawing closer, and March isn’t far anymore.
I can’t wait! If you feel the same and if you like what we’re doing here at WAI, take a moment and hit the like button,
remember to subscribe, and leave a comment.
Costs nothing and helps us hugely!
Thank you! Next, we’ll take a look at NASA’s latest Rover Perseverance.
It’s just completed its first two years on Mars.
What did it do since landing on the red planet, and what’s coming up next?
I did a live stream back then.
Actually two. One for the launch and one for the landing.
NASA’s rovers have been the backbone of robotic Mars exploration since Pathfinder, its first martian rover.
Independence Day 25 years ago.
Sojourner, a tiny rover built to last only a few days on Mars, parachutes down to the red planet.
The first successful rover landing on July 4th, 1997, created a whole era of Mars exploration.
In its wake followed Spirit and Opportunity.
Two iconic missions that broke records, NASA and the rest of the world couldn’t have dreamed of.
Spirit drove around on Mars from January 4th, 2004, until its last signal was received on March 22nd, 2010.
Opportunity outlasted its twin by another 8 years, striking a record of 5352 days of operation.
45 kilometers or 28 miles were covered during the mission.
Opportunity went into the history books as the first rover to complete the full distance of a martian marathon.
Then came curiosity. A new breed of rovers.
Much larger and not dependent on solar cells, which tend to get dirty in a very dusty martian environment, they were meant to be much more versatile.
This side-by-side comparison shows the difference quite well.
In the foreground, we have Sojourner.
To the left is a model of Spirit and Opportunity, and to the right is the mockup of the Mars Science Laboratory,
as Curiosity was called prior to receiving its name.
Three meters by 2.7 meters by 2.2 meters.
That’s about the size of a car, and the weight is similar too.
Right from the beginning of its mission on Mars, Perseverance was spectacular.
The images transmitted by onboard cameras looked straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Lowered by a sky crane and landed on Mars fully autonomous, NASA completed a seemingly impossible feat for the fifth time in a row.
This is one of those missions that show every day why we explore.
This happened on February 18th, 2021.
So, almost precisely two years ago.
And I have a tear in my eyes, thinking about it.
Two years on Mars. Two years of being subjected to a very difficult environment.
Radiation, chilling temperatures, almost no atmospheric pressure, and dust and sharp rocks everywhere.
How did Perseverance do, and what did its little companion Ingenuity accomplish?
Let’s take a look!
Jezero Crater, the landing site of Perseverance, is full of discoveries waiting to be explored, and since its landing,
Perseverance has encountered a fantastic amount of interesting sites.
Sol 712. That’s what it said on NASA’s interactive map when I wrote this script,
and Perseverance has covered 14.77 kilometers or 9.18 miles by now.
It is approaching the very reason why it came to Jezero crater in the first place.
This is the path of the rover since its landing, and it shows that Percy aimed for this fan-like geological formation.
It’s a river delta. Ancient water deposited soil here billions of years ago, and where there was water, there could have been life.
It entered the delta deposit roughly two weeks ago, and ingenuity’s position tells us where it will go next.
Deeper into the sand dunes, which might have once been a cradle for martian life.
One of Perseverance’s tasks on Mars is to collect samples.
18 samples have been retrieved, sealed in sample return tubes,
and left on the ground to be picked up and sent back home to Earth by a future mission.
And this future mission has just received an update.
You’re looking at the brand new idea of catapult launching the missile instead of using a silo for the launch.
The plan is to have perseverance pick the tubes up at a later date and bring them to the return vehicle.
There will be a backup, though.
Something to help Perseverance so that it doesn’t have to drive all the way.
This is brand new footage of a model sample recovery helicopter driving across a test surface at NASA’s Mars Yard.
It finds the sample and positions itself on top of it for pickup.
Two of these helicopters are slated to fly on board the sample return mission and, partly,
they were only possible thanks to Perseverance and its little companion.
Monday, April 19th of 2021. Another historic date.
The first time a human-made object took flight on another planet.
And Ingenuity, the first helicopter built and flown on another planet, has outperformed every expectation so far.
Initially built as a so-called technology demonstration, Ingenuity was built to last 30 days and is still operational.
It was built to do just a few flights and prove that helicopters can fly on Mars and that we can build them.
Two years and 43 flights later, Ingenuity has not reached its mission end yet.
This is a video made from pictures from the helicopter's navigation camera.
It’s its longest flight yet. Flight number 25.
It took place on April 8th, 2022, and the helicopter covered 704 meters in one flight at an average speed of 12 miles per hour.
Ingenuity reached a height of 10 meters during the flight.
And Ingenuity is constantly evolving as well.
Like all probes sent out into the dark, Ingenuity is capable of software updates.
And NASA is using this capability.
A recent software update gave ingenuity the ability to choose safe landing spots on its own.
The video you see is of flight number 9, which took place on July 5th, 2021.
NASA took the video and sent it through ingenuity’s updated software.
The update provides two key improvements: It identifies areas unsuitable for landing (shaded in red)
as well as candidate landing sites (shown in green).
The algorithm also enables the use of digital elevation maps to help navigate.
The software update was added in late 2022, and it adds hazard avoidance capabilities to a Mars Helicopter which had none before.
Originally slated to last for at least two years, Perseverance has already passed its minimum mission duration.
Its RTG or radio thermoelectric generator will give it power for another 12 years, and if nothing bad happens,
Perseverance might still be active when the first humans land on Mars.
Go Perseverance! A stunning mission already!
Speaking of incredible stuff, here’s today’s sponsor Surfshark VPN!
Surfshark VPN is a power tool.
Especially if it’s available in 100+ countries.
By the way, Surfshark VPN is the first commercially available VPN to achieve this - ever.
For example, it helps you stay within your next travel budget by circumventing price discrimination.
Booking services try to predict your habits by using tracking cookies.
Once they find a pattern, they’ll ramp up prices on exactly the flights and hotels you’re likely to book.
Be smarter. Activate Surfshark, change your virtual location to wherever you want to travel to, and unblock cheaper flights and hotel prices.
Problem solved!
Changing your virtual location often also gives you access to different content on streaming services!
Just change the server, refresh the page, and on you go with your favorite show.
While all this is happening in the background, Surfshark VPN is not collecting any data about your activity at all.
I only accept sponsors I personally like.
Surshark is my daily companion.
It automatically starts up whenever I use my PC.
Head over to Surfshark dot deals slash felix and enter my promo code FELIX for 83% off plus 3 extra months for free!
Surfshark. Surf with your own set of rules.
That’s it for today! Remember to like and subscribe!
Check out our merch store! Starting February 23rd and lasting until the 27th,
we have a 15% off campaign on everything in the WAIwear store with lots of new designs!
Crazy stuff! And if you want to get even smarter about Space and rockets, watch this video next to continue the journey!
Thank you very much for watching, and I’ll see you again in the next episode!