With all the hype around SpaceX's recent Starship test flight I thought we should
talk about six ways that I think the SpaceX Starship is changing the game
let's go
Hey guys Tory here from Overlook Horizon and welcome back to two minute Tuesday which is
where we talk about space sometimes science for two minutes it's not really two minutes
but we do it anyways every Tuesday so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it
Why do we say two minutes? I don't know
but we'll put it on the clock anyways and let's get to today's two minute Tuesday
Now most of you probably know that the SpaceX Starship is their next generation rocket
that is intended to take humans to the moon and mars but why is it such a big deal and is it
even working? For the past almost two years now we've seen a mixture of success and failure but
this publicly visible development is something we rarely see with other space flight companies.
I mean SpaceX is building this out in the open where just about anyone can see what's happening
Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave with a box of scraps!
but it's this sort of mentality that makes it a game changer and here's why
Number one, it will be fully reusable
A fully reusable super heavy lift orbital rocket has never been done before but this
is a key component of the future of space flight in order to reduce costs and make
it more accessible and affordable for both government agencies like NASA and
also private organizations lower cost means more players in the game and ultimately more flights
Number two, fast evolution
SpaceX's build strategy is build test fail and repeat this is an unusual strategy in
the spaceflight world but it allows SpaceX to rapidly evolve their designs compare that
to something like NASA's SLS program which has been in development for nearly 10 years
without a single test flight and huge cost overruns
Number three, stainless steel construction
One of the main reasons SpaceX switched from its original design of carbon composites to
stainless steel is because of the cost stainless steel is much less expensive and much faster
to manufacture in fact we've had stainless steel rockets in the past like this Atlas which was
so thin that it could collapse under its own weight if it wasn't pressurized which it did in
1963. Thankfully advancements in materials science since then give us better options now
Also, interesting side note they needed to invent a special oil coating for the atlas to prevent it
from rusting you might have heard of it it's called WD-40 that's what it was invented for
Now stainless steel can also handle re-entry heating very well one of the earlier design
concepts called for the vehicle to use this liquid methane sweating method to cool the
windward side of the rockets but it appears that SpaceX will now be utilizing heat shield
tiles mechanically affixed to the vehicle. One problem I see with that is that this is the only
part of the vehicle that may require regular maintenance or replacement so I'm not really
sure how they intend to handle that in the long run for say a return mission from Mars to Earth
Number four, methalox engines
This is truly a spacecraft with Mars in mind methalox engines like SpaceX's raptor
engines use methane and liquid oxygen both of which can theoretically be pulled from
the Martian environment making it possible to someday refuel and return a starship
back to earth using just the local resources SpaceX is also exploring switching their RCS
thrusters from cold gas nitrogen to hot gas methane to further this reusability concept
Number five, on-orbit refueling
This has been a spaceflight dream for years but SpaceX may finally
bring this to fruition NASA has already invested in this concept
with SpaceX which could allow the vehicle to bring huge payloads to a place like Mars
and finally number six, diversity
This will be SpaceX's next vehicle and it will likely replace the Falcon 9 altogether
sure Starship will be capable of flying astronauts to the Moon and to Mars but
there's no reason it can't be used for crew transfer to the International Space Station
or for satellite launches into earth orbit they've even talked about using it to fly
passengers to just terrestrial earth destinations like an airliner the power of the vehicle might
be a bit overkill but since it's completely reusable the costs will be incredibly low
So that's where I'm gonna wrap up this week's two minute
Tuesday that's not really two minutes long but it is what it is
If you have other burning space questions you think I should cover drop them
in the comments down below
As always be sure to click the like button consider subscribing and I'll see you
on the next video
goodbye
...bring this to fruition
fruuuuiiiition...
fruiitiinnn...
that's... why did I put that word in there?
be sure to click that like button....
clukkdalikboootan
[rocket noises]