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three extra months for free hey hey marcus house with you here it has been an incredible week
with all of the amazing views from the mars rover being broadcast around the world early in the week
just breathtaking footage here that we're going to talk about we of course have
starship updates with all the goings on around boko chika a few delays this week with a static
fire and raptor swap out but flight could be just days away now lots to digest at the
construction yard as always and we'll take a deeper look at the site overall on top of that
we had the launch of the cygnus resupply mission to the international space station what a week
so yes kicking off with starship updates we'll start with the news at the launch site itself
things were a little slower paced this week after the terrible weather the week prior here we see
the next starship prototype destined to take its test flight sitting patiently there on the launch
stand although work never ceased at spacex's bokeh cheeker site the better weather at the start of
the week saw an increase in activity around the sn10 prototype including testing the aft flaps
and reaction control thrusters interestingly last weekend cnn writer jackie wattles provided us with
a lot of new information regarding sn9's failed landing and in turn sn10s updated faa launch
license it is stated here that on the 20th of february the faa closed the investigation of
the sn9 prototype mishap which flew on february the 2nd the good news here is that sn9 failed
that landing attempt within the bounds of the faa safety analysis the explosion on landing was not
found to have endangered the public or property now on monday the 22nd christian davenport was
reporting for the washington post here and he tweeted that the faa has granted spacex a launch
license modification for starship sn10 so we could see a flight this week spacex's first attempt for
that static fire was actually on monday with the notice of the test being provided to local
residents on the sunday night boko chica gal here with nasa's space flight out there as always
capturing these historic scenes throughout the week thanks mary for all of your hard work there
now monday's attempt was of course scrubbed soon after the very first signs of tank farm
activity they never made it to the point where sn10 was to be filled with propellant and thus
we can only assume that the scrub was due to some sort of ground support equipment problem
the next day however spacex fired up sn10's three wrapped engines for the first time which lasted
what seemed to be the standard amount of time around two seconds initially all signs seemed
to indicate that sn10's first static fire there was all that was needed before the flight but
sadly though further review of data led to one of the raptors being found as suspect according
to elon musk on twitter here so yeah we needed to be patient on that one with the offending raptor
engine being swapped out soon after raptor sn51 was then transported to the launch site for a
record-breaking turnaround of engine replacement just 24 hours after sn51 was installed spacex
completed another static fire this time lasting a little bit longer and without that instant depress
vent afterwards the team at spacex now seems to be aiming for a flight in just a few days from
now with both sn8 and sn9s landing failure i've been asked loads of questions about what sn10
will attempt to do different well there have been changes implemented here which we hope will lead
sn10 to a successful landing these included the switch from autogenous pressurization to a simpler
helium pressurization system as a temporary solution and as far as we know that is also
going to occur with sn10 now if you want to know more about autogenous pressurization and starship
i just happen to have published a midweek video which is linked in the description that goes right
into that thanks as well for everyone's support of that video a very nice jump in subscribers and
likes after that one and starting to get close now to that goal of hitting 300 000 subscribers
that all makes a huge difference to the video performance you guys are just amazing now we
should also be seeing spacex firing up all three raptors on sn10 during the flip rather than just
the two as previously seen if one of those three engines fail the two remaining ones will remain
firing if all three of those fire up successfully the engine with the least lever arm will simply be
shut off now around all of that excitement the landing pad was finished off and there we are
going to see those concrete smoothers scooting around these guys just look hilarious sped up just
check that out so we also spotted some hints at the construction of the huge service structure
that will double up as an on-site crane to mate starships on top of the booster with contractors
being hired to build a 137 meter or 450 foot structure right here now that build up is
one of those key indicators of when starship will make its first orbital attempt with hopes that it
of course can take place this year so heading now all the way over to the build site we have finally
seen at the nose cone section of what we believe is sn15 stacked together this mystery nose which
has been cut off is still a bit of a question mark here will this really form part of sn15
or is this some kind of pathfinder nose cone let me know what you think in the comments below now
along with all of that sn17s aft dome was sleeved earlier in the week and interestingly the only
component spotted for starship serial number 19 at this stage is a methane header tank the fact
that they are already working on parts for sn19 is in its own right pretty astounding so we also saw
sn12 which is one of the decommissioned prototypes has had its common dome taken to the back of the
site to be scrapped now speaking of dismantling things starship sn5 which was of course the first
full-scale one to fly was also being scrapped that was a little sad for me i really wanted
them to hold on to this one but on a more positive note we saw this interesting section inside the
production tent which appears to be undergoing preparations to cover the entire windward side
in the heat shield tiles which is all part of that thermal protection system this unknown section
could indeed be intended for a high altitude starship prototype that would test its heat
shield at a much higher velocity what was also interesting and prior to the tiles being attached
the windward side of the whole section was completely wrapped in intumescent blanketing which
is a ceramic fibre fire resistant wrap now this is something that we have not seen before on a
starship prototype so really interested in hearing more about that as news continues to evolve
on top of that we have super heavy booster number one which is now moving into the second phase of
construction the stacking has now commenced with the bottom half of the booster which includes
the common dome sections for the methane tank as well as the thrust dome firstly over the weekend a
four ring section was moved into the high bay with what seems to be the common dome stack being mated
on top then on tuesday night another four-ring section was moved into the high bay with stacking
of these sections continuing as of now we have the 18 ring high oxygen tank section the 10 ring high
methane and common dome section as well as another stack of four rings a stack of two rings and the
after dome which are yet to be mated with the rest of the booster now while we're at the high
bay here teams have now dismantled the temporary staircase at the rear of the building and have
now started to build a more permanent elevator we also now have a bird's eye view of the grid
fin spotted last week by rgv aerial photography thanks mauricio for all of those amazing flights
what is quite interesting is that it now seems to be a rectangle instead of the diamond shape that
was seen in previous renders by spacex not sure if this is a permanent change or whether this is just
a pathfinder grid fin we also saw a new raptor sn52 being delivered to the site this week as well
which we assume will be for one of the prototypes that we've seen here today so that all sums up
the week of construction there and there is a lot of information to take in if we compare brendan's
diagram from last week to now that gives you a bit of an idea at a glance what has changed
now a tweet here by rgv caught my eye a few weeks ago and this is photography showing an image of
the construction site at boca chica around two years ago we see there the single star hopper
prototype with its nose still on top before that blew off in the wind shortly after over here on
the right we see the stargate building which is essentially the launch and control center to this
day so yes look how far we've come since then here is the latest shot of the construction yard
at this distance everything is small enough that the sheer size is a little hard to fully grasp
this here we see is maria pointers home before spacex purchased that property sadly though spacex
certainly hasn't been taking care of maria's lawn there which was looking awesome back then
when this shot was taken now we are going to take a deeper dive to break down the construction site
a little here for you in just a moment but first this video is sponsored by our amazing supporters
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so yes let's just break down the construction site because we haven't really talked about it
in a lot of detail in any real depth before now we created this animation here to give a little
better perspective on what is going on here here is the same stargate building that we mentioned
earlier that is the launch control center right next door the massive highway at roughly 80 meters
in height this is basically an assembly building used to stack and mount super heavy boosters
and major starship sections in the final stages of production we have the mid bay which assembles the
entire thrust and tank sections of the starships before they are moved to the high bay that is
much smaller in height there at around 40 to 45 meters now before assembly various components of
the tanks domes and thrust sections are all put together in several areas before stacking in the
mid bay much of that ring stacking is done as far as we've mainly seen within the first large tent
here the second tent here seems to mainly focus on dome segments which are then later sleeved
with the rings the smaller tent structure here mainly deals with nose cone structures which are
then rolled out to be assembled further in the low bay which sits nearby right here from here
those nose sections will typically end up heading into the high bay very soon after to be stacked on
top of the starship tank sections now that fourth tent over here as far as i've ever been able to
tell is largely related to various complementary tooling tasks so yes there is a quick rundown
of how the starship is assembled and each of the incredible areas here run with loads of dedicated
spacex engineers builders and welders and what an incredible experience it must be creating the very
first prototypes of a new rocket that could quite literally change the course of history
now it is time for an update on the perseverance rover after its recent successful landing on
mars and well this week was the moment that we were all eagerly are waiting for
the arrival of the first video footage of the entry descent and landing sequence this was
just simply stunning sadly the only thing that didn't work correctly was the microphone which was
intended to capture the audio of that ballistic event the good news though is that there is still
a microphone system on board perseverance on the super cam mast so we look forward to hearing
some more noise as the rover travels around which will add a whole immersive experience
as we journey with the rover as opposed to just seeing some photographs some audio has already
been captured actually and there's a link below in the description if you would like to check it out
as well as a website full of awesome information on the perseverance rover itself you want to check
out the multimedia link when you can as there's a collection of video audio and photograph libraries
growing super quickly so here it is the moment where we see the supersonic parachute deploy and
wow what a sight to see this magnificent piece of engineering do its job so brilliantly under such
violent conditions there was a real highlight for me you can see here just how effective this
process was as the shoots there are seen rapidly slowing the back shell containing the sky crane
and the rover i can't help but remember seeing the testing of this system using a rocket launched
parachute traveling at almost twice the speed of sound before deploying its shoot in a record
four tenths of a second that was quite incredible at the time so yes the parachute had slowed the
descent rate to the point where the heat shield could be released this allowed the camera and the
radar to obtain their first look and solid lock of the terrain below then it was time for the next in
a rapid sequence of nail biting events first the free-fall release of the jetpack as we see here
performing that sideways maneuver moving it away from the back shell before guiding perseverance
to a safe landing site the clarity of the surface here i just thought was absolutely breathtaking
we then got to witness that amazing sky crane footage lowering the rover down to the surface
simply stunning visions here as the dust kicked up off the surface followed by the confirmation
of touchdown we then see there the cables cut and the sky crane flying away at an angle to a safe
distance before slamming into the red dust the full mission so far including the entry landing
and descent systems were just flawless and seeing perseverance safely delivered to the surface ready
to begin the next exciting chapter of scientific discovery is an absolute inspiration to all of
us please do share this stuff with those around you that may not follow this quite as closely
everybody should be able to appreciate this the enthusiasts are all out in force on this as well
and with some pretty amazing replicas inspired by the perseverance mission over the last few months
i've been noticing a lot of jaw-dropping videos being uploaded by the community and i've been
loving every single moment of this from the launch system to crew stage and from skycrane to landing
every aspect has been considered by each and every one of these people and i'm very impressed by the
dedication and attention to detail here some people have also gone so far as to create the
2020 rover replica in stock kerbal something that many people thought was quite impossible and it
just goes to show that with a little perseverance and also a little ingenuity you can achieve
just about anything in this game now on february the 20th a cygnus resupply mission was set to head
for the international space station this payload sat on top northrop grumman's antares 230 plus
rocket with the mission this time named ss katherine johnson it is a tradition that each
cygnus spacecraft is named after an individual who has played a major role in human space flight
catherine's brilliant mathematical skills made it possible for the first crude space flights
and moon missions now i don't usually talk about movies in these videos but if you haven't seen
the movie hidden figures do yourself a favor and check that out trust me it is a brilliant movie
all about catherine so yes that launch day just so happened to coincide with the 59th anniversary of
john glenn's mercury flight which saw him become the very first american to orbit the earth now
there is a historical connection between these two individuals which saw john glenn specifically
asking for catherine johnson to verify the complex orbital trajectory calculations by hand
or he simply would not fly that was despite the calculations already being done by brand new ibm
computer systems such was the distrust of that new technology at the time with over four tons
of supplies and scientific experiments for the expedition 64 crew the pop-top faring capability
means that they can late load cargo and delicate experiments as late as 24 hours before the actual
launch this is all thanks to the innovative mobile payload processing facility which forms a seal
around the fairing opening where technicians can work safely in a clean room environment so yes the
launch itself was a successful one and once in all but the journey began for the cygnus spacecraft
and its rendezvous with the international space station two days later after crossing the west
coast of australia cygnus entered the 250 metre hold position with checks and procedures happening
quickly at that stage mike hopkins and soichi naguchi who are still up there as part of the
crew 1 mission launched by spacex worked with ground support to bring the spacecraft 50 meters
closer of the 200 meter keep out sphere at that point the slow approach to the earth-facing port
of the unity module proceeded and it was not long before cygnus was in range of the canadarm
under sowichi's skillful control with that ss katherine johnson was successfully captured
and welcomed aboard the international space station where it will remain there
for the next three months it is starting to look a little bit like a parking lot up there at the
moment with several other visiting spacecraft isn't that just great to see all of that activity
so yes there we have it another incredible week of space updates remember as well that we are
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if you're interested in these topics and you'd like to be a part of this follow me on twitter and
please do get in touch in the tile in the bottom left today we have my midweek video talking about
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my channel just for you thank you everyone for watching and we'll see you all in the next video