at Florida's NASA Kennedy Space Center a lightning strike was spotted close to the
Falcon heavy launch pad the privately owned space flight company SpaceX has taken safety measures
to protect the security of both its personnel and the rocket the launch pad was within a mile of a
lightning strike but the rocket was not damaged said SpaceX nevertheless out of a great deal of
caution SpaceX halted all work at the launch pad and moved Personnel to safer locations how
does SpaceX protect its rockets and launch pads from lightning strikes let's find out in today's
episode hello everyone welcome back to Elon Musk Evolution where we bring you the most recent news
about Elon Musk and his multi-billion dollar companies space news and the latest science
and technology but before we begin make sure you subscribe to our Channel and click the Bell icon
so you don't miss any of our amazing videos SpaceX has put in place a stringent set of
safety procedures to safeguard its personnel and the launch vehicle from potential risks
such as Lightning Strikes lightning hits are intended to be deflected away from the rocket
and into the ground by lighting rods that the company has placed all around the launch pad
likewise SpaceX is equipped with a weather monitoring system that offers real-time data
on atmospheric conditions including lightning strikes all Personnel are evacuated until the
threat is passed if lightning is seen within a particular radius of the launch pad it is not
yet known whether the lightning strike will have any effect on the Falcon heavy Rockets launch
schedule the rocket will currently launch in the upcoming weeks with a payload of communication
satellites for the Saudi Arabian firm Arab sat regarding whether the lightning strike
will result in any launch delays SpaceX has not yet issued a statement the launch might however
be delayed if required because the corporation has a history of putting safety above schedule
lightning Towers protect rockets on launch pads modern rockets are among the highest structures
in any launch facility easily eclipsing massive multi-story buildings but the tallest launch
vehicle is dwarfed by Four Towers that surround the launch pad the lightning protection system
which consists of Four Towers around a rocket launch pad Shields the launch vehicle from
lightning strikes that could seriously harm a rocket the rocket is protected from lightning
and related electromagnetic fields by a kind of Faraday cage that is created by the towers about
100 lightning strikes occur on the surface of the Earth every second in a given year there are three
billion lightning strikes each lightning strike can produce up to a billion volts of electricity
which is enough to operate a 100 watt light bulb continuously for three months and can
reach temperatures of 30 000 degrees Celsius this makes lightning a potent and potentially
lethal Force as many people are aware of or have personally witnessed lightning May seriously harm
infrastructure and result in significant injury or or even death in addition the orbital rockets
on their launch pads are in grave danger as a result of this however the environment that
lightning creates as a result of its presence also poses a threat lightning risks to orbital
rockets on a launch pad for a number of reasons a rocket on a launch pad is particularly vulnerable
to lightning damage a modern rocket can easily be the highest building on a launch pad which is
surrounded by a flat surface and has an average height of 58 meters this makes it an easy target
for potential lightning strikes which are frequent at launch sites like the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida and Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana both of which are situated close to the equator
where thunderstorms are frequent a rocket only spends a short time in the atmosphere
in contrast to traditional airplanes meant to fly in Earth's atmosphere whose infrastructure
is enhanced with a number of redundant systems in place to protect the plane from lightning
and similar disasters because weight reduction is always a priority a rocket is designed to be just
strong enough to withstand the dynamic forces weight thrust and drag on it before entering
orbit this means that a rocket can experience significant structural damage if it is struck
a significant amount of electronic equipment including navigation and guiding systems and
equipment for crude spacecraft's life support systems is also carried by orbital launch Vehicles
the slightest Interruption will immediately throw off this device the electronic components of a
rocket can be badly damaged or even destroyed by a lightning strike that can produce a billion volts
of energy and reach temperatures of 30 000 degrees Celsius or 54 000 degrees Fahrenheit for anyone
participating in a rocket launch lightning is likely the weather event that causes them the most
worry this is for a variety of reasons including its unpredictable nature in addition to the harm
it may do to crew and craft by observing the lightning activity in the clouds around the launch
site and measuring the quantity of electricity in the air even when there are no clouds present
it is possible to predict with a high degree of accuracy the likelihood that lightning will strike
a launch facility however it is still impossible to pinpoint exactly when and where lightning will
strike despite the best sensors and forecasting models currently on the market the result is that
several safeguards against lightning strikes are in place at space agencies how launch facilities
guard Rockets against lightning strikes lightning Towers surrounding a contemporary launch pad like
The Four Towers encircling spacex's launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida are the first and
greatest line of defense a launch facility has against a potential lightning strike the majority
of the world's main launch facilities have these enormous Towers lightning suppression systems are
present at every launch site including the Russian launch complex in kazakhstan's baikonur cosmodrome
and the American Vandenberg space force base on average the system consists of Four Towers Each
of which is significantly taller than the rocket on the launch pad although certain launch pads can
get by with fewer Towers this makes sure that a lightning strike will miss the launch vehicle and
instead strike one of the towers on top of each Tower are cylindrical masts that are also referred
to as candlesticks which serve as insulators a stainless steel wire extends from the inside
of each pole all the way to the ground safely diverting lightning away from the spacecraft
to further insulate and protect the rocket all towers are linked together by Steel wires it
produces a special kind of Faraday cage that guards the car against both a direct lightning
strike and the potentially harmful electromagnetic field that lightning produces what is a faraday
cage an enclosure known as a faraday cage protects an object from the electromagnetic
field produced by another thing or circumstance it comprises a covering composed of materials
that carry electricity that completely envelopes an object it might completely contain an object or
as in the case of the first Faraday cage so named after its creator Michael Faraday it can simply
be a mesh of metal wiring that is encircling the object the cage slash Shield is conductive so when
an electrical current contacts it it is equally spread over the outside of the enclosure without
entering or damaging anything within they are frequently employed as a form of electromagnetic
radiation protection for both persons and objects against microwaves and radio waves it is used to
protect spacecraft from the electromagnetic fields produced by lightning at rocket launch
sites meanwhile SpaceX launches three satellites to orbit on Sixth ever Falcon heavy mission on
Sunday April 30 SpaceX launched its powerful Falcon heavy rocket for the sixth time in
history placing three satellites in a far-off geostationary orbit at 8 26 PM eastern time on
Sunday the Falcon heavy launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying three satellites
into orbit after a last minute cancellation on April 28 and days of weather-related delays the
reason behind the abort was not disclosed by SpaceX the three satellites were deployed as
planned over a 13-minute period beginning about 4.5 hours after liftoff SpaceX reported through
Twitter early Monday morning Sunday's mission was lengthy but successful Vias had three Americas a
Broadband satellite weighing 14 000 pounds and being managed by the california-based
business ViaSat was the main payload on Sunday's flight during the company's launch webcast SpaceX
propulsion engineer Atticus vedera said shortly before liftoff that ViaSat 3 is expected to be
the world's highest capacity satellite and will be the largest all-electric satellite ever launched
Arcturus a communication satellite that will be run by astronus space Technologies a San
francisco-based company was the second satellite to launch on Sunday everydayastronaut.com stated
in a mission description for Arcturus that despite only weighing 300 kg the mighty
Communications satellite has the ability to provide data throughput up to 7.5 gbps for
Alaska and the surrounding region gs1 a cubesat that will be run by the washington-based gravity
space was the third payload although it will perform some other tasks in orbit
as well the main objective of gs1 is to provide Communications for internet of things applications
according to a description of the Satellite by gravity space the satellite has three wideband
frequency bands and is also intended to offer orbital slot reservation services around the
geosynchronous Arc the spacecraft will also be equipped with imaging equipment that can capture
images of the earth and other celestial bodies in addition to an experimental Rendezvous and docking
payload the Falcon heavy is made up of three first stages of spacex's reliable Falcon 9 rocket that
have been fastened together an upper stage and the payloads are placed on top of the central booster
with a memorable test flight in February 2018 Elon Musk the founder and CEO of SpaceX launched his
red Tesla Roadster around the sun while Starman a mannequin wearing a spacesuit was at the wheel
since then the powerful rocket has taken to the air five more times twice of which occurred in
2023 the other Mission this year was designated as usf-67 which was a mission for the U.S that
January launch of the space force the first stage boosters on the Falcon Heavy's three stages are
intended to be reused however none of the boosters were recovered on Sunday's Mission because they
were unable to safely maneuver back to Earth for a vertical touchdown after launching such a large
payload to such a far-off orbit due to a lack of fuel about 22 200 miles from Earth geostationary
orbit is located the Falcon heavy held the title of spacex's strongest rocket for over five years
however the company's enormous Starship spacecraft claimed that honor with its first liftoff on April
20. this test flight reached a maximum altitude of 24 miles and for safety reasons it was terminated
with a controlled explosion over the Gulf of Mexico 33 first stage Raptor engines on Starship
produce 16.7 million pounds of thrust at launch according to SpaceX that is nearly twice as much
as NASA's space launch system Mega rocket which came in second place and more than three times as
much as the Falcon Heavy after a dramatic debut launch what comes next for spacex's Starship the
world's most powerful rocket has launched in Texas but the effort to clean it up and prepare for the
next one to launch in a few months is already underway just over a week ago SpaceX owned by
Elon Musk successfully launched its fully loaded Starship for the first time Starship a rocket
of unprecedented size flew for more than three minutes and achieved several Milestones but it
also lost multiple engines during launch seriously damaged the ground's infrastructure and ultimately
failed to reach Leo after the rocket started to Tumble and was intentionally blown in the air
Bill Nelson the administrator of NASA stated on Thursday before the house committee on science
space and technology that SpaceX blew a hole in that launch pad a second Starship rocket launch
is anticipated by the company as early as June or July but the timing will rely on a number of
things such as repair work regulatory approval and the Readiness of its upcoming prototype it's
possible that the difficult cleanup will be the biggest obstacle to a second launch attempt the
launch pad cleanup and infrastructure damage assessment processes were started by SpaceX
shortly after the launch photos captured by onlookers depict the horrific aftermath of the
super heavy boosters engines which dug a crater into the ground and smashed debris into the launch
Tower surrounding tanks and other ground apparatus NASA Chief Nelson provided lawmakers with the most
recent information on the company's timeline for getting back in the air on Thursday I have asked
so I can report to you that as of today SpaceX is still saying that they think it will take
at least two months to rebuild the launch pad and concurrently about two months to have their second
vehicle ready to launch Nelson said the success of Starship is important to NASA which awarded SpaceX
a roughly three billion dollar contract in 2021 to use the rocket to put astronauts on the moon
as part of the Artemis Mission before the flight SpaceX management made it clear several times that
a success for the company's debut launch would be avoiding launch pad explosions even nevertheless
damage was done to the infrastructure musk expressed concern about the Rocket's potential
for seriously damaging the mount that supports it before launch in a series of tweets sent out after
the flight he also noted that the concrete launch pad his company had constructed had sustained
substantial damage the rebar is the only thing that remains of the concrete lateral support beam
stated musk SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speculated that the force of the engines when they throttled up
may have shattered the concrete rather than just eroding it adding that it was still early in the
company's analysis when SpaceX briefly tested the booster's 33 Raptor engines before the launch musk
said the engines were only at half thrust which prevented tearing a hole in the ground beforehand
one possible fix according to musk is that SpaceX is building a massive water cooled steel plate to
go under the launch Mount he said that the plate was not ready in time for the initial attempt
and acknowledged that the business wrongly thought that the launch would be supported by the concrete
the Federal Aviation administration's launch license for SpaceX was the final long-awaited
step needed to fly Starship thus the regulator's investigation into the first flight will have a
significant impact on the second trip the FAA who is in fact the principal Federal regulator of the
SpaceX rocket program conducted investigations after the Starship test flight AS is customary
in the case of a launch anomaly such as this mid-air explosion the FAA launched an inquiry into
its flight and its consequences future Starship flights will not be allowed to take place unless
the investigation is finished and SpaceX is given the all clear to operate under the license the
regulator granted the company earlier this month the FAA stated in a statement on April 20 the day
of starship's launch and subsequent explosion that a return to Flight of the Starship super
heavy vehicle is based on the FAA determining that any system process or procedure related to
the mishap does not affect Public Safety further more the U.S fish and wildlife service revealed
this week that the Starship launch caused a 3.5 acre fire on property owned by Texas's
Boca Chica State Park the local Refuge lands are a habitat for endangered species and the FWS did
not discover any dead Wildlife there however they did discover that the Rocket's destructive
force hurled concrete and metal thousands of feet away and produced a cloud of dust and pulverized
concrete that fell as far as 6.5 miles from the launch site the production process for a second
Starship prototype is one component of spacex's second attempt that is already fully in place the
company has been steadily expanding its star base facility over the past few years the company was
supposed to conduct the first Starship and super heavy booster flight as early as summer 2021.
however president and Chief Operating Officer Gwen Shotwell recently said that the initial flight was
delayed in part since the company was focused on developing the production systems that will build
the ship it is clear that SpaceX has up to 10 additional Starship prototypes in various stages
of assembly as well as up to seven more super heavy boosters thanks to the several enthusiasts
who live stream every minute of the company's operations in South Texas the company's approach
to Rocket development differs from that of the space agency Nelson bragged before members of
Congress Now understand that the explosion in the way SpaceX operates is not a significant setback
they have a lot of those Rockets ready to launch and that is how they operate they launch figure
out what went wrong then they go back and launch it again Nelson said they are Hardware Rich which
means that they have a lot of those Rockets ready to go spacex's schedule for the upcoming Starship
flight is probably going to vary and adapt as with any rocket development program especially
the biggest ever put together on the other hand a self-destruct command was not promptly complied
with by spacex's Starship Elon Musk provided further information about what went wrong with
the first launch of the Starship rocket and super heavy booster in April during an audio chat on
Twitter on Saturday the self-destruct setting takes 40 seconds to activate which may not seem
like a long time but consider how anxious you are that the enormous rocket you just launched won't
explode before it touches down on the ground the rocket end booster successfully launched from the
launch pad but they were unable to separate from one another flipping several times before finally
exploding and that ends today's episode please subscribe and don't forget to like today's video
we'll see you in the next video thank you so much for watching