Boca Chica, in south Texas, is the location for everything related to SpaceX starship
development, testing, and space exploration venture.
It's a spot that stands apart from the rest of Texas, and, should we say, the rest of
the world.
Elon Musk and SpaceX opted to use this area to isolate the firm from the main metropolis
in order to prevent industrial pollution and any risks that may endanger human health and
freedom.
It's not that the SpaceX corporate starbase doesn't have a community; it does, but just
a few people live nearby.
Engineer Elon Musk gave a two-hour tour of the starbase facility, where everything about
the starship rocket is built.
Musk took a tour around starbase with an American science communicator and a youtuber known
as everyday astronaunt, Tim Dodd.
We will share everything Elon Musk showed Tim Dodd, on their visit of SpaceX's Boca
Chica starbase in this video.
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Musk and Tim covered roughly four places throughout their tour around the company, and we'll go
over each one by one.
Without further ado, let us get down to the business of the day;
The video released by SpaceX shows numerous instances of the Starship, either within the
hangars and taken apart, or on the launch pad, and even in the air, doing the necessary
maneuvers or tests, to land safely.
It's nothing new, but it's a montage worth a short glance.
Brand new rocket facilities near a small beachfront community that has previously been uninterested
in all things space.
Hundreds of workers are hurrying around industrial locations in order to fulfill the most recent
deadlines.
Heavy machinery noises, radio chatter from hip-mounted radios, and trucks carefully traversing
potholed roads, evocative of the lunar landscape.
On launch days, there's even the rare explosion that shatters a test vehicle into a million
pieces.
All of these, may seem familiar to some, like a flashback to Florida's Space Coast in the
1960s, when thousands flocked to communities like Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral to help
bring the Apollo program to fruition.
However, this isn't Florida.
Musk and his teams are constructing, testing, and launching the Starship system, a two-stage
stainless steel spacecraft that will be the future of his company.
There are security guards and gates, but no one prevents interested visitors from walking
over to get a closer look at Starship and its Super Heavy booster, both of which stand
about 400 feet in height and were being assembled.
The anticipated 16 million pounds of liftoff force is more than double that of the classic
Saturn V rocket from the Apollo era.
Elon Musk and Tim, have stood in front of a taller booster 4 rocket as Musk discusses
the overall weight of the rocket.
According to Elon Musk, the super heavy rocket would undoubtedly use 29 to 33 raptor engines,
and there will be sensors hanging around it.
Musk showed Tim the pins dangling from the super heavy, explaining that the pins function
as hooks for points that will be picked up by the Mechazilla catcher.
Musk also stated that the 29 engines implanted beneath the booster 4 rocket weigh 59 tonnes,
while the fuel tank and oxygen tanks weigh 80 tonnes each.
Musk also adds that the upper portion of the booster 4 rocket, on which the first stage
starship is mounted, comprises grid fins and batteries weighing 20 tonnes.
Elon Musk, the space inventor, believes that the total weight of the rocket will be around
3,600 tonnes - this weight estimate is calculated after all of the components are completely
assembled on the starship and ready for liftoff.
Musk also discussed the electrically driven battery, which allows the grid fins to work
in two minutes during landing.
Musk referred to these batteries as "energy optimized" rather than "power optimized."
The CEO is pleased with the use of oxygen as the primary combustible fluid in the rocket,
since it is denser and less expensive, as well as in terms of enhancing payload and
lowering cost per ton.
The tour lasted one and a half minutes, from the clips of SpaceX's Starbase facility in
Texas, but more than enough time for most of us to get a sense of what the not-so-distant
future might look like.
Starbase is the name given by the private space company, to the little area near Boca
Chica from where the Starship prototypes were launched all year.
It's also where, according to SpaceX, the future exploration of Mars, with actual humans
transported there, will begin.
The region includes the Build Site, which is where Starships are assembled, and it consists
of three production tents, as they are known, many bays to test the final components, and
the launch complex, which has two launch sites for suborbital and orbital flight.
Elon will be remembered for generations to come.
What else would a man desired to live on earth for?
Is it not to be super wealthy, and be remembered of his deeds when he was alive?
Musk got it all.
He is enthusiastic about what he does.
Every other CEO on this planet earth, would wear a suit and tie and speak from behind
a desk.
He's just wearing a black t-shirt and talking like any other man in a pub with a friend.
His company is valued nearly billions of dollars, and he is working on a genuine means to travel
to Mars in a comfortable starship.
This he does so quickly, and he wanders around this base barking like a dog, as if it were
his backyard.
Amazingly simple but complex.
Thanks to Elon for being such a great man, no snob, doing rocket science with curiosity
and will, just like any other enthusiastic individual that loves his profession and has
everything running through his vains.
“This is definitely a very exciting time because we are in kind of a final push to
complete the launch system, Stage Zero, essentially,” Musk told Dodd.
From Musk’s intents, he needs people to understand that rocket design is not the hardest
part of the process.
He said; the most difficult hurdle is trying to manufacture each part in a cost-friendly
way.
According to his words; “Humanity will be a multi-planet species, if we get the cost
per ton to orbit to a point where we can afford to become a space race civilization and a
multiplanar species.”
The Starbase's toughest test, however, is still to come.
That will be the launch of the Orbital, the rocket's largest, meanest, and most capable
form, the one that will really attempt to reach space.
Dodd inquired about Musk's thoughts on the Starship's Thermal Protection System (TPS),
to which Musk replied, "we'll find out!"
He also stated that the TPS tiles had performed admirably throughout the sub-orbital flight
testing.
Each tile is mechanically fastened in such a way that it may move a tiny amount, without
being harmed.
During the expanding and contracting of the tank, and tiles during the temperature fluctuations,
fuelling, and reentry.
Starship's TPS tiles are now manufactured in "the Bakery" in Florida.
While not all of the tiles are uniform, SpaceX can mass produce them since they are mostly
the same shape and size, giving it a considerable advantage over the Space Shuttle's TPS system.
Most importantly, Musk stated that the tiles' lifespan has "no relevant limit."
Musk noted that the flap hinges are the most difficult sections of the starship to protect
from reentry heating.
It is difficult to ensure that hot plasma does not enter the hinges and harm the vehicle,
since the seal must not damage the tiles, while also surviving the heat of reentry;
this necessitates the use of a metal seal.
S20's dry mass with a complete heatshield will "ideally not be much more than 100 tonnes."
Musk stated that adding one tonne to the spacecraft reduces payload capacity by around two tonnes,
that is; after accounting for the additional mass and propellant required.
Now lets revisit’s Musk’s thoughts about the Starship Separation System and Attitude
Control:
Following Musk's five-step strategy, SpaceX has opted to eliminate the pushing separation
technology from Starship and instead depend on angular momentum conservation to separate
the stages.
Super Heavy will gimbal its engines just before main engine cutoff, causing the vehicle to
begin spinning.
The latches between the Starship and the Super Heavy will then be released, enabling the
spacecraft to float apart; this is identical to how SpaceX deploys the Starlink satellites.
This serves two purposes: one is to separates the stages, while also initiating the booster's
flip, which is required for the boost return burn.
In addition, SpaceX has decided to remove the dedicated hot gas thrusters from Super
Heavy.
To replace it, SpaceX will use the ullage gas from the tanks for attitude control via
four 90° apart vents.
They will be able to regulate the attitude of the booster during the flip by venting
the tanks through these valves.
This offers the advantage of utilizing ullage gas, which would otherwise have to be vented,
to perform valuable work on the vehicle.
Which departments of Starbase would you like to visit as spacex enthusiast?
Please do well to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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