Kind thanks go to Surfshark VPN for sponsoring todays episode!
What are the improvements SpaceX will have to make for their next Starship after SN10 and what does Elon Musk have in store for the future of
Boca Chica and our plans to colonize Mars?
Let’s find out!
My name is Felix, and I am your host for today’s episode of What about it!?
And as always, there’s been a lot going on in the space industry lately, so let’s dive right in!
Starship Updates
SpaceX did it! They landed the first Starship!
SN10. Well, technically speaking it was a failed recovery as the Starship did not survive after all,
but none the less it stayed in one piece at touch down.
This is Cosmic Perspective’s view of what happened on March 3rd at the SpaceX south Texas launch site.
It can only be described as a sci-fi like experience.
SN10 accomplished, what no other Starship has done so far.
It touched down in one piece. The reasons for it coming down hard were explained by Musk a few days later.
Thrust was low despite being commanded high for reasons unknown.
Musk said that this was a problem they never had before.
I said it a couple of times on my Starship number 10 live stream as well.
Each flight reveals different problems at the moment.
And on each successive flight those problems are being fixed.
That’s what prototyping is all about.
And just because SpaceX fixed the last problem, that doesn’t mean that the next flight will be perfect.
The Improvements for the next flight?
A minimum of two engines all the way to the ground and restart engine 3 if engine 1 or 2 have issues.
Sounds like a good plan until the Raptor engines become more reliable.
What can also be seen in Cosmic Perspective’s footage is that at least two of the legs didn’t deploy properly.
The current version of the Starship leg design is a flip out system.
They are dropped down likely just by gravity and lock in place once they touch the underside of the engine skirt.
On Starship SN10 though at least two of the legs can be seen dangling around before touch down.
So, they didn’t lock into place.
This might just have been due to the high speed the Starship still had prior to touching down.
Air was blowing against the legs preventing them from reaching the underside of the skirt to properly lock into landing position.
Being asked on Twitter, if the landing would have worked out, had the legs properly deployed,
Elon Musk replied that the speed was way past the maximum load the legs could take.
They got squashed hard.
And then, 8 Minutes and 23 seconds after touching down this happened.
There are some undisclosed sources saying that this was a triggered flight termination system.
Others are saying that it might just have been a ruptured engine or aft dome, slowly leaking methane, causing the explosion.
SpaceX never gave an official explanation.
RIP SN10, Honorable Discharge.
That’s all we got from Mr. Musk.
RGV Aerial Photography’s Mauricio was in his plane the next day, taking some priceless pictures of the aftermath.
Become a flight supporter on Patreon to make his next flight easier!
Here you can see Starship Number 10 laying on the new pad after the explosion.
The blast berms surrounding the landing pad did well again,
protecting the surrounding infrastructure and construction site from any possible damage.
They’re just made of dirt and most of the debris that wants to fly away is being stopped before it can hit anything more important.
SpaceX did decide to move SN11 after the SN10 launch though.
The close up shot of the pad shows at least some marks left by Starship number 10 on the pad and cracks can be seen on the freshly painted logo
in the center. After Starship SN8 and 9 SpaceX needed to fix the pad.
Before SN10 though they added an extra layer of concrete to make it more durable.
In the official camera view we can see that it almost hit the pad dead center and right at the moment of touch down the bounce from the hard landing
can be observed. The nose tip is slightly going up again.
This shows, how much force the prototype had to take.
As always after these kinds of tests SpaceX is not stopping for a second though.
Constantly working to improve the design other prototypes are already waiting to be tested.
And SpaceX got ready to receive the next brave candidate for how to land a Starship take 4. Tankzilla arrived at the launch site.
It’s SpaceX’s heavy lifter responsible for stacking Starships on top of the two test pads.
And shortly after we saw the roll out of Starship number 11 from the construction site to the launch site.
Being accompanied by a carcade the prototype made its way down to the pad.
Everything is ready for the next test campaign only 5 days after the last test flight.
Normally we only get these shots from Elon Musk himself.
Starship 11 as seen close up. This one though is a render done by Neopork.
The details he crafts into his models are out of this world and dead accurate.
Every little bit is depicted absolutely as it would appear on the real deal.
Go visit his Patreon page and give his work a little push!
He deserves it! A link can be found in the description.
Here we can see close up, how much design work has already gone into the program.
The prototypes are becoming more and more complex with each design iteration.
And this is just what we can see right now at the South Texas Launch site.
What is SpaceX going to do next?
What comes after Starship number 11 and are they already working on the crewed versions of later Starships?
Let’s find out together!
If you are not a Patreon or Youtube member yet, consider supporting the channel!
Awesome perks, like our thriving Discord server, ad-free previews of episodes, and your chance to talk to the team and me included.
Starship Future Plans
The Starship development program has grown larger and larger over time.
The end goal is to send humans to Mars and beyond and for this a lot more is going to be needed.
A first step will be Dear Moon.
A privately funded Moon mission to send 10 to 12 people around the Moon in 2023 breaking the current human flight distance record in the course.
Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese entrepreneur has formed an alliance with Elon Musk and SpaceX to make it happen.
Recently opened to the public, anyone can apply to become one of the lucky passengers to embark on a journey of truly epic scale.
On the recently redesigned website more details about a possible final design for SpaceX’s Starship can be found.
At first glance, it looks the same as the concepts we’ve already seen, but if we take a closer look, there are quite a few differences.
Design ideas that have been added by SpaceX in the last 2 years.
The heat shield covers more than half the hull.
I received some exclusive pictures from Neopork depicting the new heat shield design.
This is what a Neopork work in progress looks like and they have not been released into the wild yet.
Here you can see, how much further the heat tiles extend than previously thought.
Starships will have a truly gigantic heat shield to protect them from the immense amounts of heat created during a reentry from interplanetary
return trajectories. Speeds are much higher when coming from outer space.
Much more than for example a Crew Dragon has to face.
The large panoramic window is smaller and has a different shape.
There are fewer cabin windows.
And last but not least leg pods can be seen on the Starship.
Ones we’ve not seen like this before.
ErcXspace has taken the time and made some high detail pictures of what can be seen on the SpaceX renders.
Flat pods on the outside of the hull with a black surface in the center.
Musk has stated several times that the new Starship legs still in the design process will be much larger flip out legs that provide a wider stance
and auto leveling capability for uneven surfaces on Moon and Mars.
But how will they work? Erik Didn’t stop with one render.
He brainstormed and came up with three possible ways these legs could work.
Option number one would be the simple way.
Straight down. The legs just extend downwards and lock into position.
This would give the Starship auto leveling capability, but it wouldn’t increase the width of the stance.
Option number 2 would be another obvious one.
Why not take the Falcon design approach and make them flip out.
This would widen the stance and give the Starship at least limited auto leveling capability.
Limited, because the legs would have to slide on the ground to make the Starship adjust and that can be dangerous,
if the leg is blocked by a rock or a similar object.
Option number 3 would be a hybrid of the two.
They extend out of the pods and then down.
This would widen the stance and provide excellent shock absorption and auto leveling capability.
It’s of course impossible to say if this is, what SpaceX will go with on the final design,
but the dear Moon renders gave us a first clue in a long time as to what direction SpaceX might be heading towards.
What do you think? Which concept is your favorite?
As always tell me in the comments!
What ever it will look like in the end, this mission will break records on all fronts.
First Private mission to the Moon and longest distance ever traveled by a human taking the crew beyond the lunar orbit.
And SpaceX wants to make it happen by 2023.
Being interviewed for the new Dear Moon Commercial, Elon Musk stated the following.
“Yes,
I'm highly confident that we will have reached orbit many times with Starship before 2023 and that it will be safe enough for human transport
by 2023. It’s looking very promising.
To turn this into reality, SpaceX is going all out on every front.
SpaceX is hiring a Human Factors Engineer for Hawthorne, California.
He will be responsible for flight crew requirements and to implement these into the design of Starships.
Interfaces, Workspace layout, ergonomics, usability.
SpaceX is getting ready to flesh out the internals of a crewed Starship right now.
To make all this happen, SpaceX is also extending the footprint of their South Texas Launch site.
On March 4th SpaceX finally published their proposal to modify the South Texas Launch Site.
I had been talking about this on several episodes already and now here is the latest and most official update out there.
Overlaying it onto one of Mauricio’s awesome aerial shots we get a better idea of what is going to happen.
As said on Episode 150 we are indeed going to see two orbital launch pads and two integration and support structures next to them.
Both of them towering almost 140 meters tall into the Boca Chica sky.
We will have an on site air separation unit to be able to produce liquid oxygen.
Right below the two current test pads SpaceX will build yet another structural test stand similar to the one they’re already using for Test Tank
7.2 at the moment. Right above that the existing tank farm for the suborbital pads will even be extended.
Two storm water ponds will be dug out.
One next to the suborbital test pads and one next to the orbital ones.
There will be a second landing pad to add the capability of having a booster and a Starship return to the site.
And next to the second pad SpaceX will erect another large fuel farm to support the second orbital launch mount.
This site will change a lot in the near future.
And to support all this SpaceX seems to make a little upgrade to Boca Chica Village.
Musk recently tweeted this. Creating the city of Starbase, Texas.
Of course as so often it’s unknown as to what exactly Musk meant by this, but there are a few signs pointing towards a development in Boca Chica.
The village has constantly been upgraded more and more.
Houses have extensively been renovated.
The road leading towards the village has been upgraded more and more and now it looks like SpaceX wants to extend it further down.
At the same time next to it land is being prepared for buildings.
Is this Starbase City?
SpaceX is working fast towards several huge goals.
Testing Starships and soon Super Heavy boosters.
Booster number 1 seen next to Starship number 11 in the high bay.
Steadily growing and soon ready for first pressure tests.
Here we have another wonderful picture from Mary for Nasa Spaceflight and it shows the leg skirt of Starship number 18.
Here’s another one showing the leg skirt for Starship Number 20.
What kinds of changes will these block 5 prototypes incorporate?
Will they go to orbit already?
One thing is for sure though. We won’t have to wait for long.
Musk setting the goal of having many orbital flights before 2023 underlines SpaceX’s determination to get done with early testing rather soon.
Now let’s have a look at today’s sponsor and don’t click away just yet.
The deal is actually pretty sweet.
Whether it’s data & identity theft, traceability, intrusive advertising or geo blocking.
Surfshark VPN encrypts your data and enables you to change your virtual location.
Have you ever been greeted with a message, that this site or video is not available in your country?
Streaming services like Netflix or Disney+ for example have vastly different libraries in different countries!
Surfshark makes you outsmart them easily by removing the so-called geo block from your account.
Just activate your VPN, change your virtual location, refresh the page and you’re good to go for countless more Netflix evenings!
Use my code to get 83% off plus 3 extra months for free and at the same time support What about it!?
Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so there’s no risk.
Surf with your own set of rules.
Link is in the description.
Today’s Supporter Shout out goes to OneManHorde, Phits Souvanna, Albert Bishop, Joe Digiorgio, John Young, 1shurt1, Mario Krebs,
Becky Faber, Patrick Hannes, Barry Cook, FY_Daydreams, Mort Winslow, Tim Schaller, DetestedCorn, Adarious Mistdancer, MartyTheTrex,
Ian Snape, MaBMaN, Sorviqon, Nick Kinzer, Thomas Iwancio, Harold Gretzky, Fredrik Liljeström, Andrew Dodds, Mike Lagerman, John Craft,
Sean Devine, Corrie Murguia, MarS, Dirk Siegel and many others!
You Rock! Without you and all the other supporters What about it would not be possible.
Thank you for your support, enjoy today’s ad-free release and remember to join us on the WAI Discord server!
I am looking forward to thanking you in person!
Today’s team shout out goes to the live stream crew.
On our Starship number 10 live stream we had over 1 million views in almost 10 hours and the reason, why I got all your questions,
super chats and tweets. All the information about what’s going on and all the moderation on the chat was a very tough crew of team members.
They went through together with me and you and they kept the stream going!
Thank you so much for all your help!
Without you, those streams would look very different!
You Rock!