this video is sponsored by brilliant hey hey  marcus house with you here and mad construction  

continues at spacex's starbase the drive for the  near orbital flight is clear with sn15 now with no  

chance of a reflight we have a lot of information  on the super heavy plumbing and development that  

will blow your mind another starlink launch and  protests of the network by via set to the fcc and  

virgin galactic celebrated a third successful  suborbital flight test this week as well

every single week we start off by talking  about the development of the largest and most  

powerful rocket ever created the starship and  super heavy stacked vessel in development right  

now collectively just known as starship is  spacex's game changer the story of falcon 9  

has been incredible so far with its iconic  booster landings that have amazed the world  

but this next vehicle being prototyped right now  aims to be the first fully reusable transportation  

system and it aims to be able to carry over 100  metric tons at a time into low earth orbit and  

beyond if successful this changes the game  entirely so it's not hard to see why this  

story has amassed the following that it has you  and many others like you have changed our world  

here tuning in every saturday to get up-to-date  information on this and other space news and we'd  

love exploring these topics with you this week  has been exciting spacex has begun the process of  

stacking what could become the first super heavy  booster capable of supporting orbital starship  

test flights the entire community is absolutely  pumped by this as shown right here by alex svan in  

his incredible new starship reentry video starship  number 20 could very well be the first starship to  

streak through the sky just like this by far  the largest controlled vehicle to ever do so  

the forces of re-entry and the for forward and  rear fin controls will be pushed to the extreme in  

this test the big question is how successful can  the re-entry be in the first attempt will it hold  

up to the searing re-entry forces time is going  to tell here and thank you so much there to alex  

for creating this masterpiece the link to the full  quality video with the audio is in the description  

and there will be much more dropping on twitter  from alex there very soon i'm sure the booster  

for this first mission is booster number three  or as it's more commonly known bn3 numerous  

sections have already been spotted at spacex's  starbase facility over the last six weeks or so  

and a substantial portion of that has  now been stacked including the common  

dome on the top of the upper sections of the  liquid oxygen tank this is now standing at 16  

rings high and we expect the full super heavy  booster to be around 38 rings tall once done  

spacex has also mostly completed bn3's engine  section including a thrust dome with plumbing  

cutouts for a full 28 or 29 raptor engine set now  last week we touched on a few initial renders by  

casper stanley well he has remained busy over  the last week and we now have this animation to  

share with you with a little bit of new plumbing  information and assumptions the entire full set  

of main lines has been added to the model both for  the liquid methane and the liquid oxygen each one  

of the wrapped engines is designed to have around  two mega newtons of thrust that is a tad over 200  

metric tons of force pushing upwards into the  thrust plate for one engine multiply that by  

the 28 or 29 wrapped engines that will be mounted  to the bottom of the super heavy and we have now  

well over 5 500 metric tons of force that will  lift the colossal starship and super heavy stack  

into the air now that is going to take a monstrous  amount of fuel and oxidizer to be pumped through  

all of that plumbing just look at this here  assuming 28 engines that is 56 connections to feed  

all of those colossal beasts and don't even get  us started on the autogenous pressurization lines  

that needs to also be run on top of all of this  that is going to be crazy stuff as you can see  

here the blue liquid oxygen lines are wider in  diameter as this is the same ratio that we see  

for the tanks the raptors of course consume much  more liquid oxygen than methane there has been  

confusion lately in the common threads from people  believing that the liquid methane is the tank  

at the bottom now that was the case for the  booster number one prototype and earlier this  

year it had been stacked to the full 70 meter  height interestingly though major design changes  

such as reversing the tank order meant that it  became more of a manufacturing pathfinder this was  

clarified again this week by elon musk the liquid  oxygen is three and a half times heavier than the  

liquid methane so it makes total sense to have  it on the bottom this is why all of these blue  

pipes in the animation are placed at the bottom  of the tank here now we're unsure if these lines  

need to reach right down to the bottom of the tank  like this or not because on booster landing only  

the central engines will essentially be active so  it could be that these extensions are not needed  

the bottom attachment to the downcomer for the  liquid methane was spotted by mary last week here  

and it gave a lot of great insight in how the flow  would be divided that is how casper has managed to  

so beautifully illustrate a possible set of green  lines that run from the many connections we see  

here these early shots are the best clues that we  get in understanding how this complex area of the  

super heavy will be developed we love it and we  certainly love the work of stanley creative here  

as well if you're not following casper on both  twitter and youtube do yourself a favor and fix  

that right now because there is a lot more of  this work coming your support of the community  

here always goes a long way and as we see booster  number three evolve into what we hope becomes the  

first booster to take flight this 3d work is going  to become reality very soon now we've also seen  

booster number two parts spotted all signs still  appear to indicate that this will be turned into  

a small test tank to qualify super heavy's complex  and unproven thrust dome understandably spacex are  

going to want to do various pressure and cryogenic  tests to ensure that it can handle all the insane  

forces that those raptor engines will throw at it  over the last few weeks a new mystery structure  

has been taking shape that i think relates to  this for previous starship tests we've seen  

spacex use these thrust ram structures to simulate  the raptor forces on the thrust domes but how are  

they going to test such a thing with this huge  super heavy dome rgv captured an interesting  

structure right here just check this out this  looks to be part of a super heavy thrust ram  

for the eight inner circle of raptors and then  a potential ninth thrust ram right there in the  

center if this is indeed a ninth ram this  somewhat confirms the previous speculation  

that there is a 29th raptor engine in the very  center of the thrust dome surrounded by the inner  

circle of 8 and then an outer circle of 20. by  using this structure as a 9 meter wide guide  

this mystery structure looks to be a good size  for the inner circle of super heavy raptors  

now starship number 15 which was the first full  scale prototype with fin controls to successfully  

fly and land had its flight three weeks ago early  in the week this incredible vessel underwent  

fin testing now we're unsure why they were doing  this perhaps simply verifying that there was no  

damage and that these systems would be okay again  for further flights elon musk had raised the idea  

of a potential brief flight shortly after its  landing however that is now not the case the  

main concern is that another test of the same  vehicle would cause delays to the orbital launch  

site construction which is now the central  focus of the star based team instead we saw  

a self-propelled modular transporter moved to the  launch site on monday the 24th of may on tuesday  

afternoon the new lr11000 crane was connected to  sn15 to lift the vehicle off the launch stand and  

onto the transporter it is now expected that sn15  is to be moved to a display stand and turned into  

a monument now personally i'd love it to remain  around for this purpose so i like this idea as it  

was the first to completely stick the landing and  survive i think that it's quite a fitting end for  

that prototype instead of being potentially lost  in another flight attempt i think it's fair to say  

that another flight as well may not really have  added a great deal more value to spacex anyway  

while we are on the subject of the orbital  launch site an elevator was lifted and installed  

for workers to ascend the orbital launch  integration tower this is going to be very handy  

as the tower is stacked into the sky around midday  on monday the massive lr11 350 crawler crane  

picked up this jig which was then used to lift  the second section of the integration tower on top  

of the base segment already there just a few  days later on friday the 28th up went the third  

section this tower is going to rise into the sky  very quickly so what has been going on with the  

tank building this week we had starship gazer  on twitter spotting this section here initially  

thought to be sn21's common dome due to a label  on the side however shortly after bokeh chicago  

with nasa spaceflight captured a higher quality  view of this label on the dome and interestingly  

it can be seen that the writing sn21 common  was crossed out and replaced with gse5 forward  

implying that a once sn21 section has since been  reassigned to the fifth ground service equipment  

tank for the orbital tank farm thanks as always  mary for having that continual and incredible  

knack for being in the right place at the right  time so yes this further implies that spacex's  

main focus at the moment is that first orbital  flight attempt which includes manufacturing all  

gse tanks for the orbital launch site instead  of focusing on vehicles beyond starship 20 and  

booster number three regarding those gse tanks  brendan lewis has begun posting diagrams for the  

status of each of these from this we can see  that gse 1 and 2 are already at the orbital  

launch pad and are actually two rings taller than  the tank 3 and 4. gse tank 3 stacking has already  

been completed and it's awaiting its move to the  launch site whereas gse tank 4 is still in the mid  

bay in two sections with its aft dome to be mated  lastly is gse tank five which has three sections  

so far with the placement of each scene here it's  believed that another two of these tanks will be  

built and transported to bring the total to seven  and then we have the eighth larger water tank here  

which will complete the fuel farm we should also  see the first cryo shell structure to be put into  

action soon too as this was moved around the  same time as the stacking of the third tower  

section now right next to those gse tanks we have  new updates courtesy of rgv aerial photography  

again that brilliant work by marucio that you the  community generously support has led us to see the  

bigger picture these foundations that we touched  on last week are actually to mount these heat  

exchangers as shown here in the 3d model by obl  these foundations on the opposite side are still  

being set but we are thinking that there could  be up to eight of these heat exchangers to be  

installed in total there has just been so much to  cover at starbase and there is plenty more to come  

this week on wednesday the 26th of may we also  had another falcon 9 launch with the next set of  

starling satellites this was the second flight  of booster 1063 with the first flight being the  

sentinel 6 mission last november we didn't get to  see that uninterrupted landing footage as we did  

with the previous mission but all the same the  85th successful landing on the drone ship just  

read the instruction was made right here we then  saw another set of 60 styling satellites released  

which interestingly finishes off that first  orbital shell once this final set is in place  

that should allow spacex to provide service for  around eighty percent of the world i believe  

the current plan is for there to be another  four separate shells which should begin to  

gradually increase performance and coverage  as the entire network keeps rolling out  

now speaking of starlink it was reported just  days ago that the satellite operator viasat has  

made requests to the fcc asking them to deny  spacex from launching further styling missions  

the reason is because they would like a new  environmental review done the fcc had already  

given the green light a long time back approving  close to four and a half thousand satellites that  

constellation plan requested one thousand five  hundred and eighty four satellites to be placed at  

a 550 kilometer altitude the remainder originally  would then be placed in higher orbits between 1  

100 kilometers and 1 300 kilometers here is the  thing though just last month in april 2021 the fcc  

also approved the request by spacex to modify  that license wanting to instead take all of  

the satellites originally planned for the  higher orbits and placing them in a similar  

550 kilometer orbit as well as far as we know  right now the fcc has pretty much dismissed this  

appeal already saying that i'm sure that we  haven't heard the last about these appeals  

now viasat is in the process of rolling out their  viasat 3 project which will be at the much higher  

altitude in geostationary orbit which is close  to 36 000 kilometers in altitude the big reason  

that the idea of starlink is a game changer is  precisely due to the much lower communication  

time so spacex has a massive advantage with the  constellation at this lower 550 kilometer altitude  

in fact viasat is currently targeting the first of  the three to launch in early 2022 and then it will  

take at least several more months for testing and  placing it into full service interestingly one of  

the launches is still planned i think for a falcon  heavy mission with the other two being launched by  

ariane space and united launch alliance i think  the main issue here is that by the time the first  

viasat satellite is in service starlings network  will be serving many countries of the world with a  

comparatively much lower latency just as a side  note here as well for those that are not aware  

jim bridenstine who was of course nasa's previous  administrator has since joined the board of  

directors at vyasat and he has previously voiced  his own concerns about the sustainability of mega  

constellations such as starlink so it's certainly  going to be interesting to see if these protests  

go much further virgin galactic celebrated a third  successful suborbital test flight this past week  

on may the 22nd we'll talk more about that in a  second but first a massive thank you to brilliant  

for their support of this video and the entire  channel brilliant has given us the ability to  

spend a lot more time in research and editing over  the course of many videos that has been incredibly  

beneficial not just for us here scripting and  editing the content but also for you there that  

love what we create and release each and every  saturday if you don't know what brilliant is it  

is a wonderful service that unlocks the ability  to see math and science in a new way that fits  

extremely well with the topics that we cover here  every video we love rocket science and the math  

involved in creating the technology that we cover  and there is plenty of this course material right  

here from getting a basic understanding of gravity  right through to complex orbits the course content  

and daily challenges helps you not only see many  of these fascinating concepts visually but also to  

interact with them all of the courses are crafted  by award-winning teachers and professionals that  

design all of these lessons with active learning  in mind there are no tests and no grades you just  

select any topic that seems interesting to you and  jump right into it if you are naturally curious  

and you want to build up those problem-solving  skills then consider checking out brilliant by  

supporting them you are supporting us here so if  you'd like to give it a try head to brilliant.org  

marcus house the first 200 people will get 20  off the first year of brilliant premium the link  

is in the description below so yes virgin galactic  has just had its third successful sub-orbital test  

taking off from its new home at spaceport america  in new mexico vss unity was carried aloft by eve  

it's custom-built carrier aircraft once at  its designated altitude unity was released  

with its two crew members now accelerating away  at a blistering speed reaching over three and a  

half times the speed of sound pulling roughly  3.5 g's in the process some spectacular views  

on ascent here with the engine shut down just over  a minute later then silence and time to just take  

it all in unity continued upwards  to its apogee of 55.45 miles or just  

over 88 kilometers and that is enough for the  crew to earn their commercial astronaut wings  

the federal aviation administration recognises  flights above 50 miles or 80 kilometers for crew  

of privately funded spacecraft with such an award  these different astronaut wings awarded by nasa  

follow the internationally accepted altitude of 62  miles or 100 kilometers which is one of the next  

targets for virgin galactic certainly a unique  experience here but one that comes with a quarter  

of a million dollar price tag for now not quite  the bulk space tourism for everybody at present  

but perhaps one day with more spacecraft the price  will come down with this quick trip it was time to  

head for home and a safe landing back at spaceport  america so what's next for 2021 for virgin  

galactic if things continue to go to plan the  next flight will be with four employees this time  

testing interior features of the cabin following  that a trip with sir richard branson is going to  

occur so no pressure there for the crew just to  round the year out the italian space force have  

kicked in two million dollars to send some payload  specialists along for microgravity research that  

will have to be some very quick testing there so  yes what do you think of the whole space tourism  

scene and suborbital flights let me know what you  think below soon we may well see blue origin join  

in with their paying customers it certainly makes  for interesting times in the new era of commercial  

space travel so there we go you are all caught up  for the week if you have a second to help support  

what we do here by liking sharing and subscribing  to the channel that would be most awesome of you  

and also i am delighted to finally announce that  we have our brand new merch store finally open  

which includes this shirt right here along  with many others you should see a few sample  

options right below remember as well that we are  huge supporters of the transition to electric  

vehicles here on the channel and our partner ev  offers the ability to hire an electric vehicle in  

australia perhaps you have wanted to take an  extended test drive you could be touring the  

country and want to drive around in a tesla  if that sounds appealing to you you can use  

the link in the description for a discount thank  you to our amazing patrons as well your support  

contributes significantly every week to the  frequency and the quality of everything we do  

and it allows us to increase the time that we can  collectively spend in research editing and quality  

control if you like what we're doing and you'd  like to help assist us with what we do you can  

join up as a youtube member via the join button  below or you can become a patron at patreon.com  

marcus house either of those options gives you  access to chat with us more directly by the  

linked roles on our discord server you can also  have your name listed right here like these other  

amazing people and you also get earlier and ad  free access to the videos to watch before anyone  

else big thanks especially to the production crew  and the quality control squad here for helping me  

research and proof the material in these videos  if you are interested in these topics and you  

would like to keep up to date as well remember to  follow here below and on twitter at marcus house  

in the tile in the bottom left today we have  my video from last week in the top right is my  

latest video and in the bottom right content  that youtube has selected from this channel  

just for you thank you everyone for watching  and we'll see you all in the next video