NASA's Concerns with SpaceX Starship Delay, CRS-28 and ULA Vulcan Test Fire

hey hey Marcus house with you here Starbase Texas never sleeps and this week is certainly no exception you don't want to miss all the great insights that we've picked up this week we had the amazing commercial resupply Mission with an interesting twist a spacewalk to install a little of what was delivered more starlink version 2 minis Taking Flight and a bunch of real cool stuff at the end of this video so stick around the ladder now Starbase Texas is an absolute blast to observe it's like a sci-fi movie set but this is all happening in real life in front of your very eyes SpaceX here is rapidly prototyping this living breathing Spaceport always bustling with activity it's a real playground for space nerds like us that is for sure you can witness jaw-dropping static fires foreign rocket launchers and all of the engineering in between during that epic Starship flight test you may recall that there was a bunch of damage caused by concrete and debris hitting these huge vertical tanks it may not initially look like it but there has been a lot of work happening with these early hints already started to appear late last week where the workers welded on these attachment points to one of the repurposed water tanks soon after that they added on the straps yep there we go that's quite the interesting way to remove the buckles isn't it do remember that all of the damage that we can see here is on the outer shells on the inside we assume that the inner tanks are A-Okay we'd be seeing a lot more extensive work if that wasn't the case they then repeated this process a few more times and well compared this shot of the tank last week to just a few days ago and I would say that that's at least an improvement now obviously as the Rings have been bent and aren't fully straightened out the structural Integrity of the shell isn't wonderful well SpaceX took a janky step forward to solve this problem simply adding some angled profiles to the shells to improve that Integrity I guess we can think of those as having a similar purpose as the string is on the Rockets so this was one of the converted water tanks which at one point was a methane tank as a quick refresher this is the tank configuration as it currently stands this old water tank here is dead simply being left there probably as a barrier and then the two on the right were converted to water tanks instead all of the methane of course was moved into all these seven horizontal tanks liquid nitrogen is in the bottom two Central vertical tanks and the other three steel liquid oxygen the worst of those hit was this one in the back corner and SpaceX has been hard at work patching that one up of course Elon Musk did indicate that they were going to replace the majority of these big vertical tanks with horizontal ones and some of the foundation work for those is rapidly continuing interestingly you may recall I mentioned in the previous video that there was no cryogenics left in the tank farm well that is no longer the case SpaceX has just started to take delivery of many loads of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen and not just a few either more than 10 tankers a day on average has been rolling in and out and big thanks to vix for tracking those deliveries now there is only one reason to be loading the vertical tanks right back up again yep you guessed it this is all to prepare for the booster testing and the second Starship test flight what about deliveries of liquid methane though well there's a very good reason that SpaceX is yet to order those tankers in unlike the nitrogen and oxygen offload points directly off Highway 4 here the methane offload points are where The Landing Pad used to be with the tank farm expanding off in that direction obviously those offload points are going to need to be moved out of the way interestingly right where those offload points used to be two New Foundation points have appeared most likely that is for another methane tank that's probably so that SpaceX can have more fuel on hand just in case they need to scrub a launch it would save them from having to rush to make quite so many last minute deliveries like we saw previously the old offload points are still in place right here and they can't stay that way so we're going to see all this reconfigured soon with what looks to be foundations for a lot more horizontal storage tanks being worked on I wouldn't be surprised if this building is taken down at least partially so that they can offload the methane from the roadside just like the other propellants perhaps we'll even see them relocate the main entrance to the launch site closer towards the legendary star Hopper the assembly for the water Deluge system continues more pipes for it were moved over including this y-shaped piece beneath the orbital launch mount a concrete pump has been actively pouring concrete directly onto the pilings presumably to create a mud slab this slab is just a thin layer of concrete with no reinforcements designed to facilitate convenient access for the workers during the construction of the rebar Foundation now let's talk about the suborbital side of the facility ship 25 is still chilling away there on suborbital pad B but hey exciting news just this week it finally got unhooked from the SpaceX crane you know what that means it is a clear sign that the internal tank work has been completed before the Epic static fire campaign Can You Feel the anticipation building up I don't know about you but I am absolutely stoked to witness some fiery action once again so if you thought that the action over at the launch site was packed this week the build site has been absolute Mayhem let's start off at the Sanchez area at the new inventory tent over the last few weeks Starship geyser has managed to get some very sneaky Peaks inside showing what looks to be some more water Deluge plates it makes a lot of sense to work on them here rather than needing to put up thrown together tents and tarps to Shield the workers from the wind but how would those huge plates be moved out of this tent especially given that its biggest access door is through these semi-trailer docks well he captured workers removing the outer layer as well as the insulation on one of the ends onto the ring yard and The Bays close by last weekend booster 11's methane section was moved in the mega Bay and stacked on top of the liquid oxygen section that completes the booster's main structure which is amazing and just hours after that the first two sections of booster 12 rolled straight in it's common Dome and one of the liquid oxygen tank sections was moved inside and there you have it the stacking of boosted 12 had started and soon after stacked again to a height of 12 rings more ship work in the high Bay with ship 29 stacked onto its thrust section and that completes the main body of yet another ship that production rate of all of these prototypes is simply mind-boggling isn't it uh SpaceX stocking these up in advance so that they can increase efforts on the star Factory expansion or is this simply the beginning of a more permanent production rate increase the vehicles let me know what you think now this week SpaceX started with what can only be described as a mass Exodus of nose cones out of tant 3. I suspect this is an indication that the tent is being cleared out for the upcoming further expansions of the star Factory but that remains to be seen The Exodus start with the nose cone most likely for ship 30. that's one here looks to be fully complete ready to be stacked on its payload Bay Barrel the main difference here is that SpaceX seems to have abandoned these antennas that were present on all the other orbital designed ships maybe that first flight tests show that they've got enough bandwidth and connectivity available through starlink from here on out though the designations for which ship these nose cones belongs to is quite uncertain but we think the next one out was for ship 31 still yet to receive its flaps there next up we had another three fully stacked nose cones join the party and these didn't actually have any heat shield tile pins at this point they were then shortly followed out by another three half constructed nose kinds so with all eight cleared out of the tent in a rather unceremonious fashion SpaceX decided to dismantle two of those half constructed nose cones tearing into them and leaving the remnants for the scrap Heap clearly they were no longer required the star Factory expansion looks to have ramped up even faster this week the first main beams were delivered on site and the first of those who have now begun to go vertical just like that the first roof piece has been lifted in place already now Mega Bay 2 continues nicely with two prefabricated Corners now right in front of the foundations those two have started to receive the typical Starbase gray paint its other Corners over at the Sanchez area are coming along nicely too with at least two now being constructed for the third layer screaming right ahead as always and this is good to see because they need to move fast gym free NASA's associate administrator for exploration system development has just raised concerns about a potential delay of Artemis 3. this mission to Mark Humanity's Return To The Moon after over 50 years was originally scheduled for December 2025 but it now faces the possibility of being postponed to a later date in 2026 as he said there are a bunch of Milestones that need to occur for this to happen for every Starship land emission it's necessary to launch not only the Lander itself but also multiple tanker Starships responsible for refilling the Lander in orbit during that also needing to demonstrate the transfer of cryogenic propellants they also of course need to complete an uncrewed lunar Landing using a Starship too so it is no wonder that SpaceX is developing so quickly so with all the rapid Development Across the sites the next Starship flight test may actually be closer than many expected speaking of which I've been teasing a new merch design for a while and without further Ado bam this is our non-official SpaceX Starship booster 7 and ship 24 design all done of course by the incredible Tony Bella we are together selling this on my store for a limited time so if you want to commemorate the 420 launch and help both of us do what we do the links to pick it all up on all sorts of merch is right there below this may be my favorite design yet we're also offering free shipping on all of the orders from the date this video goes live until the 14th of June which saves a bunch especially if outside of the US and thanks for supporting our channels subscribing and just being awesome okay so SpaceX was back again at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the 28th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station there was a bit of a delay due to unfavorable weather conditions but the Falcon 9 stood strong awaiting the next opportunity the next day it was off into the blue just before midday carrying the cargo Dragon capsule on top now this was all sadly and for some bizarre reason streamed with NASA at 720p why I don't understand this booster 1077 was on the fifth flight but more impressive I think is the Cadence this year in general this one was launched 39 for 2023 so it's going to be interesting to see if they comfortably break 80 launches this year if you look carefully you'll actually see a vapor Cloud burst away as it goes supersonic Greg Scott that masterful photographer on the ground level caught one of these Rings just perfectly check out that ultimate Halo now surprisingly at stage separation just check this out the main engine cut off and the first stage separated showing this unexpected sight yes the short little nozzle was back again but oddly on a nasa-funded mission now I've spoken previously of course about SpaceX using these shorter nozzles on missions that don't require the full performance of Falcon 9 they do this to cut down on the cost of the very expensive Merlin vacuum engine bill but on a mission to the ISS carrying over three tons of cargo and Equipment well there must be some free margin for this change this was the third Falcon 9 to fly with this short nozzle but all the same I'm actually a tad surprised that NASA adopted this option so early on one that needs a bit of trivia is that 13 years ago to the day there was another short nozzle way back on the very first Falcon 9 version 1 to launch a Dragon capsule in 2010 SpaceX just days before this launch found a crack on the second stage nozzle to avoid pushing the launch back a bunch SpaceX simply got their technician on the interstage and cut off part of the nozzle that was was cracked although unhappy with the move at the time NASA agreed to proceed with the launch and the mission was of course a colossal success for SpaceX fast forward 13 years later and here was booster 1077 screaming back down towards the ocean kicking off that Landing burn and as has become super routine and somehow a non-event in today's world bam there we go landing on the Drone ship a shortfall of Gravitas for the second time its other three Landings were on just read the instructions one of the more notable Falcon 9 Landing perspectives that you may have missed was this one here shared just as my video was uploading last week this is SpaceX on Twitter showing us stabilized footage of the booster Landing after sending the Axiom 2 crew into space this is sped up of course but was brilliant all the way to touchdown anyway back to the crs-28 mission soon after the second stage of the Falcon 9 deployed the cargo Dragon capsule and the next day it arrived and successfully docked with the space station check out those dragons there along with a soyuz and two progress Vehicles another notable Milestone that surprised me was that this Mission marks the 20th that SpaceX has flown a flight proven dragon that is impressive and on board this one some very important supplies and experiments most notable of course the next set of iroza solar arrays in the unpressurized trunk these are actually the third pair and they're needed to be installed on two separate spacewalks as always there was a lot of other neat research that was on board Dragon along with these supplies there is the Thor experiment which very obviously based on the name is all about the research and observations of what happens above thunderstorms there is plant habitat number three which I find interesting myself what they're trying to do here is to determine if plants that are exposed to certain stresses in space flight will it transfer any genetic adaptions to following Generations pretty neat and you can read up on all those along with a bunch more experiments from NASA's website on Friday two of NASA's Fearless astronauts Steve Bowen and Woody hoberg embarked on their epic adventure outside the space station Bowen there sporting their red stripes and hoberg in the unmarked suit their mission obviously was to install one of those irosa rollout solar arrays this time on the 1A power channel of this starboard truss looking at the bigger picture you can see that they all get rolled out on a slight angle compared to the original massive solar panels behind as shown in this diagram now that's the solar array has been installed and rolled out in this beautiful display Steve and Woody are returning for an encore on June 15 to tackle the install of the second in the pair on the 1B power Channel talk about being overachievers now that will be the final one based on the current plan however there could end up being a fourth pair of solar arrays to come in the future NASA is still trying to determine if the need is great enough and if there is funding available for this event though the walk was scheduled to last about six and a half hours and their other Legends re-entering the station after nailing all the objectives now after a few little hiccups with Vulcan we had this great scene at midweek with United to launch alliance's brand new rocket firing up its be4 engines in all their Glory a few weeks ago of course it had been rolled back without performing the originally scheduled static fire due to some issues with the ignition system this week though no such problem back at space launch complex 41 it prepared for the incredibly important launch Readiness firing and they did it the two blue origin built be4 engines throttled up for about two seconds before powering down later we were all informed that the test run was a success even Bezos took to Twitter congratulating Ula saying that nothing is sweeter in rocketry than the word nominal with this test out of the way Ula are now clear to prepare for the first ever launch now although I think that crs-28 was the most exciting Mission this week with Falcon 9 we were spoiled for Choice once again with another launch the previous day sending another batch of Starling satellites to orbit this time around the less common and newer starlink version 2 minis more on that and much more shortly but real quick thanks a bunch to ag1 sponsoring this video providing many of the essentials for your diet should be straightforward ag1 has been crafted to effortlessly become part of your daily routine and help you bolster your immune system much of our food undergoes extensive processing and it can be a real challenge to determine if we're obtaining all the necessary nutrients from our diets as someone who spends considerable amounts of time indoors producing content and perhaps not having the best diet ever I've relied on certain supplements for years by using ag1 though I can jump start my day with one simple drink loaded with all these vitamins minerals and nutrients that together comprehensively support overall health and aid in digestion since incorporating it into my routine I've felt clearer and more focused you just pop one scooping with water or mix it with your favorite juice and that's it alternatively if you're frequently away from home you can just take a few of these travel Packs along with you unlike the large pack that needs to be refrigerated you can simply toss these packs into your suitcase and tear one open each day and ag1 to your morning routine just visit drinkag1.com Marcus house and as a bonus offer you'll pick up a one year supply of immune supporting vitamin D3 K2 and 5 travel packs for free thank you ag1 so yes this launch was for the fourth set of V2 minis thanks to the very clear weather at Cape Canaveral these amazing views of the Falcon iron booster 1078 are lifting off kicked off a new day of excitement a few minutes later here we were with the first stage engine cutoff and Stage separation and this neat and unusual view shared by SpaceX from one of the ground cameras check out the first stage they're firing off the reaction control system as the second stage continues along now you may have missed recent news that the Pentagon has agreed to purchase more Starling satellite internet terminals for use in Ukraine as I'm sure you know SpaceX has provided a bunch in the past to help aid in the conflict but more help was certainly desirable the details in this contract are not disclosed to the public for obvious reasons but it is certainly a huge win for the technology and what it can provide back to the booster the camera feed kicked in right at the start of the landing burn and this was just the right time of day to watch that glorious shot of the booster successfully Landing it was only the third time for this particular booster but a spectacular Bullseye right on the Drone ship just read the instructions meanwhile the 22 starlink version 2 mini satellites were ready for deployment as the stream ended the deployment was confirmed later sadly still without any new footage now a few sweet updates that I've been excited to share with you and some stuff to add to the set here finally just check this out holy moly just look at this monster this here is a full booster 7 Starship 24 printed model by our good friend Ann this Beast is all 3D printed with the main body showing all this wonderful detail the thing I love about this is the incredibly strong little magnets placed at all the connection points so that everything just simply snaps together there is no glue or fiddly assembly required you just separate any area you like and then it all just snaps together super quickly as a few quick examples you can instantly split this apart to see the various sections of the Starship from inside of the nose cone which includes these awesome little header tanks even the propellant lines for the liquid oxygen and methane are all here running down the length to the thrust Dome beneath that of course the free Raptor version 2 sea level engines and three Raptor vacuums the same also obviously goes for the booster with all these little engines that just snap right into place just magic if you happen to be a budding Enthusiast that loves 3D printing you can even follow the plans thanks very much Ann for your amazing work you may have also spotted the crew Dragon down here too actually so if you want to check it out or support what they are up to there at more than 3d.com the link is right there in the description in fact I have got listed a bunch of stuff from the set here in the video description going forward so if you like any of this stuff you automatically know where to go also included another surprise delivery in the mail thanks a bunch to Christian here for sending me this 3D printed patch another great addition to the set there so I hope you enjoyed this video if you did don't forget to hit subscribe so we can keep making them if you would like to help more directly like the many many people all this support makes a colossal difference to us it really does if you want to continue with more space goodness the algorithm thinks you'll enjoy this video here next or maybe these videos right there thanks for watching all this way through and I'll see you all in the next video

Channel: Marcus House

Views: 369,090

Keywords: Spacex news, Spacex, Starbase, crs 28, Spacex static fire, Labpadre, artemis 3 delay, artemis 3 mission, Spacex starship update, elon musk, spacex starship, commercial resupply services nasa, spacex starship launch, starship gazer, crs 28 launch, vulcan test fire, spacex static fire test, RGV Aerial Photography, Marcus house, nasaspaceflight, starlink launch, spacex orbital launch, Spacex launch, spacex starbase, starlink v2, Spacex starbase live

Id: GHar0extlIM

Length: 21min 30sec (1290 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 10 2023