SpaceX Starship Flight to 60,000ft - From Hop to Bellyflop

this video is sponsored by brilliant hey hey marcus house with you here and we are counting down to the test of the starship prototype we've all been waiting for serial number eight which is well underway and we hope only weeks away from a flight test just above 18 kilometers or 60 thousand feet in altitude mixed with that the many starship prototypes in development and the rapid evolution of the construction and launch sites at boca chica and we have a load to catch up on along with that there have been some interesting updates on the human landing system by dynetics and some updates on astra's launch failure from alaska over the past week the starship sn 7.1 test tank has been going through cryogenic cycles during these cycles the vehicle is filled with cryogenic nitrogen and then pressurized these cycles are intended to test the new thrust puck which is a core component for those powerful raptor engines to attach to as well as additional refinements in construction including the new 304l stainless steel that allows spacex to gather that important data to determine the maximum pressures that these new 304l vehicles can hold none of these initial tests were intending to be destructive as these tests were done on the new test stand and utilised the hydraulic rams to simulate the forces of the raptors for the planned destructive test on the 17th sn 7.1 was first moved back onto the cheaper transport mount during the testing window that followed we saw three attempts of the expected test to failure after the road was closed and the pad was cleared venting started however soon after the venting stopped and workers returned to the site to inspect and presumably repair the issue we were unsure what was wrong but it did appear that there was a lot of uncontrolled venting that occurred around various ground support equipment this whole process happened repeatedly until the road was reopened early in the morning at the time of preparing this video to go live there is another backup window for monday the 21st hopefully during this window a tester destruction occurs where the vehicle will essentially be pressurized to and then above the predicted limits that it's expected to hold elon musk then confirmed that sn8's flight campaign will be next after all that action and this is where things are really going to get exciting he tweeted here that starship serial number eight with flaps and a nose cone should be done in about a week of course that was tweeted now close to a week ago and we are now seeing some solid progress here which we'll talk about shortly the plan after this beast is ready to go is to conduct a static fire checkouts static fire again and then finally that flight to 60 thousand feet in altitude and back converting to metric there this is a flight to just under 18.3 kilometers in altitude just a little under what we had in our minds previously just to put that into some perspective for you though commercial aircraft crews typically around 10 to 12 kilometers in altitude so it will be much higher than that i must admit i had in my mind this whole time that starship would only be in free fall for a short time but at this altitude the vessel should have quite a long time in freefall before reaching the ground from the starship landing animation shown last year we can get a rough idea of the fall velocity that the body will have at least in the lower atmosphere based on this the rate of 4 is going to be somewhere between 60 and 70 meters per second a little higher perhaps in the initial parts of the drop as the atmosphere is not as thick at the flight altitude that we are talking there should be three or four minutes of full time for the test depending on the vehicle drag going on throughout the entire fall this gives quite a lot of time to test those aero surfaces are going to do what they need to do before it is time to fire up those engines as elon musk said one way or another excitement is certainly guaranteed with this flight with all this going on especially in the early prototyping days support of that local community is very much appreciated you really need to think about the anticipation excitement and at times i'm sure frustration about the interruptions that are constantly occurring around the site that affects the local residents the support of everyone is super important with these groundbreaking missions now just in reference to our video from last week the animation created by corey here showing the sections of starship sn8 come together as it flies off got a lot of excitement elon musk included so that is great to see so yes during the week sn8's assembly has continued inside the mid bay the first new additions were the aft fin aero covers which were placed on the side of the vehicle these covers will aerodynamically blend the fins with the vehicle's body and can be seen here in brendan's latest sna diagram mary also spotted this section here that is speculated to be the fin mounting hardware talking about the fins they were delivered to the production facility and are currently next to the mid bay as seen in rgv aerials images here along with this the two sections of the nose cone are near the windbreak facility awaiting stacking once those sections are mated the forward fins will be attached to the side of the nose cone and then the final assembly is then expected to take place either at the launch site or at the production facility we are thinking that it would make more sense to roll out the tank section and the nose cone separately to the launch site to stack it there but we need to wait to see what happens let me know how you think this final piece of assembly will occur in the comments below what am i also super excited for yep those three raptor engines that will be attached to the thrust puck structure keep in mind that as far as we know raptors have not been tested together like this before individually many times but there's a big difference firing engines together in this densely packed configuration at the same time you can have all sorts of crazy vibration resonance issues but spacex to date have nailed these problems at every turn you've only got to look at the 27 merlin engines flying together on falcon heavy to know that the experience is already there such issues of course are likely compounded in this case seeing as the raptor engine has such a huge thrust output currently with each around 2 200 kilonewtons or 225 metric tons of force with three of them firing at 100 thrust that is a whopping 675 metric tons force pushing up on that thrust puck structure there crazy stuff so yes once sn8 is all ready to go and static fires and checkouts have occurred the big event will be on the cards it is not without risk of course this being the first vessel to make a substantial flight with this level of complexity there are going to be numerous challenges it is very likely that this sn8 prototype will succumb to a failure some of the things that have never been tested just as a few examples include not only the initial lighting but the re-lighting of the three raptor engines then we have the crazy flip maneuver and the belly flop controlled descent elon further summed up the ambitious goals of sn8 while replying to eric's simulation on twitter saying that if sn8 craters starship serial number 9 and 10 will be in development following closely for their turn at the flight test that increasing production rate allows for fast iteration and we can certainly see that now with all of the starship prototypes in progress with us watching it so very closely every day it is already very difficult to keep track of what is going where all that being said sn8 won't fly immediately after construction it still needs to be prepared and tested we imagine that there are several weeks before that may happen by that time sn9 will likely already be at a stage of construction where it will be waiting for its own aero surfaces another few weeks after that and it should be about ready to be rolled to the pad sections of sn9 have actually already been spotted around the facility for the last two weeks and it's already now being stacked right next to sn8 in the mid bay there with the middle of the liquid oxygen tank seen here just days after the common dome was stacked on top aft dome stack was also recently flipped and the aft skirt was spotted on this skirt we can see that the legs are already deployed and seem to have some wheels attached could this be a self-rolling starship system that elon mentioned months ago let me know what you think this picture here of sn5 sn6 sn8 and sn9 provides yet another great example of the pace of construction and innovation going on here this is quite the unique first time view of four starships in that same photo how cool is that moreover sections for sn10 and sn11 have already been spotted around the site along with this a truckload of critical flight hardware for future vehicles was also delivered in the week including thrust pucks and legs as matthew cable here tweeted this is nuts now and when asked what serial number starship elon thinks could be the first one to reach orbit he replied saying just a guess but probably mid-teens the booster and stacking on the orbital launch pad are likely going to be the limiting factors there but spacex plans to build several ships to improve the production system interestingly as of right now the fate of the already flown sn5 and sn6 starship prototypes are unknown but it is certainly speculated that sn5 will fly once more this time however we are thinking that it will be sporting a nose cone to test the welds and attachment methods before risking a nose cone on sn8 sn6 though we really don't know s padre here tweeted that it would be cool to have one of these at the entrance to south padre island elon replied to this comment by neither saying yes or no but instead just asking if someone can provide a boat service from south padre to boca chica now news this week has been lacking on super heavy components we've been trying to catch glimpses of sections on site they may well be out there of course hidden away and we just haven't been able to spot them yet the massive high bay is now at its final height with roof sections being added while workers add cladding to the sides of this huge beast we think this structure should be completed within a few more weeks however super heavy stacking could well be kicking off before the completion of that high bay construction similar to how we saw the early starships being assembled before the mid bay was completed the future launch pad for the super heavy has been continuing as well spacex has now completed the construction of the supports for the structure and these huge columns will soon be filled with concrete following that we expect to see the heavy mount to be constructed on top and hopefully a few hints on how the flame diversion system is going to work a massive thank you to bokeh chicago with nasa space flight rgv aerial photography and lab padre for all of the amazing coverage be sure to support where you can as there would be no way for us to talk about these things if we didn't have this incredible open source of information thank you all of you also i'd just like to say a big thank you to all of you watching here as well for liking and subscribing and commenting that goal i had of reaching 200 000 subscribers by october well check that out almost there and it's all because of you it is such a privilege to be even a tiny part of your lives and each week you remind me why i do this thank you so much for your amazing support now it has been a few weeks since i've shared some of the beautiful work by neopork and these new rendered animations of starship and super heavy are hot off the production line and when i say hot i'm referring to the fried cpus and gpus being tortured here with this incredibly intensive task of rendering what we're seeing we've reviewed many incredible stills before already but taking those to the next level in animations here is amazing to see there are great scenes like this dropping all the time so make sure you're following neopork there on twitter again a little support from a lot of people goes a long way and helps us all to collaborate together along with that gameplay review uk has smashed out these awesome simulations of starship sn5 and sn6 taking their flights in kerbal space program now he's also included things like the roll lift vehicles and the launch pad so not only do his replicas look the part and behave like the genuine article but you can also do things like try to replicate the pad explosion like we saw with sn5 these are truly mind-blowing replicas and yes they are all made with stock parts so anyone with purple space program can download and enjoy them it is a heck of a lot of fun trying to fly this beast now links to all of this amazing stuff is in the description now over to some other news dianetics has been tasked with designing and building a human landing system as part of the artemis program heading back to the moon along with them blue origin has its integrated land of vehicle a full-sized mock-up of which was recently set up at nasa's johnson space center we have spacex with their moonland version of starship as well and one of these designs will ultimately go on to deliver the first woman and the next man to the luna south pole by 2024. the dianetics test article we see here is full scale and from the time that they were chosen as a contractor the concept design has taken just three months to reach this point with vital feedback from experienced veteran astronauts and a dedicated team of experts the interior is really taking shape they are able to quickly reconfigure the placement of equipment models in no time if it's determined that there are better positions for various components in the final design in that case they just simply pick it up and move it that human feedback in this full-size mock-up is seen here is vital to determine the amount of space needed for living for work access to storage and the interfaces experimenting in this way especially in a spacesuit can be very useful it ensures that the required space for exiting and entering the habitat in various scenarios is all good the thing i really love about this entire lander is the reusability of the vast majority of the system about the only thing that isn't intended to be reused is those outside fuel tanks which are ditched prior to landing on the surface of the moon once its mission is complete with its crew having been returned to lunar orbit and transferred to the lunar gateway it can be made available for its next mission needing only those few replacement tanks and fuel refuelling of course is planned to be conducted in space using the propellant from vulcan centaur upper stages and eventually on the lunar surface itself which opens the door to many exploration opportunities to other locations this innovation and proud history of dynamics and its collaboration with nasa over many years will hopefully see an on-time delivery of this very special and unique vehicle for the next generation of lunar explorers time will tell if this will be the artemis lander and we wish all you guys at dianetics the very best of luck now in last week's episode news was just breaking about astra's first demonstration launch attempt with rocket 3.1 from alaska we'll talk more about that in a moment but first our amazing spots are brilliant now it's certainly fair to say that running this channel was a struggle financially until brilliant began supporting us here in 2020 they have helped to transform the channel by being our core sponsor that has certainly helped to take us from where we were back then to where we are here today and for viewers that have been here for a long time you know exactly what i'm talking about the financial assistance has allowed more hours to be spent on the videos and we now have a production team on board to help make the content even better what is even more incredible for me is that i'm supportive here with a brand that creates incredibly interesting math and science based learning material material which guides you through problem solving in an active way no tests and no grades you just jump into a topic you're interested in and start there i've more recently begun going through some of the material with my elder son much of it is too advanced for his age with all of the interactive and visual components talking these concepts out with him is incredibly rewarding this new course on the concept of infinity is something that we've really enjoyed talking about and visualizing we started just with basic counting working right up to the idea of infinity and exploring the beauty in fractals this stuff creates such interesting discussions that led us to other topics so if you're naturally curious and you'd like 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 astra's goal is to achieve orbit within the three launch attempts we're hoping that these attempts will result in the upper stage separation just after two minutes into the flights the intent here is to prove that they can achieve orbit before progressing to commercial payload launches liftoff went planned for this flight but around 30 seconds into the flight there was an anomaly which resulted in the loss of the vehicle we now know that a software glitch in the guidance system caused a roll oscillation as the vehicle ascended causing it to veer off course shortly after liftoff from the kodiak island launch facility in alaska i had a lot of questions in the comments asking why the rocket had not self-destructed due to the smaller size of the launch vehicle it's not actually necessary for an explosive self-destruction event the range safety officer issued an engine shutdown command known as thrust termination and well we can see the end result here right rockets 3.1 tumbled back to earth and exploded quite spectacularly on the ground impacting within the confines of the safety zone of the launch complex now the encouraging thing about all of this is there was good data collected and astra are already planning a software upgrade which means a quicker turnaround for launch attempt number two sooner than would be expected with rocket 3.2 already being assembled astra are planning a cheaper small satellite launch offering in direct competition with other small satellite launch providers such as rocket lab so again well done astra on that attempt and we wish you all well with your next launch hopefully before the end of 2020 now just quickly a huge 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interacting with these videos every subscription like comment or share helps to get these videos seen by loads more people always remember that you helped to drive this global passion to make all these dreams of colonizing other worlds a reality a massive thank you as well to my quality control squad here for helping me research and proof through all the material for these videos if you're interested in these topics and would like to be a part of this follow me on twitter and please do get in touch in the tile in the bottom left today we have my video last week talking about starlink and its newly tested communication via space lasers rocket labs awesome new photon spacecraft and a few new updates on nasa's space launch system in the top right is my latest video and in the bottom right content that youtube has selected from my channel just for you thank you everyone for watching we'll see you all in the next video

Channel: Marcus House

Views: 721,060

Rating: 4.8764849 out of 5

Keywords: Spacex news, elon musk tweets, spacex starship news, Spacex starship, elon musk starship, spacex super heavy rocket, spacex starship update, spacex super heavy launch, starship sn8, spacex starship progress, Marcus house, spacex boca chica, spacex live, spacex starlink launch, spacex landing, spacex launch, Starship sn9, spacex starship sn8, starlink space laser, Space laser, Spacex return, spacex 60000 feet, Dynetics, astra rocket failure, starship sn5, starship sn6

Id: kLPKsXDdZWY

Length: 18min 19sec (1099 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 19 2020