SpaceX's NEW Solution to prevent the pad damage by 33 engines...

last week SpaceX made headlines with an incredible Starship first orbital flight however the upcoming months will be a challenging period for the company as they work to assess the damage sustained by the launch pad during liftoff and develop solutions to prevent further damage one of the primary Solutions revealed by Elon Musk is a water-cooled metal plate that can withstand the immense power of the Raptor 2 engines the company is actively working on implementing the solution to ensure the success of future launches so how effective is a water cooled steel plate when it comes to dealing with the strength and sound waves produced by 33 Raptor engines during launch can this actually be the best solution for Starbase especially where the launch pad is concerned find out in today's episode of alpha Tech to reminisce spacex's gigantic Starship vehicle lifted off Thursday April 20th from the company's Starbase facility in south Texas on its first ever fully stacked test flight the rocket spacecraft combo performed relatively well on its debut test flight reaching a maximum altitude of 39 kilometers before several issues forced SpaceX to order the vehicle's destruction High over the Gulf of Mexico but the picture at ground level was a bit Grimmer when the dust cleared at Starbase after the liftoff a scene of wreckage emerged as spacex's Starship rocket took flight more than two dozen powerful rocket engines fired at once pushing the enormous vehicle into space and Blasting away at the launch Gantry and the ground below it with more than 6 000 metric tons of force all that energy LED Ultra strong concrete at the base of the launch structure to dissolve hurling chunks of rubble into the ocean and pelting the sights where journalists set up remote cameras to capture the event even punching through a car parked there the dust thrown up by the Rocket's engines was more broadly felt by a thick layer of sand descending on the surrounding community 80s notably the nearby city of Port Isabel and there is an obvious reason why so much debris was thrown up and the launch pad was so damaged SpaceX didn't build a flame diversion system or pump in water to absorb heat and Sound Energy typically rocket launch sites have large concrete trenches and redirect energy away from the pad and the vehicle while thousands of gallons of water Deluge the area here's a picture of the Space Shuttle sitting above its flame trench back in 2009. it's not clear why SpaceX didn't use this kind of infrastructure which is part of the launch setup for its Falcon Rockets one Theory Advanced by Eric Roche an expert in environmental impact analyzes is that obtaining approval to build it from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers would require months or years that SpaceX didn't want to spend spacex's application for such a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers was withdrawn in 2022 after it declined to consider alternate sights for Starship like its launch facilities at Cape Canaveral in addition constructing a flame diverter and Flame trench features is is not a straightforward process the water table in the area plays a significant role in determining the depth to which the features can be dug in the case of spacex's launch site the water table is too close to the surface making it difficult to excavate deep enough to install a flame diverter and Flame trench as a result SpaceX must explore alternative Solutions building up large structures above ground would require rebuilding the launch Tower and other systems the built-up structure for the space shuttle was huge and honestly SpaceX considered digging a flame trench at Starbase which is located next to bokuchika Beach but ultimately decided not to aspiring to have no flame diverter in bokeh but this could turn out to be a mistake company founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter back in October of 2020. this isn't to imply that musk is now second guessing that decision however indeed he seems to think that the company still has a Way Forward word at Starbase that doesn't involve a flame trench instead Elon said on Twitter that the company had begun building a massive water cooled steel plate to go under the launch mounts three months ago however musk said the plate wasn't ready in time and Engineers went ahead with the launch thinking that the high strength concrete below the rocket would withstand the force that analysis was apparently based on a test when the rocket was fired at half its thrust capacity launch and landing pads are touchy any little thing that goes wrong can cause a zipper effect that creates a giant problem Phil Metzger a sophisticated researcher at the University of Central Florida that has truly researched the bottom outcomes of rocket launches and in addition touchdowns said on Twitter that's because you're trying to safely dispose of enough super high energy gas to shoot a rocket into the sky however Dr Phil Metzger is confident that the water cooled steel plate posed by SpaceX will effectively prevent the steel from melting due to the heat produced during the launch Phil Metzger based this on his team's previous use of Steel plates for some of the Morpheus launch locations their analysis showed that the heat would redistribute quickly enough that it wouldn't cause the surface to melt and that the steel plate was large enough to handle the heat to be safe they also applied paint on ablative on top of the steel plate which erodes under the Heat and helps to keep what's beneath it cooler the idea of a water cooled steel plate is great as the water will remove heat from the steel in real time preventing it from melting however the flat plate will not mitigate launch Acoustics the shock wave caused by engine ignition creates a big buildup of pressure that reflects off the pad and travels up the sides of the rocket causing it to vibrate this shock wave is slowly pushed down the nozzle then reflects back up causing stress on the Rocket's structure the acoustic noise from the rocket exhaust also vibrates the rocket due to turbulence while there are no great models of acoustic noise production in rocket plumes it's important to keep researching rocket plume Acoustics to make rockets more efficient designing launch pads to reduce Acoustics it's also important to save more payload margin Dr Metzger has no idea about the acoustic effects of Starship or its structural stability but it's easy to design systems that reduce launch Acoustics and give more margin back to the vehicle therefore if SpaceX decided to do so it could be done the Federal Aviation Administration which regulates launch site safety and overseas technical investigations into commercial rocket mishaps we'll need to sign off on changes to starship's Launchpad infrastructure before its next launch attempt said Tom Morata who advises others space companies on launch regulations the bigger challenge for SpaceX is FAA evaluating its Steel plate solution and deciding that it meets the regulations in a timely manner he said we should know soon enough if the new steel plate will provide adequate protection to the orbital launch mounts going forward in that Friday tweet musk said that SpaceX should be ready to try another Starship launch in one to two months for now SpaceX is keeping its head down trying to solve its problems make its repairs and satisfy the FAA which holds the ultimate leash on future Starship flights there are many who continue to believe the company has the wherewithal to do that and that Starship has a bright future this was a test flight says astrophysicist Pascal Aaron front a professor at the George Washington University space policy Institute during the development of a disruptive launcher setbacks are anticipated the investigations will reveal when a next test flight will be possible there will certainly be a next test flight and hopefully Starship becomes a commercial reality and with that today's episode has come to its conclusion 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Channel: ALPHA TECH

Views: 382,322

Keywords: spacex, alpha tech, starship, spacex starship, starship spacex, SpaceX's NEW Solution to prevent the pad damage by 33 engines..., elon musk, spacex today, space x, spacex live, star ship, spacex boca chica, space x starship, starships, every astronaut, spacex news, elon musk news, spacex pad redesign, spacex launch pad, elon, musk, spacex update, starship orbital flight, starship news, starship update, starship launch

Id: sE1J4PUb09U

Length: 8min 38sec (518 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 27 2023