This episode of Primal Space is supported
by Skillshare. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen
SpaceX go from a dirt field in Texas to launching prototypes of the most advanced rocket ever
made. The exciting developments down in Boca Chica
have been mesmerizing to watch - and it’s clear that SpaceX are now all in on making
Starship a success. In the future, they plan to have a fleet of
Starships, launching all around the world with destinations such as the Moon, Mars and
even other places here on Earth. They want to operate Starship just like an
airliner, with each vehicle carrying hundreds of passengers and doing multiple flights per
day. But many think this exciting future is just
too good to be true. Upon launch, a fully assembled Starship will
be incredibly loud. With around 28 raptor engines on the Super
Heavy booster, the sound level - even from 8 kilometres away - would be around 112 decibels. This is like someone using a chainsaw while
standing right next to you. Not only would this sound level be extremely
disruptive to nearby residents, it could also be extremely dangerous. The closer to Starship you get, the sound
waves become powerful enough to smash windows and damage buildings. If Starship launches are to be as frequent
as SpaceX hope, they will need to move the launch and landing pads far away from civilization. Early renders of Starship show a sleek looking
launch platform several miles off shore. The idea is that Starships would launch and
land from these platforms without ever having to go back to dry land. But even in the world of spaceflight, this
isn’t a new idea. The company ‘Sea Launch’ which started
back in the 90’s, specialized in launching the Zenit rocket from a floating sea platform
which used to be a former oil rig. Although it may seem like quite a small operation,
this was no small rocket. The Zenit was almost the same size as the
Falcon 9 and could carry a similar amount of mass into orbit. In its day, Sea Launch was pretty successful. But high running costs and a lack of flights
eventually caused them to go bankrupt. However, Sea Launch demonstrated that there
are a lot of benefits to launching from the sea. When launching from typical launch sites like
Cape Canaveral, rockets aren’t allowed to fly over populated areas, so they usually
head out over the sea. This drastically limits the range of orbits
it can achieve. For geostationary orbits, rockets need to
fly perfectly above the equator and travel with the rotation of Earth. This means that the rocket spends much more
of its fuel just getting down to the equator. When launching from a sea platform, any orbit
can be achieved. This isn’t the main consideration for SpaceX
- but with their constantly growing Starlink constellation, an offshore launch platform
would help them to reach a much wider range of orbits and cover the globe with their satellites. Last year, we saw various job postings from
SpaceX looking to hire engineers and technicians for offshore launch platforms. After all, with the incredible pace of Starship’s
development, an offshore launch platform could be needed much sooner than expected. Just several miles away from their Boca Chica
site is the Port of Brownsville, home to many oil rigs which operate out in the Gulf of
Mexico. If SpaceX were working on a future launch
platform, it would most likely be happening here. Sure enough, at the start of this year, one
specific oil rig caught everyone's attention. Sitting amongst the tanker ships in the Port
of Brownsville was an oil rig sporting the name Deimos, a Moon of Mars. After further investigation, this oil rig
used to be owned by a company called Valaris, which went bankrupt in 2020. After declaring bankruptcy, they sold this
oil rig along with another identical rig to a company called Lonestar Mineral Development. The other oil rig was also named after a Martian
Moon and resided in a port elsewhere in Texas. Lonestar managed to purchase Deimos and Phobos
for just $3.5 million each, a great price considering these rigs cost $515 million to
build. But who was the mysterious company behind
this transaction? Well as it turns out, Lonestar Mineral Development
is a subsidiary of SpaceX. This confirms that SpaceX are going ahead
with their offshore launch platform idea. But how will SpaceX convert these oil rigs
to be able to launch and land Starships? To get a better idea, let's take a closer
look at the rigs SpaceX have just purchased. These rigs are semi-submersible and can be
moved out to sea and anchored in place. With large ship-like hulls placed well below
the surface, these rigs are much more stable and less affected by waves than SpaceX’s
current droneships. Each rig is 73 by 78 meters wide and has 8
thrusters, each producing around 3,500 horsepower. Since these rigs operate many miles out at
sea, they rely on their own power, which in this case is provided by 7 enormous diesel
engines. But since Elon Musk is at the helm of this
project, it seems likely that these will be taken out and replaced with a more renewable
form of energy, like wind or solar. Before SpaceX can start customizing these
rigs for Starship, they will need to take down a lot of the existing structures that
were used to support the drilling equipment. Dismantling an oil rig is a costly but very
common thing to do, once it reaches the end of its life cycle. Judging by SpaceX’s previous renders, the
launch platform will be fairly simple on top. They need a large space for the landing area,
a tank farm to store propellants and a large crane to lift and stack Starship. The large tower in the middle, known as a Derrick,
was used to support all of the heavy drilling equipment. At first it may seem like this tower could be used0
as the foundations for the massive lifting crane. But underneath this tower is the ‘moon pool’
which is essentially a giant hole in the platform. During launch, the energy produced by Starship’s
engines will be extremely powerful. So SpaceX will want to direct as much of that
energy into the sea, where it will be absorbed instead of damaging the launch platform. It seems likely that SpaceX will use this
moon pool to their advantage and build the launch mount on top, allowing the engines
to sit above the water. SpaceX will also need to build an entire tank
farm to contain the enormous amounts of propellants used for flight. While the current tank farm in Boca Chica
is large, it’s only designed to service Starship prototypes, which require much less
fuel than a fully stacked Starship. On the oil rig, there is enough space for
around 4 of these tank farms. But in order to shield the tank farm and free
up space for a landing pad, it will likely be placed below the deck. Then there is the question of how SpaceX would
actually get the propellants to the launch platform. The main propellants for Starship are liquid
oxygen and liquid methane. Right now, these propellants are currently
transported to Boca Chica by truck, where they are unloaded into the tank farm. In order to keep the launch platform filled
up, they will rely on regular deliveries from tanker ships. Right now, SpaceX is working on a brand new
facility in Boca Chica which will allow them to start producing their own propellants. In order to produce a large amount of propellant,
these facilities need to be extremely large and require a huge amount of energy. SpaceX’s short term plan is to produce their
own liquid oxygen from the launch platform while the liquid methane would be delivered
by a tanker ship. In the future though, SpaceX wants to use
the sabatier process to produce their own propellants This process involves turning
hydrogen and carbon dioxide into oxygen and methane, something SpaceX will need to do
to produce propellants on Mars. Getting to this point will be very challenging
for SpaceX, but the lessons they learn along the way will help them prepare for their first
trips to Mars. If they are successful in achieving this,
they will cut out the massive costs and time delays involved in shipping the propellants
out to the launch platform. This raises yet another problem though. These rigs will be saturated with oil and
grease after many years of service in the oil industry. Combining this with rocket flames and high
pressure liquid oxygen is a fire hazard on another level. So SpaceX will need to do a lot of cleaning
on the oil rig and will likely need to replace almost everything that isn’t part of the
structure. In the coming months, we should start to see
progress being made on these oil rigs. Little by little, they will be stripped down
until all that’s left is the basic structure. Then we will really see what SpaceX has in
store. Either way, it’s incredible to see SpaceX
yet again take on these incredible challenges to bring us a future that is equally exciting. In order for SpaceX to achieve this, they
will need to hire the best technicians and engineers with expertise in converting oil
rigs. With everything that SpaceX does, they look
for the smartest and most ambitious workers with the right skills for the job. Skillshare is an online learning community
with thousands of classes designed to feed the creativity and curiosity of people like
you. With some of the best teachers at your fingertips,
you can learn about anything from photography to music production - all the way to business
and entrepreneurship. In the last few Primal Space videos, you might
have noticed the animations have improved. If animation is also something you’d like
to learn or get better at, check out this class called ‘Animating With Ease in After
Effects’ by Jake Barlett. Whether you’re an experienced animator or
a complete beginner, this class has something for you. It takes you through the basic foundations
of animating whilst also going into more advanced lessons on how to stylize your animations. With thousands of classes available on Skillshare,
pick the one that’s right for you and start learning! Skillshare has no ads and there are always
new premium classes being launched. The first 1000 people to sign up using the
link below will be able to try out Skillshare for free! Thank you very much for watching and I’ll
see you in the next video.
Seems like a no brainer - landing ships that move and you have to build or ready-made, stable landing platforms in the ocean?
Elon wants a Bond villain hideout?
Elon fucking the oil industry from both sides at the same time.
Maybe Elon wants to become Big Boss and is setting up Diamond Dogs base
To bump the oil price!!😂😂
To land there ships and the no tax thing in international waters
To launch em into space what else
Tesla will be going full ICE within a few years.
I love reading about the development of these Floating launch Platforms, I crossposted this to /r/SpaceXseaLaunch
and your other post on this