The year is 1972, the final Apollo mission
to the moon has just been completed and President Nixon has announced a new American Spacecraft. "This is the largest spacecraft ever launched by man, the first winged spaceship” “The world’s first reusable spacecraft” The Space Shuttle. Capable of carrying several astronauts as well as large satellites into Earth’s orbit. This new idea for a reusable spacecraft was meant to drastically reduce the cost of getting into orbit, and although the Space Shuttle
did complete hundreds of successful missions, it never really lived up to everything it
promised to be. Today, we have SpaceX making another attempt to cut the cost of getting into space. But what are they doing differently? How do we know the BFR won’t become another Space Shuttle? In this video, we’re going to compare the
BFR to the Space Shuttle, we are also going to look at what caused the Shuttle to fail
and what SpaceX are doing to avoid the BFR having a similar fate. From the very beginning, the Space Shuttle
was designed to be reusable and cheap to operate. During the development of the Shuttle, NASA estimated that the entire cost for the 14 year life span of the Shuttle would be around $45 Billion with the cost for each flight being $54 Million. NASA’s original estimates fell very short. This was largely due to the incredible amount
of refurbishment needed after each flight. The original idea was to have the Shuttle
quickly checked out between each flight, just like an airliner. This turnaround process was expected to take around 2 weeks, however it would usually take around 3 months. Each of the three RS-25 engines had to be
detached and refurbished after each flight and since the propellants used for the RCS
thrusters were so toxic, no other activities could be carried out on the Shuttle while
they were being handled. One of the most time consuming aspects of the Shuttles refurbishment was the heat shield, with each of the 35,000 tiles having to be
inspected individually between each flight. SpaceX plan to use a material called PICA-X
for their heat shield. Although this material is designed to wear
away slowly after each flight, SpaceX are aiming to get hundreds of uses out of it before
it needs to be completely replaced. If SpaceX want the BFR to succeed in being
cheap and reusable, they will need to master the art of rocket reusability. The Falcon Heavy in fully reusable mode is
currently capable of carrying a similar payload capacity to the Shuttle, but for a fraction
of the cost. But even if they do master rocket reusability, they will need to do so without compromising on safety. One of the biggest problems in the Space Shuttle
program actually had nothing to do with the vehicle at all. It was in fact NASA’s attitude towards safety, which started to become more lenient in the 1980's. Due to an incredibly ambitious launch schedule,
NASA’s upper-level management started to embrace what many called “go-fever”. In order to meet these ambitious launch dates, possible safety hazards were ignored, which lead to the Space Shuttle experiencing two fatal disasters. With the BFR aiming to make its first flight
to Mars in 2022, it’s extremely important that SpaceX don’t follow a similar path
of cutting corners in order to make their own deadlines. One thing that SpaceX have shown over the years, is their ability to make quick changes to the design of their rockets. Andy Lambert of SpaceX once stated that no Falcon 9 was ever the same, with upgrades being made to every new rocket that rolled out of the factory. This rapid development allowed them to perfect
the Falcon 9’s propulsive landing technique. However, they have also had their fair share
of failures, which won’t be an option once they start launching humans on the BFR. Another thing that held the Space Shuttle
back was the design and manufacturing process. The workload was spread across many different companies all over the country in order for the program to appear more attractive to Congress. This not only raised the cost of the program
but also added an extra layer of complexity to the entire construction of the Shuttle. On top of that, NASA had certain stipulations for the Space Shuttle, often requiring outdated hardware to be used instead of developing
a newer and more effective solution. Since SpaceX won’t need to adhere to such
specific requirements, they can design the BFR from a blank canvas, and with nearly everything
being designed and manufactured by SpaceX themselves, every part of the vehicle will
work together, perfectly as intended. So although a lot of the hype surrounding
the BFR does seem reminiscent to the conception of the Space Shuttle, it does seem like SpaceX
are already starting off on a better foot. And if their success so far is anything to
go by, we know the BFR will be very exciting. What do you think of the BFR? Will it live up to its goals or will it struggle
to achieve the low cost and rapid reusability that it promises to have. Let me know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video and would like to
contribute to Primal Space, please visit Patreon.com/PrimalSpace, where we will be doing a giveaway of a Saturn V Lego Set once we reach 50 Patrons. So make sure you’re subscribed so you can join the discussion as we continue to learn more about all things space. Thank you very much for watching and I’ll
see you in the next video.
