Later this year, SpaceX will perform the first orbital flight of Starship. Originally, the plan was for Super Heavy to splashdown in the ocean because no one thought they would try to catch it on the first attempt. Well, now it seems like catching it on the first attempt really is an option (and perhaps very likely). This video looks at why SpaceX might be confident enough to catch it and what will happen if something goes wrong.
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Short on time? Feel free to skip ahead in this video using the chapter links below.
00:00 Falcon 9 First Successful Landing
00:22 How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster
01:03 SpaceX's Critical Super Heavy Decision
01:52 SpaceX Orbital Test Flight Plan
03:57 SpaceX Updated Launch Plan
05:35 SpaceX's Critical Super Heavy Decision
06:12 Why Would SpaceX Risk a Catch?
06:57 What Happens if the Catch Goes Wrong?
Thanks to the following creators for their awesome footage:
NASASpaceflight / nasaspaceflightvideos
C-bass Productions / cbassproductions
Starship Gazer / starshipgazer
RoBossBomb / @robossbomb0000
RGVAerialPhotography / rgvaerialphotography
Cosmic Perspective / cosmicperspective
Mike Killian www.mikekillianphotography.com/
Ken Kremer / ken_kremer
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Music used in this video:
» Lemon Drops - King Stephan Sharp
» Lie On The Tracks - Trout Recording
» Down With Your Getup - Mini Vandals
Credits:
Video by Ewan Cunningham ( / ewan_cee )
#spacex #starship #superheavy
Do you think SpaceX will try to catch it first time?
yes
Yeah!
Either they have two plans set up like one for catching it and one for splashdown depending on the situation they may change.
yes
nah
If Superheavy successfully reaches the launch tower and latch on to its catching arms on first try, it's not just crazy, it will be mindblowing.
The most incredible thing is knowing that the goal is to eventually make this routine.
If Starship is mass produced and all 100 of them are launched at once, and they all land on Mars, that will be the pinnacle of human space achievement.
@@KennethAnimates Wow, a lot of technological development is going to be needed to take advantage of all that potential, living on Mars is extremely challenging. Starship is doing a good job of solving one of the many problems we face: getting there.
This will be an event told by many stoned nerdy guys to blow their mates minds
Another iron man stuff coming
And I'm just waiting for the "How to not catch a super-heavy booster" video :)
Or maybe they will nail it
probably not, they'd have to stop around the 2nd failure. blowing up rockets is one thing, extremely expensive but also relatively extremely cheap compared to the rest of the rocketry business. blowing up rocket launching infrastructure with the rocket, now that is far too costly. costly more so with time than money.
@@Dangerooman have you seen the 2nd stage test launch lol? Or the falcon 9 landing fails, Elon got cash bro 🤣
Trying to catch the first booster would surprise me. It's almost certain it won't fly again because an improved booster is already in preparation, so at best they can reuse some engines and inspect everything. That's a great opportunity - but it comes with the risk of delaying the program by months if they damage the launch pad severely. The booster doesn't have to be that far off: A few meters to the side and you hit one arm with the engine section and it'll crash and explode in one way or another. Falcon 9 needed many attempts to reach that precision. If they aim at a soft touchdown in the ocean for the first flight they can check their landing precision without risking severe delays to the whole program.
I know it's a different booster but the computing tech , guidance and everything has been perfected already , surely they ned to test the tower more than the booster guidance
I think it is worth trying just to recover all the engines so they can be used again. 33 massive rocket engines aren't cheap to build and are very valuable SpaceX. It is worth risking damage to the launch tower to try to reuse them. To put it into perspective, in 2020, NASA awarded a contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne to manufacture 18 additional RS-25 engines, for $1.79 billion.
Although Elon has stated it costs less than 1 million per Raptor engine. Each engine has more than a million in value to the company if they can be reused.
@@timfennell3380 elone has already said they cost less than 1 million each
@@timfennell3380 i think they will try to catch it , practice makes perfect
You got that right, if they attempt to catch it on the first go, it will be the craziest landing ever no matter if it works or it doesnt. "Success is not guaranteed, but excitement is" 🤣
the original narrator of the videos was a lot nicer to listen to. No disrespect to the current one. The narrator for the youtube channel Dark skies and Dark docs has that special thing about the way he sounds that is special. Some people are just gifted.
There used to be a change over when a rocket "cleared the tower" but I'm wondering if some further point where there would be minimal damage to the tower complex might be more appropriate considering the greater power and more fuel.
No buttery smooth narrator voice ? Is he getting too expensive ? :)) Same great content tho.
No matter how they decide to land it the data they will gather from that first launch and attempted landing will be so crucial to the second attempt
Top quality video! Enjoyed your voice over on this one more. I think the other guy is great to though so hopefully you keep him around.
what's with tech video channels? after getting used to the voice you change the person
What happened to the old announcer??? Sorry to see him not here.
This guy isn't bad but I love and prefer the old announcer tbh
Cant wait for them to catch it! Good video!
This is awesome def hit the like
Nice video. Thanks!
Who is this voice? I am hearing for the first time. I prefer the other one. No hate bro. Your voice is good but I am used to it so much that it kind of caught me lol
as far as I know this is his real voice.
The channel owner was speaking here...
I like the other too. Not watching, sry bro.
@@martinultimatevw3779 your not going to watch him because of a different voice
So you prefer a robot voice over someone’s genuine voice?
Dude I respect you for creating this channel and I love it but I really do prefer the other guys voice narration. You're not bad but I'm used to his and I really like it. Please bring it back. Thanks!
Assuming this is YOU, who was that other voice? I am not sure which I prefer TBH!
"Exciting and terrifying" Well put!
Great video! Couldn’t have said it in a better way.
0:48 That is perfect! lol
Great video, but one minor point of note - the current ship is S24, not SN24 (it's even printed on the nosecone (twice!)). 🙂 Another point of note is that work on converting the oil rigs to landing platforms was temporarily halted some months ago in order to focus on the orbital work
Great vid, thanks! It sounded to me like SpaceX is going to decide whether to RTB depending on how the flight is going. So I agree with you if stage sep goes well and Booster looks good, they can try to land at Starbase. If not, in the water 20 miles out. Because, if things have gone well up to then, why ditch Booster in the Gulf, when the next step is to test catching? [Answer: To find out if Booster can indeed come to a halt at a specific point in space.] Or maybe Elon is just bringing it up now to make sure it's not a problem when he needs that permission down the road. Almost a year ago Elon said he'd be happy if Starship didn't rud on launch. A couple klicks up and the mission is a success. Now he is talking as if he's pretty confident in everything up to stage sep at least. And he likes the simulations. So I'd guess a 30% chance he goes for it. This is so cool, like the early days of NASA. Young engineers with no care that no one has ever done this before.
Whatever happens, it'll be spectacular. Either a spectacular explosion on the pad, a spectacular fully successful attempt or a spectacular explosion of either starship, super heavy or both
Whoa, your voice changed!! Hahaha :D Really nice video, perfectly describing the way the SpaceX currently handles things and how they will likely handle the upcoming test flight! Super excited to see it! Also, to my knowledge, NASA has numerous concerns over a Starship launch from LC-39A until it is a proven vehicle because not only could such a large explosion be hazardous, but it could damage the main launch tower which is currently the only way NASA has of sending astronauts to the Space Station. So using LC-39A as a backup launch tower could take quite some time to get approval for and they might never get approval for using it before Starship is proven to be a reliable launch vehicle. I do wonder if SpaceX could address most of the concerns by simply landing Super Heavy at a separate landing site like Falcon 9 does.
Awesome, thanx
If SpaceX catches the booster first try on the first attempt, I will go NUTS
I think we all will, I thought I went insane during the SN8 launch, but it seems that will be nothing compared to the first catch attempt
@@the1natester734 ikr!
this aged well
Any reason why the tank farm is built so close to the tower?
Hope one day we can become so used to watch chopstick catch the super heavy like we watch falcon 9 land on drone ship now.
Hi guys it would be nice if space x could catch the booster for the first time that would be awesome it’ll be awesome if the hole ship 🚢 takes off great 👍 video thanks for your updates David 🙏🇬🇧❤️🚀👍
I wonder if we'll get a callout on the live stream like "Superheavy is GO for catch attempt"
Yeah, by now I hope they are confident enough to try. If a partially bad scenario happens (during a failed catch attempt, the damage of the tower or launchpad, maybe the tank farm which is a bit farther away), they can repair the infrastructure in a few months. If really the worst happens (explosion of both Starship and super heavy on the launchpad at the start, this would be catastrophic for the whole test site). Later they can continue their program at Cape with 1 or 2 years of delay. I think this amount of time could fit in Starship's development progress.
When is the orbital attempt?
I read crash or splash on the thumbnail🤣
I predict a successful launch AND catch!
Hi from the future, I think you had very high expectations about the test flight. Even though it was really impressing.
But it did fulfill the level of excitement as advertised! ;o)
I'm sorry, but I think you'll need to work on your audio setup a bit. The narration is quite good actually, but there are several technical issues in the audio. 1. There's reverb in the room you're in, you should look into adding some acoustic paneling on the walls 2. There's plosive popping (P and B sounds), adding a pop filter should mitigate these quite a bit 3. I'm not sure about this one, but it sounds to me like the microphone might not be shock mounted (the rubber band spider mount thingy), so any vibration from the table gets transferred to the mic. Again, I could be wrong here, but that's what it sounds like 4. Finally, the microphone you use doesn't sound all that good, but this could also just be due to the other things. A cardioid pickup condenser mic will also help with reverb, as it doesn't pick up sounds from behind the microphone, as well as also having a softer sound, and would probably sound closer to what your other narrator has. I know that most of these require some investing, but I think your voice, accent and narration are on point, it's just the technical side of things that could use some work. I hope you don't take all this in the wrong way, just trying to give some feedback :) Keep it up
i believe they will try to catch it with the tower in the first landing test! what they have to loose? time for reconstruction and repairing the damages? so what! the possibility to gain so much valuable information (if the test fails), will lead to a faster development in the long run.
Unless I've missed something - I would think that its more likely that they'd try to catch Starship rather than the booster. The starship is lighter and would cause less damage if the catch went wrong. I also think the tower does not look strong enough to take a large 'shock loading'.
Starship doesn't get caught, it lands like falcon 9 (look up videos on prior flight tests) The booster gets caught
@@Alucard-gt1zf nope they will try to catch the ship too. Thats why they don‘t build landing legs anymore for the ship
The Falcon 9 with 1 engine cannot throttle down it's trust enough to hover.. yet it still lands by timing it's landing burn. Starship is heavy enough to hover.. and therefore it can just stay in the air until it gently guides itself to where it needs to be. With hovering in theory it should be more easy to do a landing so precise that 2 chopsticks could pluck it out of the sky.. there shouldn't be any shock loading.. just a gentle touch followed by engine shutdown
Surely all the guidance software has already been tested using falcon and you have the additional benefit with the fact starship booster can hover and throttle the engines . In reality the one thing that needs practice is the launch tower catch arms , I will be surprised if they miss an opportunity to practice ,
They will keep that catching option open as long as they can. Probably at least to after liftoff. That’s just reasonable. From there it depends on how it goes. Crossing fingers.
Why Spacex does not first test the booster is off the back of something Musk said which was to the effect of: "...we have a huge amount of experience with boosters & therefore confidence levels are high". Personally I think its too much in one go...I would first test the booster. Having said that, the tank farm is so close, that, without any alternative, catching it would pose a big risk in damaging tower and/or the farm. So, presumably Musk's TDD and gambling nature given the latter rationale === Let's go for the whole hog. 33 Engines with that much thrust...omg...i think if it takes off, they already winning. If it puts S24 into orbit, an enormous win...would i risk catching it...it depends on how long it would take to get a new tower + chop-sticks + tank farm done from scratch? at a guess: It would put Boca Chica back probably months.
Your point is valid,may mask look view's.
They have insane simulations that are nearly lifelike. It's the same reason SN8 was able to basically prove out the concept of landing before the engines gave out; They know based off their simulation that it works and makes sense. The missing variations are how well the hardware side of everything holds up. That said, these OTF attempts are all about proving out hardware reliability, not about testing to see if their ideas make sense.
not catching it is the guaranteed loss of a lot of raptors though
please return the old narrator
You gonna pay for him?
The guy talking here is the channel owner...
This guy isn't bad but I love and prefer the old announcer tbh
Considering that the guy who build the launch tower for the world’s most powerful rocket did so within a couple hundred yards of a very large tank farm, it’s not hard to imagine him risking all of it to demonstrate his confidence in his mega-rocket by trying to catch it on its 1st flight. Actually, I think he has a decent chance of pulling that off. Would be amazing. As would the explosion if he fails.
Indeed 1:22 so far only 1(one) rapt booster, which was the middle catch land cone was tested, it gave such a intense wave of splash boarder flares, those 19+ could incinerate the OLT, the multi mix of fuel flow and weight bare holding on the OLT was to many recipe of disaster. Fuel filling should've been a separate component. I would also designed/requested the OLT ring tray to split into two(2) arm limb holds (aka mechaZ legs/paws if you will) to evade the blast during lift up/off OLT. Or raise Mechazilla base foundation with a bridge plank OLT, making room for a blast bowl pit for splash boarder field.
whats up with the audio? sounds bad with a weird noise sometimes
8:20 starship always lifts off the ground, at least by 9 feet :)
It seems good if they leave enough fuel in the booster, they could "test" an extended a landing catch, but have an abort option to the ocean if needed.
i give %50 chance booster destroying tower and they decide to move other way :) cant wait to see how it will go.
128 landings already??? Hot damn...
Make a test tower and site it well away from other infrastructure. Include only fully functional chopsticks and other catching related parts, but without all the fuelling and other non essential equipment. This tower could be simpler in structure but more robust (wider base on three sides?) and include multiple strain/load sensors to measure actual loads during the catch.
This is actually a great idea. I think in Elon's mind, Starbase Texas is the test tower and the "official" launch tower will be in Florida. Having the tower so close to the tank farm makes me nervous though.
Simple answer is no. They’ll want to prove to themselves they can precisely control, land and hover it first, preferably somewhere that doesn’t risk destroying the launch pad.
If the answer was that simple then SpaceX wouldn't have updated the application shown at 4:00 to include two options. They would have left the original application alone, which already stated an ocean touchdown and nothing else.
I think they'll play it safe, 'til they have landing pads which are a lot safer to risk. I know that's an odd sentence, but if it goes wrong at Starbase, they could wipe out the whole Starship fueling infrastructure in one go. That said, given how ballsy SpaceX are, I wouldn't be surprised if they did go for the catch. The Falcon Heavy test flight, other than the central core faux pas, was perfect first time. Maybe this will go the same way?
Doubtful. Deimos is a year away from readiness, and they're only barely working on Phobos. Of anything, the tower at Boca Chica is the most disposable item, sad though that would be to see nuked. The only thing _more_ disposable than Boca Chica would be a dedicated catch tower with no OLM or fuel farm nearby, and that doesn't exist on any of the plans I've seen.
3:00 the super heavy booster has no way to land anywhere but at a tower. So it either returns to launch site and gets caught by the tower, or splashes down in the ocean.
Wonder what the starship costs vs the tower
Well that answers that question. They made it off the ground but not to orbit. They didn't get a chance to attempt a landing.
bruh this is an old video
@@joge2 I know 👍🏼
@@pooounderscoreman ok
I think they should make another tower for the first few catch attempts until they really got it down and then start catching it at the launch tower
With all due respect and humble opinion, i think using landing legs would be the better option as it is already tried and tested by the falcon 9 launch vehicle....
This is all just my opinion, but I think after experiencing the damage that they had to repair to the OLM after B7s relatively little explosion, SpaceX is probably wary of damaging the stage 0 hardware again so soon. I also think that with the relatively unproven chopsticks combined with the very first flight of a booster, that it is extremely unlikely that they will attempt to catch even the first couple of boosters. They can simulate the landing right off shore and get lost of data on how the vehicle handles and reacts, so I don't see the benefit of trying to catch the booster on their very first attempt other than to prove that the chopsticks can be used successfully for that. Edit: I think we also should keep in mind that this is entirely dependant on everything going right on the launch. This is brand new technology doing things that have never been attempted before so it will honestly be extremely likely that the ship and booster fail to even make it far off of the pad on the first attempt. All that being said i think it is safe to say that SpaceX's perseverance and rapid testing campaign mean that it will probably become a reality in the not too distant future even if not for several flights.
any way SpaceX must have some more spare chopstick, since, it is to be expect to fail one or two time at least and they also need some more tower for future if booster catching can be done successfully and reliable enough..
They are referred to as splashdown and touchdown because one is a booster and one is a ship
This will change everything. I'm 31 and watching the changes SpaceX implemented is amazing. It makes me excited for 2050s 60s. I legitimately might go to space in my lifetime. I might be 60 but who cares.
Is it not a good idea using the autonomous barge for a splash or catch fail safe type thing Edit: I'm further in and have now realised... its a maybe?
The second tower in Florida certainly suggests they’re getting ready to (maybe) lose one.
In a way Super Heavy booster landing is easier and could be better controlled than falcon 9 landing. Booster can hover, falcon 9 can't so it needs to do precise suicide burn to stop itself just at the moment it reaches the pad. Super Heavy should theoretically be able to stop at just the right altitude and stand in place for few seconds, i mean it should be able to do that so that it can be caught by the tower. So i think they'll land it in water like that the first time. Get it 50 meters or so above water and make it stand in place and observe how hard is to control, how the wind affects it, does it veer of position or not and by how much...etc etc Basically simulate a landing with kind of "virtual catch tower" at precribed coordinates. If all is well then they'll try real landing next time. I think its the best option, because Super Heavy booser is inexpensive time and money wise when compared to landing site and tower and all the hardware contained there.
It's a roll between whether 33 raptors are worth more than the fuel farm or not If booster lands in water all the engines on it are destroyed no matter the actual physical damage
It makes sense to try to catch it. That way they can test everything at the same time while also having to pay for only one launch. So it's cheaper and more time efficient.
The guidance systems have already been perfected on falcon booster now they need to perfect the arms on the tower , so i believe they will try on the first launch
But rebuilding stage zero would be extremely expensive and time inefficient. No matter what happens it's sure to be exciting
The locks won’t release until all 33 engines are up and running. So yes, the SH stack will leave the ground. It’s what happens next that’ll get everyone’s heart racing.
SpaceX has mastered the powered landing. WHy not just do it that way for the superheavy booster too? And also the Starship. Getting them to go again within a day is not as important as making sure they land safely at this time in the beginning. Put the damn legs on both.
Not putting the word "crash", beside "landing", only fuels my optimism.
What about the third option: Clplatch?
Ever notice how the A in the logo looks like a Y? It was in front of us the whole time ahhah.
Where was the previous voice of this channel?
If the booster performs great and successfully launches and returns without any issues then they will probably try it. The falcon 9 can not hoever, engine is to powerful, so it needs to perform a suicide dive. Superheavy can hover and because they will probably not maximise the payload it will probably have more then enough fuel left for a slow controlled landing
Damn, Elon and his team are amazing! Even if this does not go perfectly the mere fact that they feel confident to attempt this is epic.
Why spacx put the tank farm so so so close to the launch tower... Those tanks should have major steel frame and concrete box totally encasing them...
Starship booster has the added advantage of having the capability to hover. Falcon 9 engines are too powerful to hover. Superheavy will also be low on fuel when it returns so any explosion may not be catastrophic.
They have to try to catch it for the first time eventually. It will be as risky of they do it on the tenth flight as it will be on the first except that they wouldn't have tested the final burn and hover. So, I say "go for it."
A landing catch will be attempted during the first flight.
The Falcon 9 with 1 engine cannot throttle down it's trust enough to hover.. yet it still lands by timing it's landing burn. Starship is heavy enough to hover.. and therefore it can just stay in the air until it gently guides itself to where it needs to be. With hovering in theory it should be more easy to do a landing so precise that 2 chopsticks could pluck it out of the sky
Not one mention of the freedom loving Texans?
3:50 Booster has no legs!
Great video! Your accent changed...
Yeah someone.... Someone going to explain that?
Nether Ship 24 nor its booster can land on land. They don't have the hardware. Only 2 options: Chopsticks or water.
Booster and super heavy are not the same thing right
If spaceX splashes down the starship near hawaii,my guess is that they would likely tow it to point nemo where it can be safely sunk and out of sight
Why would they sink it......
They did static fires for Falcon Heavy. You can't practice catching with the launch tower, only lifts. They did single booster landings for Falcon 9 and reused the hardware and software on Falcon Heavy. Super Heavy is an entirely new booster altogether. Starship program is nothing like Falcon Heavy. I don't think the booster will be caught (I mean, we don't even know whether booster 7 or 8 is flying first at this point) SpaceX often changes plans to make things simpler, such as not flying a proper payload on Falcon Heavy test flight or basically the entire history of Starship starting with the Raptor engine in 2012 (it was supposed to run on hydrogen back then).
yes
Cool
Because it's super-heavy!😀
its pretty crazy to think that we might just manage to get people on mars in my lifetime.
I believe that Starship is gonna be the first one to get humans on mars, Go SpaceX!
I wouldn't catch it on the first try. Drop one in the water because the first try is to test the booster. What's the hurry?
I really hope that they try to catch it on the first try.
i think they will build a separate tower just for practicing the catch only in case the landing fails, that would not ground the other launch tower. It would still be a long way till they first successfully catch a booster.
I think it's a definite maybe.
You'd have to think the chances of them doing a chopstick catch on the first try are very slim, probably
No matter what happens, seems like the tank farm is danger close.
when will starship launch?
Great question
@@pixselious bruh
Why do a video when we all have to wait and find out!!