Changes Are Coming To SpaceX Starbase | Starship

NSF Breaks down this new 143-page document that outlines significant modifications to launch operations, including increased launch frequencies and major launch pad redesigns. Explore the substantial changes proposed in SpaceX's latest environmental assessment for Starbase. Join us as we dissect these pivotal updates and their potential impacts on both space operations and the surrounding environment.
🔗 NSF Store: www.nasaspacef...
⚡ Become a member of NASASpaceflight's channel for exclusive discord access, fast turnaround clips, and other exclusive benefits. Your support helps us continue our 24/7 coverage. Click JOIN above to get started.⚡
🤵 Hosted by Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro)
🖊️ Written by Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera (@alexphysics13)
🎥 Video from BocaChicaGal, Jack Beyer, Sean Doherty, Starbase Live
The FAA, NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Tesla, Pexels.
✂️ Edited by Ryan Caton (@DPodDolphinPro)
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed)
🔍 If you are interested in using footage from this video, please review our content use policy: www.nasaspacef...
L2 Boca Chica (more clips and photos) from BC's very early days to today.
🔗 forum.nasaspac...
(Join L2 and support NSF here: www.nasaspacef...)
#SpaceX #Starbase #EnvironmentalImpact #RocketScience #SpaceXStarship #FAA #SpaceNews

[@scottgriz]

NSF doing NSF things: "...a 143 page draft document that we made Alex analyze."

[@DebraJean196]

Only Alex could have written this, and only Ryan could have delivered it clearly and concisely enough to make it understandable! Well done NSF!!!!!

[@JimMZed]

This is a masterful summary of a very complex document. Thanks to Alex for all the work he put into this!

[@jiko7376]

The KSP representations hit hard

[@not2busy]

I still wish they would consider a rail network to transport the vehicles and completely avoid the highway closures. A very good, detailed video. Well done! 👍

[@Nuke-MarsX]

Its not as easy as it sounds

[@andrewreynolds912]

Ntw question why is ur name tha​@@Nuke-MarsX

[@andrewreynolds912]

​@@Nuke-MarsX that way I mean

[@spacewitch3707]

there's the argument that building infrastructure like that would require building into the water (because of the lack of space) which would damage the habitats (all sorts of issues there). however, i think it's reasonable to argue that the benefits to the environment of removing all those trucks would outweigh the costs of building the infrastructure. i definitely think several pipelines at least to the nearest port or rail yard would be a good idea

[@captaindaedalus1]

I've been suggesting a rail system since the beginning. Better yet, elevate the rail system above the road to eliminate road closures.

[@wilfridsetterfield-milln4910]

Man's got the Bourbon.

[@BCR81]

“Alex, analysis!”

[@sunkid86]

The scrutiny about rocket launches seems ridiculous compared to what the Oil and Gas industry has been getting away for decades. And public opinion tends to put all that emphasis on Starship rather than the actual culprits of environmental pollution.

[@ghost307]

SpaceX will likely need to upgrade their electric power again. Air separation and condensation is very energy intensive.

[@BTW...]

And yeah, do they reckon that energy consumption of unknown generation method into total emissions from a massive expansion on that site?

[@ghost307]

@@BTW... Assume 100% wind and solar, just like the people who tout EVs ignore where their power is coming from.

[@LunnarisLP]

@@ghost307 they dont. They just dont pretend it is a 100% dirty coal like EV haters seem to do. And even if EVs were powered completely with dirty energy they would still have better emissions over their livespan and power production is getting cleaner every year as well. Either way producing things locally is still better than using power elsewhere and then transporting them in, no matter if it is 100% solar and wind or not. So emissionwise this will be an improvement.

[@ashtonmiller-z1n]

@@LunnarisLP nuclear fission/fusion is still far far far far far far cleaner in the carbon emsions if the usa legaized nuclear fuel reprosceing so all of that nuclear weapons grade poltuiom is also very good for makeing RTG's and nuclear sterling genrators needed for space craft and of corse ptuing humans on mars for long term colasztion by the way. aslo most of nuclear waste is like 96% recyclebile with nuclear fuel resprosing so the usa needs to legalzie nuclear fuel resprceing bescue wihout it nuclear power for fission and fosuion will never be vaible wihtout it.

[@theOrionsarms]

0.35 kwH/kg, with a 42 MW installation running 24/7 they can make enough liquefied oxygen for a starship in a week.

[@MattA-fi5qe]

Biscuits are officially in the NSF budget, let's goooo

[@andrewrozario5127]

NASA Spaceflight is the rocket engineering news gold standard!

[@josephftruncale7051]

So well done. Clear and comprehensive. I don’t understand how you all accomplish this, but it is much appreciated.

[@BenjySparky]

Ryan and NSF, y'all rock! Peace

[@junweng34]

I didn't aware its a 28 minutes long video until Ryan bring up the biscuit. XD

[@Westythe3rd]

Awesome video! Thanks guys

[@fwd79]

That was very entertaining to watch, very impressive Ryan, keep going 👍

[@NASASpaceflight]

Thanks a ton! The team worked hard on this one! - Das

[@philleng480]

Glad to see Ryan eating a BISCUIT rather than a COOKIE 🤣

[@bricktop7803]

Epic research team NSF. That is a lot of quality work the team integrated into this episode. Ryan, you should not expose you US colleagues to KitKat or Penguins. It is just not fair to them.

[@MickRonald]

At the beginning of the video, Ryan says "this is going to be a long one". He wasn't kidding. Long indeed, with a lot of great information. Thank you NSF.

[@WilboBaggins-dm7ub]

Ryan didn't take many breaths; great detail; grat pace; may have to watch twice.

[@corrinastanley125]

Interesting news. Thanks Ryan and Alexphysics for the explanations.

[@59seank]

Outstanding work Alex and Ryan!!!

[@rays2506]

Excellent review of complex subject matter. Thanks.

[@JeffreyOakley]

On the topic of jettisoning the hot staging ring up to 20 times: Once SpaceX is catching Super Heavy boosters they may start to re-fly them so the integrated hot staging hardware will probably come well before booster 31.

[@EZCarnivore]

Exactly what I was thinking

[@jeroenk3570]

What happened with the "making methane in situ" plans? That would save a lot of traffic and carbon neutral(-isch).

[@ale131296]

To make the methane in situ they would need a lot more energy than they're using already, it's not really easy to do

[@TroyRubert]

That first night launch on a clear night is going to be sick. The same goes for the first pre-sunrise launch.

[@animal9432]

Ryan does a great job; he has a bright future in broadcasting.

[@thearpox7873]

If by broadcasting you mean NSF, sure. Hard to outdo them when it comes to space related news and analysis, not to mention a lovely place to work at.

[@KieranHolroyd]

Using a bourbon over a custard creme is a bold choice

[@The_Devil_Riser]

Custard crème ? Jammy dogger

[@Stormcrow_1]

Bourbon, means he's a man of culture.

[@michaelwilliams2593]

Suppression of acoustic energy that could damage the vehicle is normally a key function of a water deluge system. With or without a trench.

[@ale131296]

Not all water deluge systems work as sound suppression systems. Saturn V for example did not have a sound suppression system but it did have a water deluge system. The water deluge would protect the launch deck and flame diverter below from the heat of the engines during liftoff. Same with Starship's first launch pad, the water cools the steel plate and keeps it from melting but does not work as a sound suppression system

[@TheVillageIdiotUk]

I love sonic booms in moderation, but I’m not sure the turtles would agree.. Used to set the clock by the sonic boom from Concorde as it powered up leaving southern English shores over the Bristol Channel. Great summary, Ryan !

[@Yazooh74]

Bourbon biscuits are top. Great vid as always

[@MrKellymcilrath]

Great indepth explanation Ryan, awesome writing Alex, Thank you NSF!

[@Harald-]

Didn't get any biscuits for "a long one", but I did twist up a fatty!

[@markhoogenboom4082]

That was a great summary of things to come. It's amazing to see all the twists and turns as the Starship Program treks forward to become the world's first fully and rapidly reusable rocket. From the first small hop to the upcoming 5th IFT it is an amazing thing to witness! Thanks for the coverage NSF.

[@Tmccreight25Gaming]

In regards to the water systems, surely they could install a desalination and filtration system at the launch site and masseys and use sea water or water from the Rio Grande.

[@marthajohnson2775]

Thank you for breaking the process down into different parts. There is an incredible amount of work to be done within various government guidelines. I have no doubt SpaceX is up to the task. This company makes miracles look easy. Go SpaceX!

[@Wurtoz9643]

I don’t think both tank farms look equally good but the vertical one looked cooler.

[@DavJumps]

But it blocked the public's view of the rocket from their closest, easily accessible vantage point.

[@hotrodandrube9119]

Hopefully they build a big PV array over the horizontal tanks to make some power, and showcase tesla's pv tiles' strength protecting the farm.

[@DavJumps]

@@hotrodandrube9119 Or, you know, on the giant roof of the Star Factory.

[@martinsmith1395]

Great video Ryan, appreciate the research .. and the video overlay work didnt go unnoticed : )

[@joerich3675]

If they reuse some of the boosters (like #14-15) won't they then have to use more hot fire rings--hence the need for 20? Maybe this doesn't mean an upgrade is so far away?

[@Veptis]

Build train tracks, build a terminal in the channel. Build a pipeline. or produce the commodities on site? There is plenty better solutions than a highway and trucks. especially for large scale infrastructure.

[@ghost307]

That's the intention of the air separation plant.

[@iamaduckquack]

Not for methane. ​@@ghost307

[@aritakalo8011]

and the environmental impact of plowing a rail or pipeline there? The main point is: They are trying to run major industrial and infrastructure on a site with not enough room or capacity for it. By the way none of this is new virgin news. This has been analyzed and warned about by people like ESGHound already before. With them simple doing the same math except with scale level estimates instead of the exact numbers SpaceX and FAA have. "They plan to launch this many world largest piles of methane and LOX, its in total this big pile of methane.... Like that is a natural gas wells production worth of annual methane use. How the heck would they pull that of in that place. It has no such methane infrastructure and oh right, the plunked the facility right next to a nature preserverate, meaning good luck with getting permits for massive petro-chemical plant" People called him nanny nayseyr. Oh and they can't make a harbor... that is a protected wet land. They can't go dredging it for harbor channel. If any boats are to be used, they have to use port of port isabel or brownsville, since those already exists. Again I'm sure Port Isabel is just thrilled with that large amounts of methane moving and being stored next to them. This is just the inevitable final official thing of "You want to launch how many? Okay then we have to add up the math for that many, ohhhhhh those are big numbers".

[@ghost307]

Unfortunately, a train s a non-starter because SpaceX doesn't own the property parallel to the highway. Same issue with installing a pipeline.

[@personpeoplepeoplepersons5722]

​@@ghost307 you are the only person here to have an actual answer. It's definitely unfortunate that they can't use trains tho.

[@faisalsvideoworld]

Interesting to see what starships future holds

[@CrazyAmazingDesigns]

Yeah!! You had to make Alex Analyze it 😂🤣. The man probably didn’t sleep for 48 hours.

[@andrewramage5850]

With the air separation plant, would adding a desalination plant reduce the truck numbers sufficiently ?

[@IsabellaIsabella-mc1tx]

Hi great NSF team congratulations ❤

[@LindaMadlala]

Great summary, quite informative. Dankie🙌

[@Meister1551]

There's a reason that this entire process is called Prototyping. SpaceX must work through countless design changes in order to settle on the one that functions as Musk envisions. Testing the different stages of development is the only way to achieve this.

[@Todestelzer]

I do the same thing when design a new part. 3D printing it when it seems it could work and test it. Making changes till it works.

[@IsabellaIsabella-mc1tx]

Congratulations Ryan

[@mikesbasement6954]

It's the US government. We'll be lucky to live long enough for them to finish the assessment.

[@_xavier2357]

Great video as usual Ryan🎉

[@ghegun]

Excellent update - great job !!!!

[@headforscience]

0:40 Now I'm hungry

[@herbbayer9099]

Excellent stuff! Thank you!

[@SpiritualistWolf133]

The vertical tanks were an eyesore, glad they are gone!

[@PeteSty]

Great video. Hats off to the SpaceX team for all their work!

[@rcgrapevine]

Great reporting 🎉

[@alanblyde8502]

Well narrated yet again Ryan 👌🇦🇺

[@jamescooper5598]

Fantastic, great show

[@ANGRY_AMERICAN]

As long as Starship has enough pressure in it there shouldn't be any issue with horizontal transport

[@ssshady08]

I remember waking up to the shuttle and it Sonic booms coming over Florida, if I didn't know there was a landing coming it would scare the hell out of me. But after I heard it and I woke up and realized what it was, cuz they're very distinctive, I turned on the TV and watched it.

[@ronking8726]

Thank you. Great reporting

[@elkjagger]

Great video

[@walterrwrush]

Great work 😊

[@sprinter768]

They should also bring back the idea of constructing a desalinization plant nearby to use water from the gulf for the launch complex.

[@hotrodandrube9119]

Or some wells, from all the dewatering of the ground that they already have to do.

[@simonyapp]

So much work must have gone in to this episode. 🎉👍👍

[@JohnSostrom]

The new traffic for the commodities would affect the road itself. When they do, they could lay in new underground cryogenic piping to a terminal station just outside Barstow. That would dramatically reduce road ware.

[@dphuntsman]

Excellent report by you and the team, Ryan!- Dave Huntsman

[@xfreDDersx_96]

Also you rock RYAN it's nice to see a fellow Brit on a predominantly American channel

[@jamescobban857]

As already shown in the report SpaceX is preparing to extract oxygen and nitrogen directly from the atmosphere. That is basically done by chilling the air down and separating the oxygen and nitrogen based upon their different boiling points. So they will no longer need tanker trucks to deliver those supplies. Why would SpaceX not just pay for a natural gas supply line to the separation plant, and do their own natural gas liquification, eliminating those trucks as well.

[@ANGRY_AMERICAN]

Having an onsite air Seperator and a water well or pipeline from town would greatly reduce truck traffic

[@Blaine785]

Something to watch with my afternoon ramen Thanks to NSF!!!!!!

[@jimbrohn2100]

Good Job Sir 🤓!!!! Go Team NSF !!!

[@gncolgan]

Ryans the best!

[@xfreDDersx_96]

I agree with Alex especially as there is a much better horizon to see the olit!!

[@personpeoplepeoplepersons5722]

Maybe they should build some rain infrastructure to supply it instead of trucks. It'll probably be a lot cheaper in the long run.

[@raytribble8075]

It would seem that considerations of Star Island could be advantageous. Build a 5 acre offshore platform for catch and launch capabilities. It would be cool if SpaceX would move Star Hopper to a place near the main office by Star Factory.

[@FutureAZA]

20+5 launches per year... love it!

[@xfreDDersx_96]

Not surprised that the environmental checks fly by as all of the pads have been around since the 60's, but Boca Chica is a relatively new area for launches

[@ricchamen6304]

An interesting informative show ThankU very much. For both your time and effort put into the show. As SpaceX fans we all appreciate your efforts immensely.

[@PaulSter]

Nice update. Thanks! 👍

[@RedSkysAreOnFire]

Iate my biscuits, dark chocalate digestives

[@hazelnut11022]

Sausage tanks?? Weren't those hotdog tanks??🤔

[@sonnyburnett8725]

Great video and lots of good info, didn’t even notice the time.

[@danapeck5382]

Great summary. Welcome to the world of Federal permitting. If you support SpaceX, it's worth getting on the distribution list and submitting comments. Check out commenting groups; if you belong to any, send them your reaction to their position. Same for your Congressional members. Get active and help defend your priorities. it makes a difference

[@StephenPrice-ze8xh]

What about obtaining CH4 from an LNG tanker instead of a bunch of trucks? There are numerous LNG facilities on the Gulf Coast (Corpus, Sabine Pass, ..) that could be tweaked to provide pure CH4 liquified. An offloading facility at Boca Chica would certainly be non-trivial, but maybe it would still be better than trucks trucks trucks.

[@S1nwar]

it's always interesting that humans build an intuition from driving cars that accelerating & driving faster = bad for fuel efficiency, while for rockets its almost the complete opposite so slapping more engines onto superheavy and ship seems like a must!

[@franko6487]

16:55 Hot stage ring expending 20x doesn't account for the same booster being used multiple times with different host stage rings. It's not 1:1 hot stage and booster, once they start catching

[@cyteen02]

NSF videos should each have a biscuit category - this one is definitely a chocolate bourbon

[@ChaosDivision64]

SpaceX is getting main water lines directly to starbase

[@xfreDDersx_96]

Wouldn't surprise me if once pad B is fully functional that they upgrade pad A

[@NelsonsWings]

Excellent!

[@davidmclean357]

odd thought... only 25 launches a year for starship? I suppose for any other company that's a heavy cadence but compared to falcon it seems slow. Kind of indicates how SpaceX normal vs. industry normal are very, very different

[@ale131296]

SpaceX is asking for 44 launches per year from LC-39A and 76 launches per year from SLC-37 so with all three locations up and running they'd be able to launch 145 times a year with Starship. 25 sounds low just because it is one launch site but there'll be many eventually, some will be able to launch more than others but combined would add up to thousands of launches eventually.

[@davidmclean357]

@@ale131296 Ok that sounds a lot more like what I expect from SpaceX - which is still way ahead of anyone else.

[@RandomPerson-V]

​@@davidmclean357Considering that boca-chica is always said to be their R&D site primarily, yeah that makes sense.

[@richardingram3517]

Go to most remote southern location in US and still get hammered by environmental.

[@waywardscythe3358]

it's not like the environment stops existing. but why not do things the Exxon or Nestle way and disregard the environment totally? that never had any consequences.

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

Because the Boca Chica is remote it is also ideal for a wildlife refuge which is protected space by federal law. Wildlife refuges are often in remote places.

[@ANGRY_AMERICAN]

If space becomes the next rare elements rush it would reduce the risk of war here on earth

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

That might just transfer war into space which could be worse?! Who knows?

[@Ch33ziTzsk8R]

It’s kinda cool to think about the launch mount clamps and how much weight each arm is holding or with v 3 going to be holding,

[@NOM-X]

Another, if X expects to have that high of a cadence, then X amount of tankers has to be reduced, and a supply line has to be put into play. It will save money and time. But I'm sure they are already looking this. You cant have a mile long tanker convoy waiting before each flight. That is honestly my biggest worry. Unless they massively expand the farm."

[@Powerhead1000]

If I were SpaceX I would consider either building a very large holding farm depot near the intersection of Boca Chica Blvd & Oklahoma Ave. and pipe the fuels underground from there to the tank farm at Star Base. Or they can build a proper dock at the entrance to South Bay Pass, which is almost directly north of the launch pad, have large tanker ships deliver and hold it there. Then pipe what is needed directly to Star Base.

[@Machine_State]

I was honestly surprised they didn't install various cryo pipes back when they installed the electric cables

[@Powerhead1000]

@@Machine_State I’m sure we will see piping come into play as things ramp up even more. To me, the best option would be to dock as close as possible and go from there.

[@jmd1743]

That number of trucks sounds pretty assine.

[@ghost307]

Each truck carries around 7,000 gallons of liquid. The math doesn't lie.

[@toddincabo]

👍 Whew! For a minute there I was worried about all that extra truck pollution, good thing SpaceX "feels" like it won't add to the problem, that makes me "feel" so good inside.

[@jameslvsjo]

They really should look at rebuilding the old railway line for material and fuel deliveries.

[@wildwatashi]

That's not a biscuit!

[@Machine_State]

It is, language is regional.