Coming Soon: Starship Propellant Transfer Demos | SpaceX Starbase Update

The latest developments at Starbase with Jack Beyer! In this Starbase update, we explore the final preparations for Starship's fourth flight, including testing and assembly insights. We'll also cover NASA's recent discussions on Starship’s role in future Artemis missions, featuring advanced concepts for space rendezvous and propellant transfer. Stay tuned for detailed insights into SpaceX's ambitious plans for Starship, the backbone of future lunar and Mars missions.
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🤵 Hosted by Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer)
🖊️ Written by Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera (@AlexPhysics13)
🎥 Video from Mary (@BocaChicaGal), Sean Doherty, Jack Beyer, Starbase Live.
✂️ Edited by Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro)
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed)
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L2 Boca Chica (more clips and photos) from BC's very early days to today.
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#StarshipUpdate #SpaceX #NASA #ArtemisProgram #SpaceRendezvous #PropellantTransfer #Starbase #SpaceXTesting #StarshipV2 #SpaceXMissions #OrbitalFlightTest #SpaceDocking #SpaceExploration #StarshipNews #CryogenicTesting #SpacecraftDesign #SpacePropulsion #FutureOfSpaceTravel #SpaceInnovation #StarshipFlight4 #SpaceXLaunch #RocketScience #SpaceEngineering #MarsMission #MoonLanding #InterstellarTravel #SpaceTechnology

[@WhoDatheir]

While I appreciate the non-narrated videos of Starbase activity I don't usually watch them as I much prefer this type of video with narration. I don't pay enough attention to always understand what I'm looking at so the narration is key. Thanks and great job as always.

[@anthonycamilleri7297]

i tend to agree

[@SuperS05]

I like both. The narration is great when you're not looking at the screen.

[@rchorseman]

Another great video. Thanks for the presentation to the NSF crew in front and behind the scenes.

[@mp6756]

NSF has been delivering epic coverage of Starbase from the very beginning. Thanks to the NSF team for everything you do.

[@jswebbproductions9785]

another awesome video from NSF and great job Jack! Always love your updates! I definitely think tower 2 will be done in time for this transfer mission and hopefully online! Lets go SpaceX

[@bideford7099]

As usual Jack, stupendous work and updates. Always look forward to your reports. 😊

[@maxivy]

This channel is simply unreal. So grateful for your work

[@AdamJ03]

What an absolutely phenomenal Starbase update! Way to go! ❤

[@corrinastanley125]

Great update thanks Jack and the NSF team .

[@jimj5224]

Wow! A lot of technical info garnered by NSF from NASA and put into a nice package for us mere mortals to digest. Thanks for all your hard work

[@MickRonald]

Another outstanding Starbase Update! Can't wait to find out what the thingamajigger/whatchamacalit/doohickey turns out to be. Thank you NSF.

[@oldmanstumpie1061]

Thanks for being around and covering everything for us as it happens and keeping us informed.

[@BreakingBarriers2DIY]

*snicker* loving the humour and information. Thanks again Jack, your style is informative and fun.

[@anthonycamilleri7297]

thank you for the updates jack

[@nickdalmon8164]

Jack is so good at these. A great communicator. Great video guys

[@MrKellymcilrath]

Thank you Jack for another great SpaceX Starbase Update, Also thank you Mary, Jack, Sean, & NSF, for all the great videos!!!

[@xxl0o]

Great job, Jack! Additional kudos for defeating wind noize on the mic.

[@Jermine1269]

Incredibly interesting info, especially from NASA!! Very curious to see if they end up updating their Orion or Gateway missions as starship becomes more human-friendly

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

They will make changes for sure. The question is when Starship will be ready for that. We are still far away from that goal. I would rather see them abandon SLS and go for a combination of Falcon 9/Dragon and Starship until it is human rated. But I doubt it will happen.

[@SpaceflightExplained]

​@@knowledgeisgood9645They can't let SpaceX control too much of the plan, because it's run by a crazy billionaire with way too many ideas. Things could go weird fast.

[@favesongslist]

@@knowledgeisgood9645 I believe that Crew Dragon's heatshield is designed to be able to withstand Earth re-entry from Lunar Orbit. Crew Dragon is designed for 10 day flights. Yet it would need some sort of command module with fuel, maybe the Dragon XL design would help.

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

@@favesongslist I can see the transfer of astronauts done in earth orbit in both directions. Traveling to the Moon on Starship has to be simpler and more comfortable than on SLS or Dragon.

[@favesongslist]

@@knowledgeisgood9645 Crew Dragon docking in LEO to a Lunar Starship is a great way to travel to the Moon. Returning the Lunar Starship from Lunar Orbit back towards Earth should be achievable, The issue is having enough fuel to slow down to enter LEO. The Lunar Starship needs enough delta V to slow from 25,000mph to 17,500mph. One solution may be to have a special expendable Starship tanker to refuel the Lunar Starship in Lunar Orbit. From Mars the Starship would be fully refuelled for the journey back to Earth. This possibly may need Mars refuelling Starship in LMO. Yet to see SpaceX's full solution for returning from Mars.

[@Vinnie_728]

Gotta love it. wonderful video!

[@donwyattaz]

I really appreciate the work you guys put into these videos. Great job.

[@davidhuber6251]

Fantastic update! Thanks.

[@dphuntsman]

Excellent report, team!

[@hazelnut11022]

Thanks for this great episode, Jack!

[@arnoldsmith5754]

great update again

[@ross077]

Thanks for the detailed breakdown of how next year's propellant refuelling test will work as best we know so far.

[@Mr.Pheonix_CEP]

Great information fantastically narrated👍

[@French69]

Great video again, so hard to keep up with everything going on, this helps so much

[@donculver153]

Thanks. Jack and Jake👍👍👍👍

[@deenamerrill]

Congratulations Maxar!

[@faisalsvideoworld]

wow always love these updates by jack and when he said his brain stops working during a 12 hour stream made me crack up so much lol

[@gregoryfaith4303]

"Tanks A Lot" for the informative video.

[@stevemak8620]

Great work!

[@herbbayer9099]

Thank you very much!

[@JGS123WRPTP]

Awesome update as per.

[@bobfield69]

Thanks, Jack

[@Spherical_Cow]

I have some trouble picturing how the "pressure differential" will just magically do the prop transfer all by itself, without any pumps. Let's say it even gets to a point where 50% of the propellant has been transferred. Now, the Target and the Chaser have equal quantities of propellant, under equal pressures... and _then_ what? Seems like maybe the Target ("depot") Ship would have to be venting ullage all the time during the prop transfer, to make sure its tank pressures are always below those of the Chaser ("tanker") Ship. And the Chaser will have to augment its ullage somehow to keep its own tanks strongly pressurized - yet, without firing its main engines to leverage autogenous pressurization, it'd have to get extra GOX and GCH4 elsewhere (maybe from additional onboard high-pressure gaseous propellant bottles?) And also, sounds like the settling thrusters (on which Ship? or on both Ships?) would have to fire continuously during the entire prop transfer process. Then again, maybe a continuous ullage vent from the Target could also help keep things settled... And if the settling hot gas thrusters are on the Chaser ("tanker"), could they double up as ullage gas generators, via their own autogenous pressurization piping (could they generate enough power, to gasify enough propellant quickly enough, as a side-effect of providing the settling thrust?)

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

Or they could move the gas from the receiving ship to the delivering ship at the same rate that the propellant is transferred. It will need extra pipes for that. Complicated.

[@Spherical_Cow]

@@knowledgeisgood9645 it would also require pumps: which they specifically claim shouldn't be needed... (Remember, the whole transfer is supposed to be driven by a pressure differential; the pressure would quickly equalize and halt the transfer, unless there was some way to _maintain_ that pressure differential.)

[@jackinthebox301]

@@Spherical_Cow I think you answered your own question. They'll continuously vent the Target so whatever boil off that happens doesn't prevent further liquid transfer. It seems wasteful, but to get to the moon they don't need as much prop as say, a Mars trip. On the other hand, long term, I think your skepticism is warranted. It's like the water deluge system. They tried to run without one, but its simply not possible. You gotta figure that reducing the number of refueling launches will eventually become a priority. Some sort of pump will have to exist.

[@snakevenom4954]

Simple. Keep the Tanker ship at a higher pressure. What you could also do is just vent the methane and oxygen gas into the tanker ship to induce the high pressure so the liquid methalox will transfer through. I also don't think they will use the main tanks for the fluid transfer. So the transfer tanks will likely just be at a much, much higher pressure. Maybe like 20 Bar

[@dphuntsman]

They’re going to try the “simplest part is no part”, first; if that doesn’t work, they’ll take lessons learned, redesign quickly, & try again quicker than any others would do. One beneficiary will be Blue Origin, who gets to watch & learn for theirs for free. - Dave Huntsman

[@zedrocky6529]

“And this is your, Starbase update!” Me: Yeessssiiiirrrr!! 🥂

[@robertscraneart174]

Great Job Jack!!!!!!

[@philleng480]

Thanks Jack, love that I have stood right on the spot you are standing on. IFT4 in May?......only just if not June. Important tasks - attitude control, that's kind of useful unless you only want to send a rock into space. Funny its something we all take for granted, then we discover its not that easy after all. Keep em coming.

[@basbekjenl]

Thanks for putting this together. Whenever I checked in on the livestream I felt sad that there was no booster on the olm. I was hoping for a quick rush to show the speed. I want to see a fueling station that spaceX can start filling with fuel.

[@faisalsvideoworld]

good to know propellant transfer demo between header and tank was succesful. also cant wait for ship to ship propellant transfer demo next year yes

[@curtiswfranks]

Good info.!

[@jimgraves4197]

Thanks guys

[@AKjohndoe]

One of the best yet, thank you NSF team and Jack!

[@koolerpure]

That will be an exciting test to watch. I can’t wait to see a grouping of those ships leave earth for mars

[@badrinair]

thank you Jack, Sean, Mary and the entire NSF team for sharing such amazing updates. Really appreciate the fantastic work you guy are doing out there, day in and day out .

[@Sol24alt]

Enjoyed the video. So no pumps then, just pressure differential and small thrusters perhaps to settle the fluids for orbital refilling. Will be facinating to see the data, often the issue in space with pressure differential is maintain the differential and needed to resort to venting on the receiving tank. Will be interesting to see if a durable phase seperation trap can be developed and employed for future transfers and if this helps.

[@jamesretired5979]

Thanks

[@Huot1956]

Merci!

[@JackABeyer]

Thanks!

[@ThexBorg]

Thanks Jack

[@photogeNK]

9:49 y'all didn't include this line in the script of the previous update but I see you have all found your ways again.🗿👏🏾

[@zachb1706]

Great video Are you guys going to do a wider video on the entire committee meeting? I’d like to hear what the progress is on the space suits and such

[@m1shuC]

Great video as always guys! Did Jack steal the tokens from Sawyer? 19:55 Wanna bet the second tower will be built by the time the docking/transfer test happens next year? :D

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

Bets on time-lines are almost always wrong.

[@m1shuC]

@@knowledgeisgood9645 Sure, Stage 0 is probably more complicated to solve than Starship, but I'm pretty sure they can build the new launch complex in around 6 months once the groundworks are completed probably in summer.

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

@@m1shuC It sure is. But it is at least down on earth.

[@ThexBorg]

Removal of vertical tanks may have been an FAA requirement, aside from not adhering to regulations, but from a safety requirement particularly after the launch debris damage.

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

The FAA and the county and many others. But they don't mean much since SpaceX had already made new plans anyway. The tank farm was just v1 and now we see v2 of it. I would not be surprised to see a v3 at some point.

[@egooidios5061]

too bad. i always felt that they do this base configuration in part to test things they may nee to do in Moon or Mars. So, any idea of using other spaceships for vertical tanking facilities, close to a launch pad, is gonna be bad idea to do cause in even lower gravity those shrapnel will have lot more force to strike tanks

[@knowledgeisgood9645]

@@egooidios5061 They have one thing on their side on the Moon and Mars - the outdoor temperatures are cryogenic or near it. So they can have longer propellant lines from the tanks to the ships.

[@user-mn2gc4xs6l]

I'm thinking end of May.

[@Mitsuolevel]

Ahh jack after a long stream good times

[@JackABeyer]

😅😅😅

[@Mitsuolevel]

@@JackABeyer conky

[@JackABeyer]

@@Mitsuolevel conky

[@KirkIsmay]

My guess is that at least the booster will be back on the pad May 4th, possibly stacked with ship

[@MrSango123]

morning jack

[@datamatters8]

Great info dump. Thanks. It looks like SpaceX will be doing the propellant transfer test perhaps after they’ve done the first catch of a ship. Or do you think the xfer test will also be a test of ship catching? Either way, 2025 will be exciting.

[@adammurdoch1708]

Nice Repping Explosions and Fire merch

[@JackABeyer]

🍻

[@fredrikfarkas]

We now need wine glasses shaped as Starship, to make great toasts

[@TOMKATPEDALS]

TEAM CUBANE

[@JackABeyer]

YES!

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

I scrolled and nothing... Then I comment my question, and scripted, mine shows up, this is the very comment below it! lol So I'll ask here: Is this one of the @Explosions&Fire's Cubane Synthesis shirts? _EDIT: Oh for frack sake, and then I look down, and there was another saying exactly that..._ 🤦‍♂️🤣

[@bigdogben]

amazin

[@Stargeezer-1]

Has IFT3 found a major design flaw in starship? When payload door test performed the door could not close as ship structure changed when door opened

[@LinuzSpace]

It’s so good to see jack with a beard again🥲

[@JohnSostrom]

What are the chances that during the first or second manned flight to Mars, there could be live updates from someone with NSF on the flight?

[@krzysztof-ws9og]

Since u asked to tell when it will roll out it will roll out today ( since i can say whatever i want 😉 )

[@Engineeringchaos]

How do you plan to get views of static fires? Danger boat?

[@ScienceManiacCZ]

I have so many questions about how they will dock! Will it have just one docking port and guide pins? Where will it/they be placed at...so many more questions 😂 it's so great! Just when we think we have the beast figured out it does something new lol

[@b.b.stanfield9829]

Whatchamacallit = second launch pad component?

[@wmla31]

Should that be cubanol instead of cubane?

[@Booster-13ALIVE]

Booster 13!!

[@jameamasjid]

White paint is fireproof paint which is used on steel structures

[@chrismoule7242]

10:16 - may indeed be quicker, but it's still dreadfully slow. You'd need a hell of a lot of propellant to hold the booster steady while *these* jaws close on it.

[@Veptis]

cubane shirt - is that an E&F crossover?

[@JackABeyer]

I love E&F! Just sportin’ the merch

[@LindaMadlala]

If Starbase is this exciting to watch, imagine what Moonbase would be like 🚀🇿🇦

[@Exalerion]

5:00 Why can't this be a booster common dome flipped upside down? Makes more sense imo, seeing those stringers.

[@RainbowFish-]

At he 4:02 mark you can also see it marked as "POC' (Proof of concept) most often these may never see the day of light. By doing these mock ups, we can see what the CAD drawings will never show you. They are a critical step in any products evolution. Most often it is to either a change due to a critical flaw or possibly to save weight or in my case it is 90% of the time to save cost of material to the original BOM.

[@simonkovacic2585]

Does anyone have any idea if starship is still planned to have those large windows in the front? I feel like that might add a lot of mass and create structural weakpoints Spacex also didn't include the windows on the recent renderings of starship V2 and V3, so I'm a bit curious about that

[@ale131296]

The windows are just for the crew version so of course the renders didn't include any windows

[@Lappillainen]

I believe the lady aint playin the violin in the glow of the earth...

[@SN31x]

Ngl its still Sunday for me lol

[@ianmilham7397]

I literally said “Dev giveaway!!” About 1 second before Jack did.. kindred spirits I think 😂

[@briangodfrey7424]

Interesting about the propellant slosh. So maybe the propellant in the ship during the last test flight somehow started to spin in the tank. That might have been too much for the flaps and little attitude jets to overcome. Also, how in the world are they going to fill up the orbital tank farm and then fill HLS if they are only using differential pressure? Seems like you'd get half of the propellant transferred and then pressures would equalize and transfer would stop. Then filling HLS from a half filled tank would result in only a quarter of a tank in HLS. Who knows, lunar gravity is low, so maybe that's all they need? But I bet they'll need pumps eventually, though the simple way will get them past the first milestone.

[@ale131296]

The tanks have vents to remove or build up pressure inside of them

[@briangodfrey7424]

@@ale131296 That's nice and I see this all the time when I get my propane tanks filled, but I still don't get how it would work in space. There's no gravity up there. Pressurizing the delivery tank and depressurizing the receiving tank (differential pressure) would seem to proceed until pressures are equal. That means fuel mass would be about equal, too. Leaving the vents on the receiving tank open would allow you to fill it under gravity - I guess that's how they fill the rocket in the first place - but it seems like in zero gravity a lot of the fuel would just go out of those vents and be wasted. Hmmm. I suppose they could lock the two ships together and then use an engine to accelerate them during the transfer, keeping the fuel in both ships at the "bottom" and using the existing vents at the "top" of the tanks. Doesn't seem like it would take much acceleration, probably not even 1G. Whatever the case, I'm sure they'll work it out.

[@lazarus2691]

@@briangodfrey7424 So the key ingredient you're missing is that Starship effectively won't be refuelling in zero gravity. It will be in space yes, but it will also be under a small amount of thrust during the refuelling procedure. The forward thrust of the ships causes the fuel to settle to the back of the tanks, thus behaving similarly to on the ground. So if you open a vent at the front of one tank, only gas will come out, not liquid.

[@rayturner5186]

What happened to the "Raptor engine shop", that was suppose to manage the engines at Starbase? I'm just saying 🤷. Regards

[@ale131296]

Not sure what shop you're referring to but they have a Raptor bay right behind the Mega Bay 1 building

[@RXTRUX1]

They'll need much better attitude control if they want to dock two upper stages.

[@user-ri1cj6it3n]

Go SPACE X

[@braincontrollers666]

👍

[@wloffy]

18:44 how they will get 2 ships at the orbit? There is only 1 launch pad and looks like there wont be second one in next year. I dont think it will be ready.

[@ale131296]

If you had kept watching for another minute up until 19:44 you'd have your answer

[@wloffy]

@@ale131296 thx ive leaved 5 second before that lol

[@user-vu5yd2kg9f]

Scrapted tanks can be used for apartments

[@volkris]

Hopefully constructive feedback: I think it's better to just circle things on the screen rather than blur everything you're not focusing on while keeping the key parts in focus. It's less distracting, and also sort of preserves the context of the image better.

[@garymac-kp2fz]

instead of scraping all of those ship parts it would be cool to see them used to build a town or house

[@mikesmith3438]

It didn't look like they had control of the ship during the last test. Not sure how this is going to work out

[@theharbinger2573]

We need Benoit Blanc to discuss the holes needed for booster to ship connection. Make sure they are not actually doughnuts.

[@TimothyLipinski]

Great Video ! A new low inclination LEO CSS is needed by heading East from the KSC with a Fuel Depot nearby ! The Fuel Depot will include a Sun Shade to reduce boil off of the propellant, maybe down to near zero boil off for Oxygen (O2) and Methane (CH4) ! A Fuel Depot is also needed on the Lunar Surface (LS) near the South Pole Lunar Outpost/Base (Clementine Base). The LS Fuel Depot will be supported by the recovery of Lunar Water Ice (H2O) to fuel the HLS/LEV/LLV... Also the Hydrogen (H) from the recovered Lunar Water Ice can be used to recover Oxygen (O2) from the minerals of the Lunar Regolith ! The Tech developed to return to the moon to stay, can take US and the world to Mars and beyond ! tjl P.S. For more info read the paper "Moon Direct" by Robert Zubrin...

[@s4-bf6vp]

Prop transfer is going to look so cool, I'll bet it's going to be even brighten than the shuttle docked to the iss

[@TroyRubert]

Is that an E&I shirt?

[@JackABeyer]

Yep!

[@TroyRubert]

@@JackABeyer Nice!

[@jbak6892]

5:37 Thrust simulation doesn't really simulate the actual thrust: Where are the shakers to simulate the thrust and vibrations produced by the engines when they're running?

[@ale131296]

Well what you're asking for is a vibration test stand which they don't have. This is a thrust simulator stand, where pushers push into the aft cap of the booster simulating the force of the Raptors.

[@jbak6892]

@@ale131296 I understand what they're supposed to simulate, but they're missing a big factor of the engine thrust: engine vibration. It looked to me on the ship test flight (ship 15? The one that successfully landed then blew up shortly after) that the lower dome/thrust puck may have separated from the ship barrel section. When the methane tank was on the bottom, there was a considerable fire after it landed, like there was a tear in the weld between dome and barrel. Just sayin'…

[@ale131296]

@@jbak6892 there has never been any Starship vehicle, prototype or otherwise, where the methane tank was at the bottom

[@jbak6892]

@@ale131296 I Think you're wrong, but regardless, something on the aft end developed a leak, whether it was the dome/barrel connection, or one of the fuel lines to the engine. Simulating actual raptor thrust/vibration would bring those weak points to the fore better than simple thrust application.

[@ryansoprano5858]

Why can they build a flame trench for the ships but not OLM?

[@ale131296]

six engines vs 33 engines

[@mattd237]

whats up with booster 12?

[@ReinReads]

Crying proof testing was done in mid January. Engines currently being installed in Megabay 1 on back left stand. Door installed in late March makes it harder to keep track of status.

[@mattd237]

@@ReinReads thank you!

[@RS-25.funnybunnypvz]

jack beyer throat goat 🐐

[@daniellapish6761]

Thingamabob!

[@romec3435]

👀🚀😊