🚀 SpaceX's ISS Deorbit Plan (Plus VIPER Rover Cancelled!) | This Week In Spaceflight

Join us as we cover the latest spaceflight news! NASA cancels its first lunar rover in over 50 years, and we learn more about SpaceX’s proposal to deorbit the International Space Station. Plus, Falcon 9 may return to flight soon, and we have updates on Rocket Lab's Archimedes engine, Europa Clipper's potential delay, and more. Stay tuned for all this and more in This Week in Spaceflight!
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🤵 Hosted by Elysia Segal (@elysia_segal)
🖋️ Written by Alejandra Alcantarilla Romera (@Alexphysics13)
🎥 Footage from: Jack Beyer, Max Evans, D Wise, Space Coast Live, NASA, SpaceX, Phoenix7777, Relativity Space, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, ESA, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, JPL-Caltech/MSSS, CCTV, Pexels.
✂️ Edited by Ryan Caton (@DPodDophinPro).
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed).
🔍 If you are interested in using footage from this video, please review our content use policy: www.nasaspacef...
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[@fwd79]

I *so* wanted to see what ear jewellery the week Falcon is not flying, and was not disappointed. lol 😆 Keep up the good work.

[@charleslord2433]

Thanks for the MEGA update, Elysia!

[@00kt86]

Elysia Segal does a great job as host, and thank you NSF for your hard work.

[@corrinastanley125]

Thanks Elysia and NSF team, great information.

[@jimcabezola3051]

I'd be crying crocodile tears if I were Suni and Butch. "Oh...I'm so sad that I have to stay in space for a few more months. Boo-hoo!"

[@konkam744]

Imagine the virtual conversation between the Super Dragon and the ISS when deorbiting, "Hey buddy, I... I guess it's my time?" "Yeah... we are gonna go through this together though" "Promise?" "Promise..." **During Reentry* "It's getting quite hot, never felt that before" "First time? I went through this many times, I do this every time I undock from you" "So you are gonna help me survive right?😅" "..." "So I'm gonna survive, right?😟" **Undocks and flips around* "Why 😥😥😞😣" -ISS Am I the only one who cries over this imaginary scenario

[@GreatMewtwo]

Super Dragon: You were more than a good space station. You were the space station. Farewell, old friend.

[@dr4d1s]

I have been reading The Culture Series and I am imagining this conversation happening between the ISS Mind and Dragon Mind.

[@impy1980]

Mega indeed! 👀Elysia always looking good and as usual a great host.

[@herbbayer9099]

Love Ms. Segal! Thank you

[@donaldsmith8648]

Love her voice I could listen to her speak all day and learn stuff great video yet again

[@HarryKaemerle]

I’m really sad to hear of VIPER’s cancellation. My girlfriend and I have gotten boarding passes together, hoping our names will make it to the Moon; I suppose it wasn’t meant to be…

[@A31415]

Elysia is my favorite host on NSF

[@MrKellymcilrath]

Thanks for another Awesome This Week In Spaceflight Elysia, And thank you NSF!!!!

[@DebraJean196]

Great to get all the info on the ISS Deorbit craft!

[@lyricbread]

12:47 Y’all say what you want about Blue Origin, but that landing leg deployment setup is bad-ass!

[@paulb6326]

Compared to normal airliner landing legs or Falcon 9 legs it looks high schoolish.

[@donjones4719]

Looks like a combo of sci-fi and aircraft landing systems - multiple covers retract, a knuckle made of a large forging unfolds. But is it efficient overall? The unfolding-petal type leg that SpaceX uses and that'll be used on Neutron and various Chinese clones is copied for a reason - minimal parts, therefore minimal failure points. Also minimal mass. That offsets the aerodynamic costs.

[@bobferranti5222]

Another awesome pair of earrings, Elysia you have great taste and style

[@MrFoxRobert]

No stupid background music! Thank you!

[@zapfanzapfan]

What are the ear rings? Jupiter with the four largest moons? I hope Clipper can fly, it's a bit late to disassemble and change parts.

[@elysiasegal]

Yep that’s exactly what they are! 😊

[@zapfanzapfan]

@@elysiasegal Cool and on point!

[@anthonyleaguepro1227]

Very informative, thank you!

[@learsiyenoham]

Happy Friday Elysia! Thanks NSF team! Did Elysia get a new mic? The audio sounds harsh for some reason, but it could be just me.

[@DebraJean196]

Wouldn’t necessarily say harsh but definitely different.

[@MSNet1]

Very professional, clean and tucked and not messy looking.

[@jakerothe941]

Here because Marcus is on holidays. Great update team 👌 thank you

[@magamike1800]

Just discovered your channel. Great info.

[@David-yo5ws]

(Nice to see the algorithm is getting peoples attention.) You won't be disappointed in this channel, if your into space news and live cameras 24hrs by 7 days. Welcome to the "Texas Tank Watchers Club".

[@magamike1800]

@@David-yo5ws Cool, keep it up.

[@kpbendeguz]

So the entire Clipper program costs the same amount as *one* SLS launch?

[@pauld.9856]

NASA should replace the transistors for the Icy Moon mission, it is too risky to hope that the parts survive the radiation on a mission that lasts a decade. I hope Airbus tested the electronics better for their JUICE Probe. 🙏

[@adriangillies6037]

awesome SHOW!!

[@jamessimmer725]

What company used the transistors that must be replaced?

[@David-yo5ws]

I would say that that is commercially sensitive information. You would think they could just wrap or shield them, with little lead caps.

[@FlorianMaeder]

Elysia Segal, the best NSF host out there! 🙌 I really like the reports. Informative and easy to listen to. Not like the other hosts who try to be comedians but end up being clowns...

[@jamescobban857]

There are a lot of issues with the design of space probes when mass is absolutely critical. However SpaceX HLS can deliver a dozen rovers with capabilities similar to VIPER once it starts routine deliveries to Lunar Orbit, probably in 2026, and while it is still unlikely that HLS will deliver humans to the Moon in 2026 that does not mean that it will not deliver cargo to the Lunar surface in 2026.

[@reginaldorossi9774]

nice work

[@michaelfink64]

There are a few movies about Ned Kelly. Actually, the first movie made in Australia (1906) was about him. Mick Jagger later played him.

[@user-fr3hy9uh6y]

You can't do laundry on the space station. The starliner was only going to be there for a few days. My obvious question is. Who's underwear are they wearing?😂 Going comando?😂

[@David-yo5ws]

They probably have a bunch of spares, after 20 years of astronauts and cosmonauts coming and going. Might be more like "Are these Russian, Japanese or American made?"

[@rustyredbeard]

I see you support the Make Elephants Grey Again movement.

[@farpoint107]

Additional shielding For Europa Clipper ? An option perhaps, or would it add to much weight. ( enemy of all missions ) or are the devices to spread out to even consider this ?

[@TimPeterson]

they should boost it to a more eccentric orbit first, then deorbit at apogee, any failure would leave it higher than it is now, and you'll get a more precise and spicy entry.

[@Pintuuuxo]

Elysia is always a very nice host. All the news from you guys are always a must. Those 4.000.000.000 USD should be used on the other Europe, where I live. 😋

[@mikegardner107]

May we tell Europe what to spend your € on?

[@Pintuuuxo]

Of course! It was just for fun. Those dollars should be used in making life better for many Americans.

[@SteveBueche1027]

If you’re building a car, you test all your parts before assembly. How long has NASA been doing this stuff?

[@whiskytango17]

NASA has a problem with testing, but it’s testing too much! That’s why regular Americans stop caring. It takes NASA longer than a presidential term to figure out what decisions too make, then it’s already too late.

[@boballen9095]

Is it just me, or does Rocket Lab's Archimedes engine appear just teensy bit Rube Goldberg? Maybe it's just got a whole lotta sensors making it look that way. To be fair, SpaceX's first generation Falcon engines were pretty cluttered up as well.

[@noahrhuskey]

Can you fix the auto sync.. it seems to drift.. Thanks, great product otherwise

[@clmcoclmco2222]

has anybody said what was flapping around on the 1st stage all the way down to landing?

[@douglasbragg4875]

I think they should salvage the space station and recycle the components

[@David-yo5ws]

I thought the solar panels would be the best things to save. All the other parts are old and outdated and who knows how many pitted marks there are on the hulls, after 20 years of micro meteor strikes. Obviously they will take a lot of the instruments back for their dollar value and recycle. You would hope.

[@curtiswfranks]

What were the ear-rings this time??? It is a crime to not show them off in detail.

[@elysiasegal]

Jupiter and its Galilean moons (including Europa!)

[@curtiswfranks]

@@elysiasegal: Ooh, very cool. How jovial!

[@jeremyfarmer2502]

This is just a thought. There's no reason why spacex couldn't use the de orbit trunk design for other missions, right? I mean, if the thrust is right it could be a fairy between earth and moon. Or other type missions

[@MsApplebee]

Oh… So the written engineering specs concerning the long known high levels of radiation in the operating environment of Jupiter… after spending four billion dollars building the Viper rover? That makes sense, totally scientific and rational explanation.

[@joshnopueto8205]

The bigger dragon looks like a baby of dragon and starship

[@JohanMsWorld]

Wonder if we could use a rapid reusable rocket in design to deorbit ISS?

[@Warchin007]

Boeing definitely would lose face if Dragon had to go the astronauts . Safest return for the astronauts would be the best answer, but.... COME ON !! Boeing get her done ! Good vid.

[@joaohenriqueneuhaus2023]

Will this thing carry enough propellant to take the ISS down in one go? Or it will make multiple dockings?

[@David-yo5ws]

Elysia said they would have all the fuel in the trunk. I think it was 14tonne of fuel? So one docking.

[@HarryOttele]

NASA can launch on Super Heavy with Booster 14.1 as 2 stag. This will save fuel on the Craft.

[@unfundedopportunities7278]

Do they have an ISS replacement in the works?

[@535tony]

Starliner is dead! They knew there was a problem with the thrusters from the last test flight. Inexcusable they haven’t fixed it yet. We have four Space craft that are made to be manned and only Dragon really works. Pathetic!

[@phlogistanjones2722]

PLEASE for the love of science can we NOT fly a known problematic system and just HOPE everything is "just fine"?!! PLEASE tell me this is NOT a "really tough decision".... Is no one in charge at NASA even considering best engineering practices? Hoping for all the best for Rocket Lab. Thanks to Elysia and the entire NSF team. Peaceful Skies

[@LindaMadlala]

$265k is for studying putting two additional seats, providing two spacesuits and related consumables

[@ReinReads]

More to do with how quickly they can launch at any given time. Probably looking into costs and scheduling changes to have one of the 4 Crew Dragons ready to go at all times.

[@artemdruzhinin1575]

What do astronauts do on ISS day to day if they got stuck there without any work program for them being planned in advance? Do they just read books or fly around asking if anyone needs any help?

[@donjones4719]

Pretty much asking if anyone needs help - with their chores. The station is old and a disproportionate amount of crew time is spent on keeping things running. Suni and Butch are experienced ISS crew members and can undoubtedly do a lot of this, freeing up the others for the scientific work. And of course they're smart and experienced, they'll be able to help out with experimental equipment. Every astronauts says they spend a lot of spare time in the Cupola looking at the Earth, that it never gets old. Suni and Butch get to do this - and some of the other crew probably get some more leisure time because S & B are doing their chores.

[@cxf030181]

Who is the manufacturer?

[@TiberiusMaximus]

so SLS was supposed to be 1 launch per year (pathetic) but it now looks like 1 launch every 3 years? at this building rate. Good god

[@khanisbrown6424]

What will happen if they make the iss stay even 20years longer?? Why do they want to destroy it?

[@Ittiz]

While the irony of someone like BO winning the contract to launch a spaceX vehicle, I think it would be even funnier if spaceX won it and used a Starship to launch it.

[@jtjames79]

I'd better get free Taco Bell this time.

[@khanisbrown6424]

Do things decay in space??

[@thesunexpress]

Wild guess: They were sold counterfeit Chinese chips?

[@rhinog100g7]

Michoud is spoken more like Me-shoe.

[@RestlessRebel]

Dammit..

[@johnousfredricson3146]

why is there stuff falling off the rocket?

[@ale131296]

Insulation panels from the fairing

[@TroyRubert]

Elon needs to pull a Dev Ayesa.

[@ptinvite7942]

Title subject @ 2:50

[@iancarbo9233]

Boeing's investigation be like: "Tests came out fine, turns out there was never a leak and there were no faulty parts"

[@lelandrogers1078]

I wonder why they don't just boost the ISS into outer space

[@dancingdog2790]

When pieces start falling off, the higher you are the longer they stay in orbit (and pieces *will* fall off). Safer to splash it while it's still intact.

[@lelandrogers1078]

@@dancingdog2790 Not if you boost it out of Earth's gravity well and let it roam the universe.

[@ale131296]

It takes an incredible amount of energy to do so. It would cost a lot and it wouldn't be worth the effort. The ISS is old and aging and its structure may not live for too long beyond 2030.

[@lelandrogers1078]

@@ale131296 It is too big to burn up on re-entry so it doesn't matter how it survives the boost to deep space. It also doesn't matter how fast it leaves orbit. Just conjecture. They will do whatever they decide.

[@billmullins6833]

I have a suspicion that the problems with the Europa Clipper probe are due to counterfeit parts unknowingly being used in the manufacture of the electronics. Counterfeit chips and transistors are surprisingly common and can be very difficult to detect prior to actual installation in a module. This is not to cast aspersions on the organizations that actually constructed the various modules. Sometimes the supply chain can be very complex and unscrupulous operators are always willing to make an illicit buck. Selling similarly functioning but not radiation hardened parts is a way for unscrupulous operators to increase profits. Such parts would perform to spec in normal functional testing and would only show up in very specialized testing.

[@lawrencecole6527]

Yaright.

[@PDLM1221]

Sell the Viper to a private company, hang it out there and see if anyone bites on a possible purchase!

[@Yudhistira_7]

why?

[@brunonikodemski2420]

Our company, along with Boeing, designed and built ALL of the Apollo Lunar Rovers (LRVs), in only one-and-a-half years. The total budget for us was about 25-million dollars. They all worked well. Now we have a new generation of NASA and commercial company engineers who take decades to do the same thing, and with a total budget which is now exceeding well over 400-million dollars. What is wrong with this picture? Are we now so DEI'd that we cannot build what is effectively an "electric car", but made for extreme environments, which at least three other countries have demonstrated as do-able. I was one of the LRV designers, and I am now embarrassed by NASA, and how they manage their programs.

[@northendgaming3831]

NASA funding problems are self inflicted. Private industry does projects at a fraction of the cost from what NASA spends to do the same thing. NASA isn't bad, they just have a problem with getting things done within the budgets they are given! They need better over site and management!

[@MrRottenAli]

Sorry, but the iss should be directed to deorbit to the moon, better to place important metals to the high moon altitude since all that mass had to be lifted to orbit.

[@lv4218]

Your MEGA shirt is the wrong color XD

[@Nauda999]

Why would SpaceX propose to deorbit ISS? does SpaceX own ISS now or has right to deorbit it? Since when ISS lost the I?

[@ale131296]

If you watched the video you wouldn't be wondering that

[@Nauda999]

@@ale131296 I clearly watched the part that SpaceX said ISS proposes to deorbit ISS.

[@ale131296]

@@Nauda999 Well you understood it all wrong I guess. It's SpaceX's proposal to deorbit the ISS but the idea to do so is not by SpaceX but by all the international partners involved in the ISS program. NASA contracted SpaceX to carry out that job and SpaceX had a proposal it bid during the contract solicitation. In the video we talk about said proposal.

[@Nauda999]

@@ale131296 SpaceX proposed idea, but NASA contracted SpaceX to carry out this idea, but actually it was idea of all the international partners. Doesn't make any sense. What actually happened is this "NASA Selects International Space Station US Deorbit Vehicle" It clearly says NASA selects.

[@ale131296]

@@Nauda999 But the selection was last month. We got to know about SpaceX's proposal this week and that's what we feature this week. For the contract handout we already featured that on another TWIS episode when that happened last month.

[@briangregoire8121]

The Caribbean is watching

[@omegafalconoriginal]

Wish they could power it down and just push it away from earth and let it float away. Then every few years turn it's camera on and see how it is doing.

[@Krisw89]

🎉🎉👍

[@lyledal]

Looked at that t-shirt a bit too quickly and thought I was going to have to unsub. And, yes. Elysia does a fantastic job on these.

[@Clark-Mills]

Make Europe Great Again?

[@Hykje]

Suni and Butch are probably thinking about calling a taxi at the moment.

[@Objectorder]

oh god who made all these mods!!

[@rgruenhaus]

No gods for sure! No evidence no gods

[@namagemx]

Looks like we're going to need a BIGLY change in Washington.

[@raydemos1181]

what a money burn, how many people could have had a nice meal on all that burned up space junk

[@Ron4885]

Lots of sulphur on Mars. Maybe they can use that for making something.

[@handsomeman-pm9vy]

He should have quit 6 months ago. His wife is a criminal for allowing him to continue.

[@CocoaBeachLiving]

Anyone else disappointed with Boeing?

[@okman9684]

They should scrap Boeing Starliner instead

[@50shadesofgreen34]

why is nasa using spacex footage in their videos? pretty lame to try piggyback on the success of others if you ask me...

[@politicsuncensored5617]

They cancelled the rover. We are not going back to the moon in this decade and I'm doubtful that we can make it back in the 2030's. Shalom

[@mariuskatutis2687]

not before china at least

[@politicsuncensored5617]

@@mariuskatutis2687 I think with our federal gov. bumbling we will be watching communist China & other walk on the moon long before we ever return. Shalom

[@50shadesofgreen34]

if nasa has nothing to show, why dont just let spacex make these videos?

[@50shadesofgreen34]

also, why does spacex have to deorbit the ISS? isnt that kinda nasa's job?

[@goodmorning6445]

She reads too fast

[@espressomatic]

The Musk grift keeps going.

[@nikmathews555]

This is constructive criticism… I love NSF and watch certain videos often. I can’t watch Elysia… and others sorry.

[@Mr_Battlefield]

It can be cringe at times. Most of the time I just pop in from time to time to watch live streams.

[@nikmathews555]

@@Mr_Battlefield glad it’s not just me

[@Mr_Battlefield]

@@nikmathews555 Definitely ran by a bunch of space nerds. Nothing wrong with space nerds. It's just certain people and their presentation delivery. You can't believe how many times I've watched a video after work and just fall asleep trying to catch up on space video from NSF only to fall asleep because it's that boring.

[@GerardHammond]

I don't like this ladies voice Over Sorry NSF