Why SpaceX Was Forced To Jettison The Hot Stage Ring On Flight 4!

[@carcinogen60yearsago]

Your deep dives are the best on KZbin.

[@palmedor9916]

yes 100%

[@Coasterlocity]

No contest

[@Quesnt]

The Walter Cronkite of SpaceX investigation...Zackter Goldkite?

[@ColtsMan2006]

Without a doubt

[@steveperreira5850]

For once, enlightening speculation!

[@lorenbrown3150]

As a retired aerospace engineer, I appreciate your detail, thank you!

[@dumpsterdiner]

I was gonna say it's because the best part to recover is no part to recover, but your explanation is a lot more thoughtful 😅

[@neobrandeggen]

Best part is no part, so really they should just cancel the program lol

[@adrianbrandrud6155]

@@neobrandeggen 😂

[@ASDasdSDsadASD-nc7lf]

It is insane to me that with 22% unemployment Space X can't hire ONE INTERN to report on design, design changes, theories, progress, and plans.

[@TheZacman2]

Also, the best part to replace is no part to replace. What's worse, having a part to recover after each launch, or a part to replace after each launch?

[@takanara7]

@@ASDasdSDsadASD-nc7lf Why would they want to report stuff to the public? Most space companies don't report anything until they're done, we only know all the details with starship b/c they're building it on the side of a public road and it's gigantic, so the public can see everything. Also the unemployment rate isn't 22%, lol.

[@Starsoon1]

Best Starship related channel, love your work Zack

[@Shadare]

Zach always has a scoop nobody else has. I had never heard someone talk about the interstage ring coming off in IFT-3. Totally makes sense now why the booster looked like it didnt understand it's own shape. I thought it was because they didn't reprogram it to account for the interstage.

[@CSIStarbase]

lol thats a good way to put it. "Who am I???" lol thats why I added the commentary because I couldn't stop laughing as I was thinking about it from the flight computers perspective

[@angrydoggy9170]

@@CSIStarbaseA flight computer with an existential crisis going on. Now that’s a real challenge for any psychiatrist.

[@chuckevans2792]

​@@CSIStarbaseGood commentary, subbed!

[@adriank8792]

As always, you absolutely nail the CSI Starbase name, this time more than ever. This was pure CSI! That never would have occurred to me about the hotstage ring and the shadow. I also love how you present your findings, explaining your reasoning step by step and showing us alternative conclusions. I really wish that more KZbinrs were like you. YT would have been a much better place!

[@heartysteer8752]

Shadows yes, rest not so much. The latches for the ring are under it, part of the booster. They couldn't have been damaged during hot staging.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

Don't ya just love a channel with both science and engineering prowess? Indeed, channels like this one are very rare.

[@Schinkeldink]

@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 And not to forget, the ability to clearly communicate these findings and give the viewer all the info to come to their own conclusion, not trying to subtly persuade in any direction. I really wish this was the quality of political news. The world would be a better place.

[@737smartin]

Great analysis, speculation, and presentation. 🏆 💫 🎉

[@32rq]

Those shadows. CSI for sure.

[@taylortremblay3870]

I was not expecting this today, and I’m happy to be reminded of the depth your deep dives go too. Amazing!

[@Lost-In-Blank]

Zack, I'm so happy you're back making videos again !!! WAI and Marcus House are good, but you add so much extra technical detail, and I really really missed that. Thank you Zack and all your team and collaborators for your truly excellent videos.

[@rbvemulapalli]

WAI and Marcus are information consolidators. They are not technical guys. They are good for keeping us abreast with whats happening.

[@ppaschka]

@3:54 The oxygen in the landing tank would settle due to drag on the booster, not rise. Drag is pushing the structure up, so the oxygen moves down relative to the booster. The same settling happens during an engine burn.

[@darylbardo]

Was going to say the same. But a full header tank probably minimizes slosh and maximizes the usable fraction of remaining propellant when the tank is nearly empty.

[@jordanhenshaw]

It’s in free fall, so it’s a zero g environment. Drag is negligible here. Or is that actually true?

[@andrewvaughan4256]

@@jordanhenshaw It is deep in the atmosphere, and probably close to terminal velocity, before the landing burn starts.

[@jordanhenshaw]

@@andrewvaughan4256 Hmm. This is interesting. I'm going to rewatch the Veritasium video on this. I'm pretty sure this is a scenario where the fuel is an inertial observer but am not sure. But what I said above may be incorrect. Hmmmm.

[@davemanmartin]

I’m not sure if it’s at terminal velocity, but there is definitely drag on the rocket slowing it down so the propellants will be settled in that situation. The booster doesn’t belly flop so that part should be easier (bottom of tanks is still down)

[@CarbonaceousChondrite]

This IS IN FACT the explanation to my puzzles during IFT-3! The struggle of the grid fins in steering the top of the booster was a huge brain teaser, now it all is very clear. Thanks to all involved people, great job ✨️

[@ganjalogic]

I just discovered this channel and I want to say that I really appreciate how much effort you're putting into these videos. I'm learning more about Starship per minute than like any other video I've watched so far.

[@robertobruselas3952]

Your shadow analysis regarding the hot staging ring is amazing. I love your channel. Keep rocking team CSI Starbase!

[@removechan10298]

This video deserves 10M views

[@schrodingerscat1863]

Another tour de force of investigative journalism, easily the best presentation on this I have seen anywhere.

[@kalkovonschpritzendorf1914]

I like how every time you suggest a theory, you humbly also suggest the possibility of you being wrong. This is the level of self-reflection that many youtubers lack. Great content, I found your channel today and I'm looking forward to see more.

[@CSIStarbase]

Thank you! Yeah often times my own team disagrees with my theories so I have gotten used to phrasing things in a certain way.

[@kalkovonschpritzendorf1914]

@@CSIStarbase I learned much more from your video than I expected. I got used to Starship related channels being just rundowns of the latest news, so I'm glad you brought in some fresh new views and insights.

[@CSIStarbase]

Yeah I don’t do weekly summaries. Only deep dive investigations.

[@kalkovonschpritzendorf1914]

@@CSIStarbase This earned my subscribe, I'll look into more of your videos for sure. Good luck with making them. I appreciate that you found the time to answer my comments, despite having 81k subscribers.

[@CSIStarbase]

I try to respond to all unique comments. Thanks for subscribing!

[@GaryBickford]

Whether your soeculation is correct or not, i appreciate your comprehensive and disciplined analysis and the technical support of your contributors.

[@ironspider9280]

Your starship videos are hands down the best on youtube.

[@RichieMason]

When you initially shared the shadow images on X, I was very skeptical about the HSR detaching. However, now I know which shadows I'm looking for and seeing the way that the nav system overcorrected at the same time, I'm a believer. Great work Zach!

[@harlycorner]

The water droplet sound was funny 🤣🤣🤣 22:42

[@peters619]

Well done Zack on yet another superb quality video. Yours a a whole new level of quality and probably the best on KZbin on Starship. Your hypothesis on the interstate falling off 6:30 into the flight may have some significant assumptions but all very plausible. Even if you are wrong in the end you do it with style and some very well thought out possibilities and I enjoy hearing your thoughts and reasoning. Again well done.

[@kanukistani2984]

Remember that the current booster was NOT designed with hot staging in mind. It was supposed to be spun off of the starship in the same was the starlink satellites are deployed. When they decided to hot stage, they just manufactured this interstage and put it on top of the boosters they already had to test the concept. My personal theory is that Booster/Starship 2.0 will be designed from the get go with hot staging applied and this issue goes away at that point.

[@katratadventures9571]

I totally agree with this view.

[@privateerburrows]

Confirmed yet again; this is the best Starship channel on YT by a long shot. The Sherlock Holmes of rocket engineering.

[@hymnodyhands]

Here is what I love about this channel... past all the noise around Elon Musk, you take us into the engineering of how whatever happened and can happen. I used to love watching CSI, but the violence depictions became too much... this channel gives me back what I love but aimed toward building and progress!

[@SMathai]

Amazing shadow sleuthing by all involved! The amount of detective work that goes into this is incredible.

[@SuperShuki]

Zack, your explanations are awesome - clear and easily understandable. That is hard to achieve, great job!

[@Barthhhelona]

Wow, no one presents this level of technical detail and digs in like you. Very impressive analysis.

[@allenahale1]

I enjoy your posts - precise, to the point, authoritative and most of all "NO DRAMA"! Thank you.

[@peterpicroc6065]

Yeah, the other channels seem to speak with their eyebrows in the stratosphere, superlatives everywhere and exclamation marks after every sentence.

[@hallahgray3190]

Thanks!

[@ashtorak]

Yes, the hot stage ring can now be jettisoned in flight with the latest StarbaseSim update ;) It's always a pleasure to contribute to these videos! :)

[@danheidel]

Another thing to consider is that the current hotstaging ring is quite non-optimal. It's replicating the top surface of the tank with a whole second structure and the vertical slats are going to be a lot heavier than the equivalent truss structure they are going with on v2+. My guess is that the improved hotstaging ring will be taller to increase the amount of space for the exhaust gasses, especially from the center engines, to escape and that the top of the stage 1 tank will have a sharper curvature close to a conical shape to stand up to the exhaust forces with less material. The existing ring is essentially redirecting the force of 3 raptors at nearly point blank range using a nearly flat diaphragm almost normal to the exhaust vector which is pretty much the worst way to have to deal with those loads. The V2+ hotstage structure is probably going to be significantly lighter, reducing the need to discard it.

[@sentinel76]

Never minding that a future interstage will probably be integral to the booster structure instead of a clip-on.

[@imconsequetau5275]

All that effort to flatten the top bulkhead may be in vain now that the inverted cone is needed.

[@kukunishad]

Best analytical video of the Flight 3 on the YT so far. Shadows blown my mind 🤯

[@CSIStarbase]

Honestly I was originally not planning to do a flight 3 analysis. I kinda got forced into it thanks to that tweet

[@kukunishad]

@@CSIStarbase Which tweet?

[@CSIStarbase]

My own tweet that I mentioned in the episode

[@CSIStarbase]

The responses to it forced me to make a video because a lot of people strongly disagreed with what I said.

[@robertboothe3405]

Reasonable explanation. Good balance between details and clarity for non-rocket scientists.

[@mikebridges20]

Zack, that presentation is the best analysis of IFT-3's boostback and landing sequence that I've seen; excellent work!

[@r0cketplumber]

At 3:55 you are mistaken about the need for a completely full LOX landing tank- during aerodynamic freefall, the wind drag will push upward on the booster and cause the LOX to settle to the bottom of the tank just fine. The same thing already happens on Falcon 9 boosters, there's no way for gas to accumulate on the bottom of the tank absent a very high heat flux causing boiling.

[@CSIStarbase]

Yeah I thought about that and wasn't certain if I was fully correct on that. I wasn't sure if the drag was enough to fully settle it to the bottom of the tank

[@heartysteer8752]

@@CSIStarbase And aren't the latches for the ring under it, part of the booster? They couldn't have been damaged during hot staging. They left booster and ship the same and just added the ring between with the existing latching components.

[@bryanillenberg]

@@heartysteer8752 The ring is steel: very conductive. Heat can easily soak through

[@macebobkasson1629]

Amazing. Thanks for caring so much about this and going beyond others to provide us such in depth explanations. You’re my favorite layman.

[@morgunkorn_]

Absolutely incredible analysis, thank you for the in depth video, i'm amazed at what the community has achieved, the 3D models are always extremely impressive

[@Austin_Healey]

Thanks again Zach! Great analysis as always! You deserve about a million more subscribers.

[@Edward-tz7xz]

…Zack is my go-to guy on the details of Starship build and launch. He provides the physics explanations needed to truly understand what is happening. Thank you Zack.

[@chammockutube]

Mechanical Engineer(ing) respect Zack!!

[@ajctrading]

Great to see the ring watchers and the shadow watcher combine to become a knowledge seeking force of extraordinary magnitude

[@B0M0A0K]

No one does this as well as you do Zack. Hell, you get a thumbs up from me just for being here 🙂 I really like that you aren't shy on telling us when people have become "grumpy" about a comment you have made elsewhere. That's definitely owning it. Well done.

[@CSIStarbase]

lol yeah I don’t want those people to think I’m ignoring the things that are clearly annoying them about the way I choose to phrase things in my posts on 𝕏

[@snuffeldjuret]

Difficult to explain how much I appreciate this channel.

[@Buddha_the_Pug]

Love me some CSI Starbase! You always provide info nobody else seems to even be thinking about

[@peterpicroc6065]

Another great video. This is THE Starship channel. You're the best!

[@johndoepker7126]

Helluva Video, Zack !!! I can't wait for Flight 4 and your deep dive analysis after!!! Thanks for everything!!! ❤

[@mycophyle]

Thanks Zack! So good to see you back! After the past few months I was fearful you stopped giving us your great analysis and deep dives. Thanks again for giving us a easy to understand overview of the details behind what has been observed but what Space X probably wants to keep proprietary!

[@SyntheticSpy]

He mentioned on Twitter that he’s been gettin most of the way through scripting a few videos, but each time something comes up that makes him prioritize that for a video instead, which is why it’s been so long

[@alexsender4986]

im so glad you releasing new video few days before launch when hunger for those at its peak

[@MihirrPanchaal]

Thank you for this short video (short for you and your fans!)

[@kersebleptes1317]

Hitting those high standards again, Zack & team! Many thanks, and the sky's not the limit! 🏆

[@andrewhumphries4029]

Thoughtful, understandable, analysis. I really enjoy Zack's deep dives.

[@ismailnyeyusof3520]

Well done Zack, you provide so much thoughtful analysis that shines a clear beam of insight into what must have been a completely chaotic situation! Thank you!

[@asraharrison]

Zack, Your content is just friggin' amazing. Thanks for all you do. Best content on YT!

[@kewltune4683]

Heck yeah! I’m giving this thumb up now before the premiere start because I know it’s going to be great just like all episodes before this one!

[@RickL_was_here]

I did the same. 👍

[@Minoguai]

I am thoroughly impressed by the clarity and depth of your explanations. Your ability to break down complex topics into easily understandable visualizations is outstanding. Keep up the excellent work!

[@erickdaros911]

Man your channel is INCREDIBLE! Thank you for another masterpiece, you are the BEST! 🚀

[@sum_rye_hash_321]

YESS i've been hoping to see another CSI Starbase episode for a while now!

[@cyotedude]

Grrrreat! review of the hypothetical unscheduled disassembly of the inter-stage ring. My initial theory was that the heat would compromise the structure of the ring, thus rendering it less than fully capable for subsequent launches (i.e. twisted trash). Stainless steel has a known tendency to warp much more than carbon steel when heat is applied. Your theory of heat compromising the latch mechanism, sans any robust heat shielding, is solid. I like your CSI analysis of the atmospheric air forces affecting the ring and stressing the latch mechanism. Along with the shadow analysis, it seems plausible and even possible.

[@mvot966]

Once again, well researched, well presented, well done!

[@removechan10298]

Amazing analysis and insight

[@jaeluatl]

Welcome back and thank you for the in-depth video we enjoy all of them, my youngest son wants to be a ai- nautical engineer and you are a great inspiration for us in our house as well as very intelligent and informative

[@elmoremundell9450]

Another excellent episode!! Great a job! The need to jettison the ring will also go away once the larger landing tanks are present. Once the tanks are larger, then the ring will be welded to the structure as a permanent piece and the clamps holding it on will also go away.

[@jimmarburger611]

You rock. Real details and an excellent analysis.

[@gregedmand9939]

At long last! Where the hell have the best SpaceX videos on YT been?

[@allanrose3661]

Great insight into this huge rocket. Keep these updates coming.

[@billstevens3796]

I was just thinking yesterday it was about time for an episode!

[@zukacs]

Chasing Shadows was lightly said. You and other folks involved are real wizards

[@CSIStarbase]

A lot of outside help involved on this one for sure.

[@drachefly]

wow, TIL that there was a TV show named that released 5 months after the Game In A Bottle game of the same name. What a weird coincidence.

[@66lesjo]

Really interesting, thank you. I’ve just subbed.

Your Analyses are the best!! Please more.

[@qadirtimerghazin]

Just came across this channel. Wow, what a fantastic job you are doing! Subscribed.

[@rodgerraubach2753]

A very good presentation, and a content-based description of what may have happened on IFT-3. Great engineering-based analysis! Bravo! A respite from many of the AI generated voices on other channels, whose content never lives up to clickbait titles.

[@martinmarciniak9446]

This was very nicely done, and helpful to my understanding ( I appreciate it )

[@johnybepp]

this splash sound of hot stage ring was hilarious

[@DeaPeaJay]

It’s hard to watch this and come to ANY other conclusion than the one you’ve drawn. Masterclass!

[@big21o3]

I was hoping there would be an update before flight 4. Thank you

[@RickL_was_here]

WOOHOO!!! Glad to see you're still around! 👍👍

[@kenmaritch7913]

I have been waiting for a new video for weeks! I can’t wait!

[@mikeymcginley]

You deserve more, but hey it's something. Thanks for all the awesome content!

[@CSIStarbase]

Wow! Thank you!

[@bobjoatmon1993]

Best SpaceX reports on KZbin

[@diegolink42]

I would say you are the most compelling source of information after SpaceX. Keep up the good work!

[@Ccoolbeans101]

Simply incredible work, man. Love your work :)

[@94nolo]

I literally checked your channel yesterday to make sure I didn't miss a video from you. man these are great. thanks Zack

[@ShinySage782]

Here after flight 4, a resounding success!

[@JamesEdwards780]

I love all of CSI Starbase's videos. This comment helps to make sure it ends up in my feed. All hale the algorithm.

[@gregbailey45]

... and hearty!

[@Wordsmiths]

@@gregbailey45😂

[@meanderinoranges]

Brilliant work as always!

[@jamescrawford5330]

Wonderful presentation!! A mixture of engineering and easily understood mechanics which the layman can understand. Thank you for simplifying complex issues and asking questions that I am considering. Also, your verbal skills are top notch. You make the listener comfortable which makes for a pleasing learning experience. Keep up your awesome research!! Till next time!!! 👏👏👍👍😎🇺🇸

[@straighttalk2069]

Great episode, love the booster flight computer commentary 😂

[@ismailnyeyusof3520]

Surely it MUST have freaked out as described, lol!

[@adminsparkes2450]

Congratulations on your channel, very informative and well presented.

[@thomasttrr]

Juicy. Can’t wait to see the video!

[@thomasttrr]

Shorter than I hoped for but I’ll take it! Thanks for the great video!

[@michaeldonnelly2977]

Huge respect to you. This was a great episode with some very well explained ideas. Awesome job.

[@jeef7980]

Killer contend Zack! I always appreciate your work!

[@Edward-tz7xz]

I absolutely love this channel. Keep’em coming please.

[@mosiprop]

terrific content! Many thanks to you & your partners!

[@squintytoast6211]

finally. been starving for some CSI content. some of those graphics are just mind blowing. Rock on, Zack!🤘

[@TechNSpace42]

Let’s go Zack!!! 🚀✨⚙️

[@phamthihang3855]

You make the deepest analysis content that I won't find anywhere else on KZbin. Keep going, I really appreciate it!

[@CSIStarbase]

Thanks, will do!

[@matttownsend7119]

Excellent as always, thanks

[@richysel3258]

i loved this indept analysis. wow amazing

[@Pooneil1984]

An amazingly clear and throughout explanation, I may be going to the launch on Thursday.

[@CSIStarbase]

Hope you enjoy it!!

[@nycdotnet4751]

Pre-emptive thumbs up for one of KZbin's best!