SpaceX Starship Had an amazing year!
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Whatever you love, find it on eBay. eBay. Things people love. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast. This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla, X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden. SpaceX's Starship program underwent a transformative year in 2024, with advancements spanning test flights, infrastructure, and also spacecraft development.

Now, SpaceX conducted four major Starship flights, achieved a successful booster catch, introduced the next generation Starship Block 2, and significantly enhanced their production capabilities through the completion of Star Factory and Megabay 2. These milestones marked critical steps in refining the Starship system, which aims to revolutionize space travel by sending people back to the moon and onto Mars and cargo even further than that.

Now at the beginning of the year, the Massey's testing site about a mile away from Starbase

was still under development, with foundational infrastructure just taking shape. And while the booster and ship cryogenic proof stands were operational, the construction of the ship's static fire stand was still ongoing. But by summer, the ship's static fire stand became fully functional, and Ship 26 was the first to test the bad systems. Now, this achievement set the tone for subsequent progress at Massey's throughout the year, and there's still work to be done there.

Now, the further improved efficiency, SpaceX expanded Massey's tank farm by adding four new liquid oxygen tanks. The upgrade allows for simultaneous ship and booster cryogenic proof testing while retaining the ability to static fire a ship without requiring refueling.

Importantly, these upgrades reduce disruptions to the local community as testing no longer necessitates closures of Highway 4, but rather only the road leading to Massey's, which is about a mile long and it's a long dirt road. You really don't want to drive on it anyway, so there's no reason to be down there. Now, SpaceX completed the Star Factory too, a state-of-the-art facility designed to accelerate Starship production.

Most of the Starship Star Factory is completed, I should say. They didn't completely complete it.

But they're really close. And the factory encompasses over 1 million square feet of floor space dedicated to manufacturing and inventory storage. This centralized facility enables engineers and managers to work alongside production lines, enhancing coordination and efficiency. And notably, the factory's tallest section is designated for nose cone assembly as visible through its glass frontage.

You can see it from the road. You can drive by and you can see them assembling nose cones right there at Star Factory. Now, Mega Bay 2, another major addition to Starbase, replaced the older High Bay as the primary ship assembly site. Mega Bay 2 boasts three advanced workstands equipped with integrated work platforms that provide full vertical access to ships without the need for scaffolding.

This upgrade has streamlined assembly processes, enabling faster and safer construction of Starships. To minimize risk of foreign object debris or FOD contamination, clean room cubicles have also been added near the ship access hatches.

Now, while high bay played a diminished role this year, it remained active for specific tasks such as retiling operations on Ship 30 and dismantling older ships like Ship 26. However, as Block 2 starships enter production, SpaceX anticipates dismantling the high bay and replacing it with a larger gigabay to further expedite stacking operations, addressing a potential bottleneck in vehicle assembly.

Now, if you're a really big fan of Starship, you're a fan of SpaceX or Elon Musk or any of his companies, we have a Discord. So check it in the show notes below. Please join us. We have a small community, but we're growing fast. So get on that train and join the Doge Pound.

Now, at Roberts Road in Florida, SpaceX began clearing land for a second Star Factory, which is expected to surpass the size of the one at Starbase by a lot. The facility will support production for Starships launching from Kennedy Space Center. And the new Star Factory is designed to include integrated high bays, allowing complete vehicle assembly indoors, thus avoiding exposure to outdoor conditions.

And once operational, the facility will significantly boost the pace of Starship production and enhance launch capabilities at pads LC-39A and the prospective SLC-37.

Now, the launch site at Starbase saw substantial upgrades in 2024 as well. An orbital launch pad A, SpaceX replaced vertical cryogenic tanks with 12 horizontal liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen tanks. While the horizontal configuration occupies more ground space, it reduces wear from exhaust exposure during launches, improving durability. These changes are being replicated over at LC-39A,

and Florida. SpaceX also reinforced the chopsticks and launch tower to facilitate booster catches during landing attempts. Additionally, the suborbital launch site, previously used for test hops and early flights, was replaced by the construction of Orbital Launch Pad B. This new pad features a bidirectional flame trench, a redesigned orbital launch mount with water-cooled deck, and compact chopsticks similar to those at LC-39A.

And with these improvements, Pad B is expected to enable quicker turnaround times between launches. However, they still have to go through regulatory hurdles, and SpaceX must complete a tiered environmental assessment to secure approval for Pad B, as the original 2022 assessment had envisioned a different configuration for the second pad.

This process, along with ongoing environmental impact statements or EIS for LC39A and SLC37, could possibly delay full utilization of these upgraded facilities until later 2025, possibly into 2026. Now, SpaceX conducted four ship flights or Starship flights in 2024, each providing valuable insights into the system's performance and areas for improvement.

The year began with Flight 3 on March 14th, featuring Ship 28 and Booster 10. This mission demonstrated a stable ascent with no engine failures, but Booster 10 was lost shortly after completing its boost backburn. Ship 28 suffered roll control issues during the coast phase, leading to the cancellation of a planned Raptor engine relight test, and the vehicle ultimately reentered the atmosphere uncontrollably and disintegrated.

Flight 4 launched on June 6, paired Ship 29 and Booster 11.1 despite losing one engine during ascent. The booster managed a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Ship 29 achieved a controlled re-entry but faced challenges with its heat shield, nearly losing a flap and missing its intended landing zone. Flight 5 on October 13 marked a pretty big milestone with SpaceX's first successful booster catch.

Booster 12 executed a flawless return to the launch site, where it was caught by the chopsticks. Ship 30, equipped with an upgraded Block 2 heat shield, successfully completed its mission and landed on target in the Indian Ocean.

The final test flight of the year, Flight 6 on November 19th, featured Ship 31 and Booster 31-13. Although the booster opted for a splashdown rather than a catch, Ship 31 successfully demonstrated the durability of a partially stripped heat shield by re-entering and landing in the Indian Ocean.

The lessons from these flights were instrumental in the design of Starship Block II, which incorporates significant upgrades. These include extended tanks, repositioned flaps for improved aerodynamics, enhanced structural integrity, and a next-generation heat shield. Block II ships are expected to take on more ambitious missions, such as propellant transfer demonstrations and payload deployments, possibly the first Starlink deployment?

Hopefully that would be great. Could be on block three, though. We'll have to see. Looking ahead, SpaceX is laying the groundwork for an even busier year in 2025 with expanded production capacity, the debut of new launch pads and refined spacecrafts. The program is poised to push the boundaries even more than they already have.

Now, as this year ends, though, SpaceX is focused on achieving its next goals, catching a ship, demonstrating full large scale propellant transfer and reusing Starship vehicles for subsequent flights. And the next flight is in January. So we may actually see another catch of a booster in a few weeks. Now, the Starship program in 2024 has advanced the design of a reusable mega rocket.

And we're looking forward to the future of Block 2 and Block 3 in the near future. Like I said before, if you are a fan of Elon Musk, make sure to join the DogePack. Hit the link in our description or our show notes, wherever you are, wherever you get your podcasts.

And join us there. We're getting people every single day to join up. And we're having some decent discussions. Right now, we're basically just getting a lot of people sign up. So I want to say, everybody, thank you for signing up. If you have signed up, make sure that you say hi in the Discord to everybody. All right. That's about it for today, everybody.

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