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hi it's me tim dodd the everyday astronaut
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space is trying some pretty crazy things
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with their starship rocket
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but perhaps there's nothing
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more crazy than letting your
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9 meter wide
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50 meter tall rocket fall out of the sky belly 1st
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and then try to light your engines basically
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very last moment in order to go from horizontal
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to vertical to hopefully land softly now
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the reason they're doing this is so they can make
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their terminal velocity as
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slow as possible
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so the rocket engines don't have to do nearly as much
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work slowing the rocket down
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now in order to understand what exactly that
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all means
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there's a ton of physics lessons to unpack here
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and seeing all of these spectacular failures
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has brought up
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a lot of really good questions from you guys
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but perhaps there's no bigger question than why
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why are they doing that belly flop maneuver
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why are they going from belly 1st
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and then flipping to tail down
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and why are they doing that maneuver so late
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why don't they just start that
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landing maneuver just a little
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bit earlier to make sure there's enough time
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to make corrections if
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something doesn't go right
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but we're also going to look at what other
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options and constraints and variables spacex has
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with running on different
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number of engines is running on more engines
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better is starting that landing burn earlier better
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and can they use parachutes as a backup if
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something goes wrong
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and of course we'll answer the ultimate question
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will this belly flop maneuver
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ever be safe enough for humans
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I mean
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could you even survive the g forces of that crazy flip
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should spacex just scrap this whole idea
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and go back to landing
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it more like a falcon 9
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which is proven to be
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highly successful
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so today we're going to cover the wonders of
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terminal velocity
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thrust to weight ratio
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gravity drag and engine throttling
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to see if we can figure out why
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space is pursuing such a crazy landing maneuver
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and if we even think that's a good idea
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or
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if maybe they should just go back to the drawing board
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let's get started 3 2 1 song
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now right off the bat
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in case you haven't watched already
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you might want to watch my
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complete guide to starship
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as we actually go over a lot of things
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that are going to be talked about in this video
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so it might be helpful if you haven't seen that
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or if you have
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other questions about starship in general
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after you watch this video
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give that one a watch
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it'll likely help you find some answers
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but the point of this
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video is to explain the physics behind
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the rocket science
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that's a try and speculate
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but we're going to help you understand why
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so when spacex does make changes
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which they inevitably will
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you'll have some grasp on
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why they may have made those decisions
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but this is a long video
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and like all my long videos
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we've got some time stamps for you guys
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for easy watching or
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quick skipping to these certain sections
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you might want to see
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we also have the YouTube player broken up
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in those same sections
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and we have an article
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version of this video up on our website at
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everydayness
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com the links in the description
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so that you can quickly search for certain topics
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starship is doing something
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completely unique here with this landing maneuver
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so here's how it works
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or I guess how it's supposed to work
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starship reenters and falls out of the sky belly 1st
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to scrub off as much velocity as possible
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while falling
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at about 500 meters and altitude
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it lights up its raptor engines
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gimbals them
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full tilt folds in the rear flaps and swings from
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horizontal to vertical
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so it can land tail down
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by having the rear fins or aft fins
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or as I might call them delawareans tuck in
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and by keeping the nose fins extended
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it makes it so the nose has
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much more drag and will want to point up
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and the tail will want to fall down
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which will help to aid in the rotation
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in later versions of starship will likely see
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powerful hot gas thrusters that could aid in this flip
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but as of the making of this video
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they've been using purely cold gas thrusters basically
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off of a falcon 9
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but they only use that to get
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into the bell flat for this testing period
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but they don't actually aid in the flip itself
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because the rocket is lighting its engines up
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while it's horizontal
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it needs to pull propellant from special tanks called
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header tanks
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so that the engines don't suck up gas bubbles
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because of course
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the main drain valves on a rocket's propellant tank
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are usually at the bottom of the tank which
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for a normal rocket is typically oriented pointy end up
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flame end down
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while starship is falling through the atmosphere
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the propellant will settle on the belly side
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of the rocket
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otherwise known as the windward side
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starship has these special header tanks
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that are essentially just reserved propellant
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that are nearly full
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and have their drain valve at a little bit of an angle
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which is perfect for the landing maneuver
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but also because the rocket lights attentions
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while it's horizontal
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it'll inject a lot of horizontal velocity
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and then intentionally
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over rotate all the way beyond vertical
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in the opposite direction
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to cancel out that horizontal velocity
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once it begins to rotate back to vertical
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it tucks in its top flaps and will precisely
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control itself down to a nice
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soft touchdown
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much more like a falcon 9 booster landing
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so for now I think we need to answer the most
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burning question
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why
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why are they even doing this absurd maneuver
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and not just landing like a falcon 9
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since that obviously works really
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really well
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okay so let's start with the belly flop maneuver
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well like we mentioned at the top of this video
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and in our complete guide to starship
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it's all about scrubbing off as much
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velocity as possible
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let the atmosphere do as much work as it can
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essentially for free
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no propellant necessary
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but one of the biggest
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reasons that starship will be coming in
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belly first is
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actually to control peak temperatures
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and orientation of starship during orbital reentry
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which is a huge huge deal
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especially when trying to land at a precise location on
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earth or mars
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now we're not going to be focusing on that
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orbital reentry portion in today's video
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because I've covered it a bit in some other videos
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so let's try and figure out
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why starship continues to belly flop
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once it's in the
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lower portions of the atmosphere when it could
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easily straighten itself out
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at a higher altitude and land
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more like a falcon 9
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so the key here is getting your terminal velocity as
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slow as possible
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terminal velocity is the
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maximum velocity and object reaches
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while falling through a fluid
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such as air
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yes air is a fluid
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it's when the downward force of gravity
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equals the force of drag
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so the more drag and object has
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the slower its terminal velocity
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it's the same
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reason why a feather will fall slower than a hammer
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well at least here on earth in earth's atmosphere
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do them here and hopefully
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go hit the ground at the same time
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now of course
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terminal velocity actually
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changes based on local conditions
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as the atmosphere gets thicker and thicker
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drag gets higher
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so the terminal velocity is slower and slower
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but as long as your drag is equal to gravity
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you are at terminal velocity
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even when that velocity number
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is changing just like skydiving
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if you fall belly 1st
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your terminal velocity is at a minimum
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and you can spend as much time
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falling as possible
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while also maintaining a lot of control
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with your arms and legs
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now imagine if you were skydiving feet or head 1st
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you'd fall substantially faster
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because the oncoming air has much
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less surface area to hit
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and slow you down compared to belly 1st
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so the atmosphere can't do as much work
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and your terminal velocity would be much higher
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and if we just look at the belly of starship
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versus looking at the bottom of starship
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you can see just how much more cross section there is
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there is approximately 545
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square meters of surface area on the belly side
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but only about
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70 square meters of surface area
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on the base of the rocket
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that's 7.8
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times more surface area to help slow the rocket down
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of course the mass would be the same
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no matter the orientation
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so if you have 7.8 times more surface area
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there's a lot more surface for all the air
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to push against
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all things considered equal
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the terminal velocity will be substantially slower now
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granted
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the actual coefficient of drag is vastly different
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between the concave engine section
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and the rounded cylindrical body of the rocket
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but even so
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the terminal velocity is substantially slower
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falling belly 1st
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perhaps one of the most fun things
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about using starship
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as an example of terminal velocity is
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they can actually
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change its terminal velocity
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on how deployed all of its flaps are
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while belly flapping
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if starship deployed all of its flaps out more
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its terminal velocity would be slower because it has
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more drag
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if it were to tug its flaps in a little more
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its drag would decrease
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and it would fall faster through the atmosphere with a
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higher terminal velocity
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now in general
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space sex doesn't want the flaps to be maxed out
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so either all the way open
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or all the way closed because
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they would be incapable of
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making further adjustments to maintain orientation and
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control
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they will likely want to be roughly in the middle
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remaining relatively neutral
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and we can actually see the difference
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of velocity in the telemetry of starship
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versus a falcon 9
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let's take a look at declan murphy's awesome
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flight club data of the two
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this is a highly accurate simulation of starship
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sn8's flight profile and the nrl 108
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falcon 9 mission
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for these initial medium altitude tests
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like we've been seeing
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starship free falls a bit
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after it gets into the belly flop
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it slows down as it gets lower and lower
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and into thicker parts of the atmosphere
285
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
until it slows all the way down to only
286
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
about 90 meters per 2nd
287
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
before lighting its engines for the flip
288
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and landing burn
289
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now of course
290
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if starship was falling from a
291
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
higher altitude or coming back
292
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in from orbit
293
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
there would be a higher peak velocity
294
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but once it gets into low altitudes
295
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and in thicker atmosphere
296
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it should reach terminal velocity which is
297
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
very low by the time it lights its engines
298
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that is great
299
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so now let's look at the falcon 9
300
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
notice that
301
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
after the entry burn the falcon 9 is back in free fall
302
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it actually speeds up a little after engine shutdown
303
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because the atmosphere is still pretty
304
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thin at 40 kilometers
305
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but then it slows down more and more
306
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and the more
307
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the rocket gets into the lower parts of the atmosphere
308
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the slower it gets
309
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
don't forget starship won't ever need to do
310
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
any kind of reentry burn
311
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
after its orbit burn at all
312
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because it will use
313
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
its heat shield to protect itself during re entry
314
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and the entire broad side of the vehicle to slow down
315
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so despite coming in at orbital speeds
316
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and not just suborbital speeds
317
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
like the falcon 9
318
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it will only have to do one
319
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
landing burn
320
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that right there is a substantial difference
321
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but even for the final landing burn
322
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
staying in the belly flop as long as possible
323
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
still pays off
324
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because notice
325
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right before the falcon 9 lights attentions
326
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
its velocity is still about 310 meters per 2nd
327
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's a little
328
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
more than three times faster than starship
329
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
before it lights its engines for the landing burn
330
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and it still hasn't even
331
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
reached the equilibrium of terminal velocity
332
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because at this point
333
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's still experiencing aerodynamic drag of almost 2gs
334
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so it didn't even reach terminal velocity period
335
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so I guess that's maybe
336
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
a huge difference is that starship will
337
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually hit terminal velocity
338
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and the falcon 9 just doesn't
339
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay well so what 220 meters per 2nd difference
340
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that doesn't sound like that big of a deal
341
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I mean to get into low earth orbit
342
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you need to go about 7 800 meters per 2nd
343
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so 220 meters per 2nd
344
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's only a small fraction of orbital velocity
345
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
why is this belly flop maneuver worth it
346
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
well here's the problem when you're falling
347
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every 2nd you're trying to slow down propulsive
348
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the first 9.8 meters per second of deceleration
349
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
are just wasted fighting gravity
350
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so that 235 meters per 2nd can
351
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually be a lot more
352
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because of something called gravity drag
353
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or gravity loss
354
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but in order to actually
355
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
understand gravity losses
356
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we need to 1st
357
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
explain thrust to weight ratios and engine throttling
358
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and here's where the fun begins
359
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thrust away ratio perhaps you've heard of it
360
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
perhaps you've played lots of herbal space program
361
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
like me and you have a pretty decent grasp of it or
362
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
maybe you don't have
363
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
any idea what I'm talking about at all
364
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that's fine
365
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's imagine a rocket hovering for now
366
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let's completely ignore the atmosphere
367
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if we separate these forces and concepts
368
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's going to make this a lot easier to learn
369
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so in order to hover
370
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the rocket engine needs to produce exactly as much
371
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thrust as the rocket weighs
372
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in order to explain this best we're going to use
373
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
newtons for both the weight
374
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and the thrust of the rocket
375
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since it's a unit of force
376
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
an object with a mass of one kilogram weighs
377
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
9.8 newtons on earth
378
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this is because
379
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
earth's gravity pulls at one
380
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
kilogram with a force of 9.8 newtons
381
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and just for fun on mars
382
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the same mass would weigh 3.7 newtons
383
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of course it be just as easy to use
384
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
pounds and pounds force in this example
385
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but we'll use newtons despite
386
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
me not being very used to it
387
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but it's all relative anyway
388
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so if your rocket weighs 1 000 newtons
389
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
otherwise known as a kiloton
390
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and you're producing 1
391
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
000 newtons of thrust in the opposite direction
392
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you would hover
393
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because you have a thrust weight ratio of one to one
394
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which means your thrust is
395
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
exactly counteracting gravity
396
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and therefore your weight
397
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
your net acceleration is zero
398
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because your thrust is exactly counteracting
399
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
earth's pole
400
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
on your rocket produce
401
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
900 newtons of thrust with your 1000 newton rocket
402
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and your thrust to weight ratio will be less
403
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
than one to one
404
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
specifically 0.9 to one
405
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and you'll go down
406
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for each 2nd to your at this throttle setting
407
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with that thrust away ratio of 0.9 to one
408
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you'll go downward
409
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
faster and faster you would be accelerating downward
410
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and if you throttle back up to one to one
411
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you wouldn't go back to a hover magically
412
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you'd actually continue to go down at the same
413
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
velocity a thrust weight ratio of one to one
414
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
just means your velocity is not changing
415
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so in order to get back to a hover
416
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we need to increase our thrust weight ratio to
417
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
over one to one
418
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
just to accelerate enough to reach zero velocity
419
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so now let's throttle our engines to produce 1
420
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
100 newtons of thrust
421
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which would be a thrust to weight ratio of 1.1 to 1
422
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and we'll start canceling out the velocity
423
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
once we get back to
424
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
zero velocity
425
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we can return to a thrust weight ratio of one to one
426
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if we want to hover
427
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so now let's get back to where we started
428
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let's go to a thrust away ratio of 1.5 to 1
429
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and accelerate quickly upwards
430
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and again this is very important to remember
431
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you instantly throttled back
432
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to a thrust away ratio of one to one
433
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you would continue going up at the same velocity
434
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you wouldn't magically hover
435
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so to get back to hovering where we started
436
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we'll hold our upwards velocity until we are close
437
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to where we started
438
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then we'll reduce our thrust away ratio
439
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
below one to one
440
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
decelerate until our velocity is at
441
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
0m per 2nd
442
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then increase our throttle back
443
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to a thrust away ratio of one to one
444
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to maintain a hover
445
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right back where we started
446
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's actually quite hard
447
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to make a rocket hover and maneuver
448
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but it gets even more complicated when you remember
449
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that when a rocket engine is running
450
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's also burning fuel
451
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so the rocket is getting lighter and lighter
452
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as propellant is expelled
453
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so in order to maintain a thrust to weight ratio of
454
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
say one to one
455
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you have to be able to precisely
456
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
throttle your engine to produce
457
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
exactly as much
458
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thrust as your rocket weighs
459
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
even though it's getting lighter and lighter
460
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and of course
461
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
throttling an engine is a big big deal for landing
462
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
otherwise if you couldn't throttle
463
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you would have to turn on your engines at the exact
464
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right moment
465
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
huh that sounds like a really bad idea
466
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right joe barnard okay
467
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's take a look at joe barnard from bps spaces
468
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
model rocket landing attempts
469
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which he tried to do
470
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
exactly this by using solid rocket motors
471
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
can't throttle or shut down early
472
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you start your landing burn too early
473
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and have too much
474
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thrust and you hit zero velocity above the ground
475
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and the engine still running you're going to go back up
476
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you start your landing burn too late
477
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you're not going to be able to scrub off all your
478
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
velocity in time
479
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and you'll smack into the ground
480
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or if you're like joe bernard's rockets
481
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you're going to turn into a beautiful
482
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
beautiful land shark
483
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or here's another fun example
484
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the falcon 9 actually has too much thrust with only
485
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
one of its nine merlin engines
486
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
at minimum throttle to be able to hover
487
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so they have to start the landing burn very precisely
488
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this is called doing a hover slam or a suicide burn
489
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if spacex started too early
490
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they could run the risk of running out of fuel
491
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or hitting zero velocity before they touch the ground
492
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and would fall from an even higher altitude
493
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and of course
494
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if the falcon 9 starts its engines too late
495
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it will engage in an unscheduled disassembly when it
496
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
hits the ground
497
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
at a very high velocity
498
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
turning it into a falcon million pieces
499
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since a single merlin engine can throttle between 100
500
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
down to about 40
501
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you can start your landing burn at a point
502
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
where your throttle is directly in between the two
503
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so about 70
504
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this allows you to
505
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
increase your throttle if you started a little late
506
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or decrease your throttle
507
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you started a little early
508
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the rocket is continually calculating
509
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
its velocity is deceleration
510
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and trying to make it hit 0 meters per 2nd
511
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right when it hits 0m in altitude
512
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it will precisely control its throttle
513
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right up until touchdown
514
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
although this is all done
515
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
autonomously by the flight computer
516
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which can precisely calculate exactly how much
517
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and how quickly to slow it down
518
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that isn't quite as scary as you might think
519
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in fact you may have done this
520
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
a lot like
521
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
maybe every single day
522
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lot of us
523
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually do a hover slam or a suicide burn basically
524
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every day if you drive a car
525
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so today we're actually going to be practicing
526
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
our own hover slams and suicide burns and showing you
527
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that by modulating your brake pedal
528
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you're basically doing the exact same thing
529
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as a rocket engine slowing down
530
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so I'm going to be doing this with my friend
531
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
trevor colman
532
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's say you're traveling at
533
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
50 kilometers per hour and there is a stop sign ahead
534
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we want to try and stop
535
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
right at the stop sign without ever
536
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
letting off the brakes and
537
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
without ever touching the accelerator pedal again
538
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in this example the stop sign is the ground
539
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
where the rocket falling
540
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and we're using our brakes as the rocket engine
541
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that is slowing us down
542
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but we can even go a little bit deeper
543
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with this example
544
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since letting off the accelerator of your car is like
545
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lighting up your rocket engine
546
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because
547
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you begin to slow down before you even use your brakes
548
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this is called engine braking
549
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and although it's pretty obvious in
550
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lower gears of an internal combustion engine car
551
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's even more
552
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
obvious in a hybrid or an electric vehicle
553
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which have regenerative braking
554
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and with a tesla we can even
555
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
change our regenerative braking setting to be
556
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
standard or low
557
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which would be the same as changing the rocket engines
558
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
minimum throttle setting
559
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so the next time you're driving around town
560
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
think about when you let off your accelerator
561
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you just lit up your rocket engine
562
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which will start slowing you down
563
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and as you use your brakes
564
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's like throttling your rocket engine more or less
565
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's pretty fun
566
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay so that's thrust away ratio and hover slams
567
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so how is that affect this gravity drag
568
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
gravity loss thing
569
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay so what the heck is this
570
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
gravity drag or gravity loss thing
571
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
gravity loss
572
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
is when you're using your engine to fight gravity
573
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's assume you have a
574
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thrust to weight ratio of one to one
575
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as we know you're not changing your velocity at all
576
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
your engines are just fighting gravity
577
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so every 2nd
578
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you're running your engine
579
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with a thrust to weight ratio of one to one
580
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you're just wasting precious propellant
581
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
fighting gravity
582
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
your engine is trying to accelerate your craft at
583
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
9.8 meters per 2nd squared
584
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and so is gravity just
585
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in the opposite direction
586
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now like we talked about to
587
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually get somewhere we need a thrust away ratio of
588
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
more than one to one
589
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since the first bit of propellant will
590
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
always be sacrificed to that pesky gravity
591
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and this makes a big difference in the
592
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
overall efficiency and performance of a rocket
593
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's plot this out
594
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because it's pretty fun to see spelled out
595
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
on the left we'll show
596
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thrust to weight ratio
597
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
versus how much of the propellant is
598
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually performing work
599
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which is basically the efficiency of the burn
600
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
against gravity
601
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
on the right
602
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
will show the thrust away ratio versus acceleration
603
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so how much net acceleration the rocket is experiencing
604
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if our thrust to weight ratio is one to one
605
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
100% of our propellant is spent fighting
606
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
gravity and
607
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
0 of our propellant is getting us somewhere
608
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and as you know
609
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that means our net acceleration is zero
610
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if our thrust to weight ratio is 1.1 to one
611
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
91 of our propellant is still spent fighting gravity
612
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and only 9 is used
613
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
getting us somewhere with the net acceleration of
614
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
0.1 g's but this produces infinitely more
615
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
work than a thrust away ratio of 1 to 1
616
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since that wasn't producing any
617
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's jump up to a thrust to weight ratio of 1.5
618
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to 1
619
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now two thirds of our propellant is wasted to gravity
620
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and one third goes into accelerating the vehicle
621
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so although we only increased our thrust 36
622
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
over a thrust to weight ratio of 1.1 to 1
623
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we actually produced
624
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
five times the amount of net acceleration
625
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
getting us to 0.5 g's
626
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let's do it again
627
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now with a thrust to weight ratio of two to one
628
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now 50 of our propellant is wasted on gravity
629
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and 50
630
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of our propellant goes to accelerating our vehicle
631
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
compared to 1.5 to one
632
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we only increased our thrust by 33
633
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but we produced twice the amount of acceleration
634
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if we have a thrust to weight ratio of 3 2 1
635
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
only one third of our propellant was wasted
636
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
fighting gravity
637
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and two thirds was used to perform work
638
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which is great
639
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so we increase our thrust by 50
640
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and we still doubled our acceleration
641
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and lastly
642
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if we have a thrust to weight ratio of 6 to 1
643
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
gravity only eats up about 17
644
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so again we
645
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
doubled our thrust
646
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and more than doubled our acceleration
647
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but notice we went from
648
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
66 of our propellant producing work
649
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
at a thrust away ratio of 3 to 1
650
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
up to only 83
651
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with a thrust to weight ratio of 6 to 1
652
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so we're definitely seeing some diminishing returns
653
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and no matter how high your thrust to weight ratio is
654
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you'll never reach 100
655
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of your propellant
656
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
performing work because gravity will
657
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
always eat 9.8 meters per 2nd squared here on earth
658
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but percentage of how much of your thrust gravity is
659
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
eating just keeps going down and down
660
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
until it's not really a major factor in the efficiency
661
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of your landing burn
662
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's think about a falcon 9 falling from the sky
663
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
again
664
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if its thrust away ratio is really low like 1.1 to 1
665
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it would have to start its landing burn very high up
666
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and most of its propellant would be wasted
667
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
just fighting gravity
668
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it takes substantially
669
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
more propellant to start your burn
670
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this high up
671
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or think of it the other way
672
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you had a much higher thrust weight ratio
673
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it could do a very short landing burn
674
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lighting its engines at the last 2nd
675
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and only a small fraction of the propellant
676
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
was wasted fighting gravity
677
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but the reality is
678
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's actually not quite as bad as we just made it seem
679
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
at least here on earth with earth's atmosphere
680
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and especially towards the beginning of a falcon
681
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
9's landing burn
682
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now this is really getting into the weeds on all this
683
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but when the falcon 9 is near terminal velocity
684
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
drag alone is
685
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
already producing an awful lot of deceleration
686
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
there's much
687
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
more drag than gravity is pulling down on the rocket
688
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so it's slowing down before the engines even light
689
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but once you light your engines
690
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you of course begin to slow the rocket down
691
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but ironically you're
692
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually reducing the drag the rocket experiences
693
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so the slower the rocket engine makes the rocket
694
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the more work
695
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it actually has to do to fight off gravity
696
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
near the end of the landing burn
697
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's basically carrying all the weight of the rocket
698
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and our whole thrust weight ratio thing
699
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
really matters here the most
700
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
honestly crazy to me
701
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the engineers have to factor in all of this stuff
702
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
when they're designing these landing profiles
703
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay so now we know about terminal velocity
704
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we know about gravity drag
705
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and how a high thrust to weight ratio can help
706
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
combat it
707
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I think it's time we get into
708
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
why
709
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
does spacex do the flip from belly flop to tail down
710
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so late
711
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so we finally have
712
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
all the pieces of knowledge necessary to explain
713
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
why they want to do the flip pretty much
714
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as late as possible
715
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as you know the terminal velocity of going belly 1st
716
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
is much slower than engines down
717
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so the longer they stay in that belly flopped position
718
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the less work the engines have to do cool easy
719
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but next we actually have a very
720
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
carefully plant and wonderful compromise of
721
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
mission planning
722
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every decision has a compromise so
723
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
here's where things get pretty fun
724
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so let's make an assumption
725
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we want to be belly flopping
726
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for as long as possible to scrub off velocity
727
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but we also want to land safely and reliably right
728
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so we
729
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
do want some wiggle room there and not be doing this
730
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
last sight in landing burn
731
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
where there's absolutely no margin for error
732
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
what options are there
733
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
starship has three sea level raptor engines
734
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
all capable of aiding in the landing
735
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
flip and landing burn
736
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
each engine can throttle between about 40
737
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and 100 throttle setting
738
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so we can actually have
739
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
some crossovers and thrust options
740
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if we're running on one engine
741
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
two engines or three engines
742
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with one engine running
743
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we can produce between approximately 880 kilotons
744
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to 2200 kilotons of thrust
745
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with two engines running
746
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we can produce between 1 760 kilotons
747
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to 4 400 kilotons of thrust
748
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and with three engines running we can produce 2
749
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
640 kilotons to 6600 kilotons of thrust
750
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and a good point of reference here
751
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
when starship is falling from the sky
752
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
before it lights its engines
753
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
ways approximately 1.4 million newtons
754
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
otherwise known as 1.4 mega newtons
755
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or 1400 kilotons
756
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's about one
757
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
mega newton of weight for a dry starship and about
758
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
400 kilotons worth of wait for the propellant
759
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's left over for landing
760
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with a little bit leftover for safety margins
761
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now of course these numbers are subject to change
762
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as starship gets more and more refined
763
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it'll probably get a little bit heavier
764
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because it has more of a heat shield
765
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but we could see the header tank shrink or whatever
766
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but for now let's just use this as a reference
767
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we actually have a ton of engine options here
768
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but right away
769
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you may notice
770
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we actually have a little bit of a paradox
771
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you want to start the flip early
772
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you'll need a low thrust to weight ratio
773
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so say one engine at a low throttle setting
774
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which is the least reliable thing
775
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as if you lose an engine
776
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it may take too long to get the other
777
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
engines up and running
778
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but if you want to run all three
779
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
engines the whole time
780
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you'll have to start the flip scarily late and
781
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
awfully close to the ground
782
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because
783
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with all three engines running at low throttle settings
784
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it would still be a pretty aggressive suicide burn
785
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but spacex has the option of lighting all three
786
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
engines for the flip
787
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then reducing the number of engines running
788
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
once the vehicle is closer to the ground
789
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so they can have greater fine throttle control
790
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
while maintaining some redundancies at engine ignition
791
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which seems like a decent compromise
792
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but the performance hit of starting too early is
793
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually quite a big deal
794
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in fact I had declan murphy
795
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
show the difference between the delta v requirements
796
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for starting your landing burn at two
797
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
different altitudes
798
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and real quick reminder here of what delta v is
799
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it means change in velocity and
800
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for rockets
801
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you can kind of think of it like the range of a car
802
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's the balance of the fuel efficiency of your engine
803
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and how much fuel you have in your car
804
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so the higher the delta v you have
805
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the further you can go
806
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so about the absolute earliest starship can flip is
807
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
2.5 kilometers
808
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that's flipping with two engines
809
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
then going down to one engine at
810
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
nearly minimum throttle setting
811
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for the entire landing burn
812
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and using basically as much
813
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
header tank fuel as possible
814
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
then
815
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
about the absolute latest starship can flip is down
816
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
around 300 meters
817
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that requires all
818
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
three raptor engines running at their
819
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
highest throttle setting
820
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
full bore pulling 4.5 gs to come to a soft touchdown
821
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so now between these two options is some
822
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
reasonable compromise
823
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
likely right around the 550 meter mark
824
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
like we've seen spacex trying the flip so far
825
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and this balances some some engine out capabilities
826
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and allows for some engine overlapping thrust profiles
827
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and it doesn't have a long
828
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and inefficient landing burn
829
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because when you compare their delta
830
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
v requirements at each of these altitudes
831
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you can see there isn't a huge difference between
832
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
550 meters and 300 meters
833
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but there is
834
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
a fairly substantial performance difference
835
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you start up at 2.5 kilometers
836
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the result of that delta v savings could be as much
837
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as almost 20 tons of repellent
838
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which could mean
839
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
slightly more than 20 tons that you could have put
840
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
into orbit which is more than a single falcon 9
841
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
has ever launched into orbit period
842
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so that's a lot of mass
843
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but of course it's important to remember for now
844
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with its header tanks nearly full
845
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's around 30 tons of fuel anyway
846
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so they might as well use
847
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
all of it and do whatever is the safest
848
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but maybe in the future we could see the header
849
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
tanks shrink
850
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as they aim to increase performance
851
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
while still having some redundant options for landing
852
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but 2.5
853
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
kilometers is about the earliest starship can do
854
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the flip
855
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
period due to the size of the header tanks which
856
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
again of course could always change
857
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but then you're just
858
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
making it more and more inefficient and not really
859
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
any more reliable in any conceivable way
860
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you were flipping earlier
861
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because let's stop and think about it so far
862
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of the four
863
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
starship prototypes that have flown as of the
864
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
making of this video
865
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
none of them really would have worked out
866
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
any better had they started the flip earlier
867
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the exception being maybe sn10 which
868
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
had a problem where it was
869
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
sucking up some of its helium instead of propellant
870
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which means the rocket hit the ground at two
871
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
higher velocity
872
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now of course
873
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
there might
874
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
always be submissions that have some unique edge cases
875
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or more extreme requirements
876
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for instance a heavier payload during landing may
877
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
always require all three
878
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
engines running at nearly maximum throttle for landing
879
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but that might not be a safe
880
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or reliable solution for humans
881
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to me it seems like what they're doing now
882
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with lighting of three engines
883
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that the flip is great
884
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because that way if one of them isn't working out okay
885
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they can just
886
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
continue to do the flip and the landing on two engines
887
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay so all of this will allow starship to fall slower
888
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and when timed correctly
889
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it'll use very
890
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
little propellant for the landing burn
891
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which will increase the performance of the rocket
892
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since the propellant saved can be used to put more
893
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
stuff into orbit
894
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that's the whole point
895
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so the real gold mine for spacex will be finding that
896
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
exact right altitude that balances performance
897
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
engine shut down opportunities with
898
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
overlapping thrust options between the engines
899
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and leaves them with the fewest chances
900
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to make a big old boom but aren't big
901
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
matter how reliable you make it
902
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
how is spacex
903
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually going to make this reliable
904
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
enough to make it safe for humans
905
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
can they
906
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay okay let's say everything
907
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
works out perfectly and starship can land reliably
908
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this maneuver still looks pretty intense and isn't it
909
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
always subject to some spectacular failures
910
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
what would it be like if humans were on board starship
911
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
can it be safe
912
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
is this something your life could depend on
913
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as someone who wants to ride this thing
914
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now for dear moon
915
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we better get into this
916
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
well first off
917
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the biggest weakness
918
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we need to remind ourselves that for now
919
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the raptor engines are still in their infancy
920
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they're literally
921
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
still in development
922
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and they're getting more and more reliable by the day
923
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they are far from perfect
924
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but spacex is flying and testing these things
925
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
at a blistering speed
926
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and they're accelerating
927
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so with general engine reliability
928
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the reliability of this maneuver will go up
929
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
drastically like we just talked about
930
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
by having landing profiles that will have few
931
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
single point failures
932
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it could become much more reliable and on top of this
933
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
space will practice this maneuver a ton
934
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
since they're planning on flying starship
935
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
an insane amount between cargo
936
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and eventually refueling flights
937
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and all these other things
938
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
not only in this testing phase
939
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but once it's operational
940
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it'll see an awful lot of flights
941
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and they'll have plenty of time to learn
942
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
from successes
943
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
close calls and failures
944
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but there is
945
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
something that will hopefully help
946
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
make this flip maneuver itself
947
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
a little bit more reliable if there are problems with
948
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
say the engine gumble or something
949
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because spacex is working on powerful
950
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
hot gas thrusters
951
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that use high pressure gaseous methane
952
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and high precious gaseous oxygen
953
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that can aid in the flip maneuver
954
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but what if they didn't do that flip at all
955
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
would the
956
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
hot gas rusher would be powerful enough to just simply
957
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
land belly 1st
958
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
well
959
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
no the hot gas thrusters
960
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
will not be nearly powerful enough to be able to
961
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually slow down an entire starship
962
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but if you had enough of them of course
963
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you could maybe do that but
964
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lugging around all those additional engines
965
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and that extra plumbing adds a lot
966
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lot of complexity
967
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
a lot more failure points and a lot of weight
968
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
besides that
969
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they'd have to beef up the rocket to handle
970
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
landing it horizontally
971
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but more importantly
972
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
starship already has
973
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
rap engines
974
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which are arguably some of the most
975
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
incredible rocket engines ever made
976
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and will substantially outperform hot gas thrusters in
977
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every metric
978
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so
979
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
why would they want to land on less efficient engines
980
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but the same thing is basically true for parachutes
981
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I have a lot of people asking me
982
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
why they aren't using parachutes as a backup
983
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if the main engines didn't light
984
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or something like that
985
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
well the first
986
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and most
987
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
obvious reason for parachutes is that they take a
988
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
long time to deploy
989
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and you have to deploy them in stages
990
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so you don't create
991
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
too much shock and destroy the shoots
992
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and or the lines
993
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if starship is lighting its engines up at say even two
994
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
1000m
995
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and something goes wrong
996
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and they need to then deploy the parachutes
997
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's not even enough time to deploy the small
998
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
drug shoots let alone the main shoots
999
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
not to mention the sheer weight
1000
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of the parachutes and parachute system
1001
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they actually weigh quite a bit
1002
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
between the different shoots
1003
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the mortars that deploy them and of course
1004
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
again beefing up the structure
1005
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to handle the loads in that orientation
1006
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and from the parachute mounting points
1007
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and let's not forget about the sheer
1008
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
mass of starship at 100 metric tons
1009
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
when it's dry with absolutely zero fuel on board
1010
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it would be the heaviest thing to
1011
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
ever be carried under parachutes
1012
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the previous record was the space shuttle
1013
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
solid rocket boosters
1014
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which weighed about 90 tons
1015
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's right
1016
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the space shuttle's sr were
1017
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
actually the largest parachutes ever
1018
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and they had three
1019
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
drug shoots and then there are three
1020
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
main shoots which weighed around five tons
1021
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
just for the parachutes again
1022
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
not to mention the mortars that would fire it
1023
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or the additional structure
1024
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
from mounting the parachute too
1025
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
okay okay forget backups
1026
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
parachutes or backup engines and stuff like that
1027
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let's say the flip just become comes 99 99
1028
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
reliable for landing
1029
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
can he human even
1030
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
withstand the g forces of the flip maneuver
1031
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
well for that
1032
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let's take a look at the peak
1033
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
gs of the landing maneuver
1034
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
believe it or not
1035
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the peak gs of the flip and landing is under 3gs now
1036
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
granted
1037
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they may be in a slightly dizzying mixture of vertical
1038
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and horizontal
1039
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but they're not even as great as many roller coasters
1040
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and of course
1041
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
there likely could be seats that would
1042
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
rotate and make it so you
1043
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
always experienced g forces in the same direction
1044
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
mostly lying on your back
1045
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to spread out the g's as much as possible
1046
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
to keep you safe
1047
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and just look at the actual maneuver
1048
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
follow the nose where the passengers or cargo would be
1049
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
someday it doesn't actually move that much at all
1050
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
yes the tail whips around pretty aggressively
1051
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but the nose barely does at all
1052
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I think it just looks scarier than it is
1053
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
at the end of the day
1054
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I'd rather experience
1055
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the g's of starship than the g's of a falcon 9 booster
1056
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
propulsive landing
1057
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
which pulls up to
1058
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
5gs at certain points during reentry and landing burns
1059
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
while that's certainly survivable
1060
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's definitely starting to get pretty uncomfortable
1061
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of course
1062
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
no one's writing a falcon 9 booster when it lands
1063
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but it just shows how
1064
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
high the g forces are
1065
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in order to recover a booster vertically
1066
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so
1067
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
although the belly flop looks dangerous and nauseating
1068
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it likely wouldn't actually be that bad for humans
1069
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
especially if the seats compensated for the rotation
1070
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it probably be no big deal at all
1071
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but as far as reliability
1072
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
well
1073
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
only time will tell how reliable this actually can be
1074
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so with that
1075
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I definitely think we need to wrap things up
1076
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so spacex is trying something pretty spectacular
1077
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and there's
1078
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
reasons to maybe be skeptical about it at this point
1079
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
having seen so many failures
1080
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but let's not forget this is just the very
1081
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
very beginning
1082
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
the raptors aren't very mature yet either
1083
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and will definitely get more and more reliable
1084
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as they continue development
1085
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for those of you that weren't around
1086
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
during the early days of the falcon 9
1087
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
many people had their doubts
1088
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
space could even get it to fly
1089
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
ever there were scrubs galore
1090
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
problems and questions coming up
1091
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every time they got a falcon 9 to the pad
1092
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then of course there were
1093
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
many doubts if they could ever get it to land
1094
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and at first it did seem like a bad idea
1095
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and like something that just might
1096
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
never be worth their time
1097
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but now no one
1098
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
doubts the merits of spacex landing
1099
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and reusing their falcon
1100
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
9 boosters as of today about 75
1101
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of all falcon 9 flights have successfully landed
1102
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and been recovered
1103
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and about half
1104
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
of all missions have been on flown boosters
1105
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they clearly
1106
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
have figured out a system that works incredibly well
1107
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and has already changed the game
1108
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or perhaps you remember when
1109
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
space started using super chill
1110
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
propellants for their falcon 9
1111
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they were scrubbing constantly
1112
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for instance ses 9
1113
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
one of the first missions to use supercharged props
1114
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
was scrubbed
1115
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
four times
1116
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because of issues with the supercharged propellant
1117
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and people
1118
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
were questioning whether or not it was worth it
1119
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and if they could ever get it to actually just
1120
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
work out without being super finicky
1121
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
including ula's tori bruno
1122
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but the ultimate question why
1123
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we've set it at the beginning and we'll say it again
1124
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
now that you understand everything
1125
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
using as much of the rocket to slow down
1126
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in the atmosphere as possible
1127
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
essentially for free
1128
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's a great
1129
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
reason right there
1130
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then by doing the flip as late as possible
1131
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they minimize gravity drag
1132
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and they won't waste too much
1133
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
delta v landing the rocket
1134
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in order to fulfill the goal of being a
1135
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
super heavy lift
1136
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
fully reusable rocket
1137
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they have to squeeze absolutely
1138
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every little drop of performance out of the vehicle
1139
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
in the early days of this testing program
1140
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
we're going to see a
1141
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
lot of failures
1142
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
space will learn a lot of lessons
1143
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but they're cranking these things out so fast
1144
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they can rapidly iterate and learn at a pace
1145
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that will certainly lead to getting results in a hurry
1146
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but the reality is
1147
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I know the last minute aspect looks scary but frankly
1148
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
every part just simply needs to work
1149
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this all just needs to become more reliable period
1150
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and if I know anything about spacex
1151
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they will force this thing into being reliable because
1152
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they don't seem to take no for an answer
1153
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
after all nothing that's physically possible
1154
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
is impossible but at the end of the day
1155
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
who knows
1156
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
space could play around with this for a while
1157
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then say
1158
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you know what
1159
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let's just focus on what gets us the absolute highest
1160
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
chances of safely landing and recovering period
1161
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and then they could make some just drastic changes
1162
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I mean
1163
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
elon's already talking about catching the booster
1164
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with the launch tower
1165
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and maybe even doing that same thing with starship
1166
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
who knows maybe someday we'll see them
1167
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
blowing a bunch of fans up at starship and
1168
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
catching it in a giant net
1169
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I mean
1170
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I feel like nothing is off the table for spacex but
1171
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for now I'm excited to see them try this
1172
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
more and more because it sure is exciting
1173
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so what do you think
1174
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
do you think spacex will figure out this maneuver
1175
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and make it reliable
1176
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and routine or do you think
1177
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
they'll wind up back at the drawing board
1178
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and have to come up with another
1179
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
completely different solution altogether
1180
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
let me know your thoughts in the comments below
1181
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I will quick
1182
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thank you to a lot of people who helped make this
1183
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
video possible
1184
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
including declan murphy from flight club io
1185
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you guys should definitely be familiar with this
1186
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
if you're out
1187
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
ever trying to take pictures of a rocket
1188
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
be sure and check out his
1189
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
rocket photographer toolkit
1190
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
there's a ton of really fun stuff to play with though
1191
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
too so definitely check out flight club io
1192
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
is awesome and declan does amazing work
1193
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and check them out on YouTube too
1194
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
because he's doing an awesome job
1195
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
explaining some of the differences we're seeing
1196
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
between these missions
1197
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and also casper stanley
1198
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
who made a lot of the awesome 3d renders in this video
1199
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
check out his rocket explorer app
1200
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
on the steam store which is
1201
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
super super cool and another thanks to corey at
1202
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
sea underscore bass 3d on Twitter
1203
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
for some of his incredible animations as well
1204
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and a lot of the footage you saw from this video
1205
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
was from the partnership I have
1206
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
with my friends at cosmic perspective
1207
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so ryan scaliness and mariela's bender
1208
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
who work with me to make
1209
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
a lot of the incredible video that you see
1210
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
on launch day
1211
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
definitely watch their incredible films on YouTube
1212
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
find their YouTube page right now
1213
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and once you watch their videos
1214
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I can just about guarantee
1215
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
you're going to want to support them
1216
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so you get some
1217
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
awesome access to behind the scenes stuff
1218
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and help them continue to do what they do
1219
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
by going to patron
1220
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
com cosmic perspective
1221
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
but I always huge thank you to my patron supporters
1222
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
who help make this video
1223
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
mars studio b
1224
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and
1225
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
everything that we do at everyday astronaut possible
1226
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so if you want to help
1227
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
support what I do
1228
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or gain access to our incredible discord community
1229
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
who is
1230
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
just the most fun audience to be with on launch day
1231
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or just hang out during the week
1232
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
asking people rocket questions and stuff like that
1233
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
or if you want to get access to some
1234
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
exclusive live streams
1235
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
as well
1236
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
consider becoming a patron supporter by going to
1237
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
patron com
1238
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
everyday astronaut
1239
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and while you're moline
1240
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
definitely check out our awesome web store for
1241
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
shirts like this shirt that I'm sure you've seen
1242
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
many times
1243
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
this is the full flow stage combustion cycle shirt
1244
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that of course you've probably seen elon musk wear or
1245
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
is baby or whoever elsewhere it's an awesome shirt
1246
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
all of our march is the highest quality possible
1247
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
by screen printing them
1248
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
and we just do bulk orders of merchandise
1249
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
it's not to print on demand stuff that will fall apart
1250
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
after three times wearing it
1251
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
so definitely check out shop around
1252
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
find some awesome stuff for you or some friends
1253
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
by going to everyday astronaut
1254
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
com shop
1255
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
thanks everybody
1256
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
that's gonna do it for me
1257
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
I'm tim dodd the everyday astronaut
1258
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:00,0
bringing space down to earth for everyday people
87346
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