1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with text Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Payson and welcome to text Stuff. 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren. And when laugh we left, 4 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: we were talking about SpaceX and we had gotten up 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: to the year two thousand and nine, at which point 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: SpaceX had successfully launched the Falcon one once in a 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,319 Speaker 1: test and wants to take a Malaysian satellite up. And 8 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,599 Speaker 1: with these resounding successes said, you know, let's retire that one. 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: I spilled something bigger, bigger and better. Yes, we can 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: make it bigger, faster, stronger. So two thousand and ten 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: they launched a successful test of a Falcon nine rocket. 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,599 Speaker 1: It's eight better than the Falcon one. You might ask, well, 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: why did they go from one to nine like what 14 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: happened to Falcons two through eight. Well, the nine doesn't 15 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: refer to the version, No, it refers to how many 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: engines are in the first stage of the rocket. Yes, 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: it has nine Merlin engines in that first stage. It 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:07,679 Speaker 1: is also a two stage rocket. Yes, so like the 19 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: Falcon one, it's a two stage rocket, but unlike the 20 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: Falcon one, it had nine engines instead of just one engine. Uh, 21 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: still was a liquid liquid fuel engine liquid oxygen and 22 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: kerosene specifically, and used aluminum aluminum lithium alloy tanks. Now, 23 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: according to SpaceX, the nine engines provide more thrust than 24 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,839 Speaker 1: five seven forty seven's at full power. Now I should 25 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: stress that's the current Falcon nine because over the course 26 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: of the last few years. Yeah, the Falcon nine has 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: gotten pardon the pun, a bit of a boost over 28 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: the last Okay, I'm sorry, I regret everything I've said, 29 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: I know, but but it is, it has improved over 30 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: the years as they've worked on it. So the the 31 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: figures we have for the Falcon nine really reflect the 32 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: most recent version of the rocket, not the original, not 33 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: this original one from yes Um. And the reason I 34 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: has those nine engines in there is to provide redundancy, 35 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: that way of the that the rocket can continue even 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: if two of its engines shut down entirely during the process. Right. 37 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: So they've had issues where they I mean they've actually 38 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: tested it where they would shut down an engine on 39 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: purpose and then fire it back up to make sure 40 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: that in fact the rocket would be able to continue 41 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: and deliver its payload into orbits. So this was definitely 42 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: something that was built into the design. Also, what's really 43 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 1: kind of cool is that, uh, the the stages stage 44 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: one and stage two, they are separated by a different 45 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: method than the way you would find in um in 46 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: in previous versions of launch vehicles. Now, normally a launch 47 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: vehicle the two stages would be connected with explosive bolts 48 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: and you would blow the bolts and then stage one 49 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: would fall away, in stage two would ignite and continue 50 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: to go up into orbit. But since they were hoping 51 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,839 Speaker 1: to create a rocket system that can be used multiple time, 52 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: like the whole shebang, not just the shuttle bit, yeah, 53 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: they decided to go with something else. They went with 54 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: using air pressure. They essentially had like pneumatic bolts that 55 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: would blast off with a little little blast of compressed air. 56 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: So it wasn't explosive in the sense of like an 57 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: actual explosive device. It would separate more um less violently. 58 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: Let's say, yeah, gently is good because this soothing easing 59 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: blast from high in earth. Yeah. Really, it was mostly 60 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: to to make sure that things would remain safe for 61 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: once the falcon would start to carry people, not just 62 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: not just stuff. Stuff is replaceable. People are not to know. 63 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: So anyway, the if everything is working properly when the 64 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: engines a night, Uh, they will burn for three minutes 65 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: in that first stage and uh interesting facts. So at 66 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: sea level, the Falcon engines engines provide and again this 67 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: is current. Falcon nines provide one point three million pounds 68 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: of thrust, which is five thousand, eight hundred five kilo newtonts. 69 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: But rocket thrust increases as altitude increases, so they just 70 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: get more powerful as they go further up in the air. 71 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: So once they get to space, the engines are putting 72 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: out one point five million pounds of thrust or six thousand, 73 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: six d seventy two kilo mutants, So that's pretty awesome. Now, 74 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: earlier rockets were slightly less powerful, but still significantly stronger 75 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: than the Falcon one, not a big surprise with all 76 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: the extra engines thrown in there. I'm just waiting for 77 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: them to have the Falcon eleven so turn it all 78 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: the way up to eleven um, which would make sense 79 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 1: because I'm pretty sure Tesla's vehicles have dials that go 80 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: all the way up to eleven I think I think 81 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: Musk is a fan of spinal test. So uh, Now, 82 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: as the rockets mass decreases, which you would expect to 83 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: have happened. It's got fuel, it's burning fuel, so therefore 84 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: it's going to lose mass in the process of actually 85 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: launching into space. The Falcon nine engines gradually get throttled 86 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: back to compensate so that it keeps acceleration within the 87 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: right parameters, because obviously, if you have the engines blasting 88 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: at the same amount of thrust and the mass of 89 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: the thing it's thrusting up into space is decreasing, then 90 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,840 Speaker 1: it would accelerate beyond what they had it they need. 91 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: So interesting that you have to actually think about throttling 92 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: back the engines as opposed to because you know, getting 93 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: stuff into space is hard. We talked about that. It's 94 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: it's hard to think you would think that it would 95 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: be full, right, that's not the way it works. It's 96 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: kind of cool. Uh. Now, the second stage of the 97 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: rocket has a single Merlin vacuum engine, not a vacuum 98 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: cleaner engine. It's an engine that works in the vacuum 99 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: of space. So for being in space. Yes, yeah, you've 100 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: got this pneumatic stage separation that separates once. Once that happens, 101 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: the stage one starts to fall away. Stage two kicks 102 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: in that one Merlin engine kicks in and provides a 103 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: hundred eight thousand pounds of force or a hundred one 104 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: killing Newton's so, you know, relatively modest compared to the 105 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: actual stage one rocket, which makes sense because that was 106 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: again nine engines versus one. Uh. And that one burns 107 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,799 Speaker 1: for three hundred seventy five seconds, which is six minutes 108 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: fifteen seconds for those who want to break it down 109 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: like that. Uh, and then it will get into its orbit, 110 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: so the second stage engine can actually stop and start 111 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: multiple times, which allows the Falcon nine to place different 112 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: payloads into different orbits. You group the payloads together so 113 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: if you have satellites that need to go into a 114 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: certain orbit, you can release them and then continue the 115 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: spacecraft further out to deliver more payloads and higher orbits. Yeah. Yeah, 116 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: this this allows you know, everyone involved to save a 117 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: lot of money because the actual launch is what's expensive. 118 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: You know. Once once you're up there, it's kind of like, yeah, 119 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: just just toss everything around wherever it needs to get right, Okay, 120 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: who's here for lower th orbit? All right out you go. Yeah. 121 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: It's one of those things where, uh, it makes it 122 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: a viable business to work with these other companies we 123 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: talked about in our first episode where we were talking 124 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: about how you know, a company might have a satellite 125 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: that needs to put into orbit, and another company may 126 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: have a similar satellite that also needs to go in orbit, 127 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: it's maybe a slightly different elevation. This would allow SpaceX 128 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: to have the opportunity to launch both in the same 129 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: mission and thus you you can serve and you end 130 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: up making the whole endeavor less expensive for all individual parties. 131 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: So pretty pretty savvy move on the business side. Uh, 132 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: pretty cool stuff. Now beyond all that, also in two, 133 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: SpaceX would land a contract with a satellite operator called 134 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: a Ridium for four hundred ninety two million dollars, as 135 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: was the largest commercial space launch deal ever up to 136 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: that time. And in the second test of the Falcon nine, 137 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: SpaceX becomes the first private company to launch of spacecraft 138 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: into orbit and then recover it after it orbits the Earth. 139 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: So this is again pretty it's it's a pretty big yeah. 140 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: Another step on that on that plan. On the back 141 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: of all of this this wonder and amazement, Musk would 142 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: make the only a little bit far reaching claim that 143 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: he would be sending astronauts into space within three years 144 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: at only twenty million dollars a piece. Yeah, that's um, 145 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: that's that's compared to uh previous missions. Sure, and spoiler alert, 146 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: that did not happen. No, it would take a little 147 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: longer than three years because we still haven't sent anyone 148 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: up into space. No humans have gone into space on 149 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: a SpaceX vehicle yet. So if you're waiting to hear 150 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: that magical fairy tale story, we don't have that. If 151 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: it happened while we were recording, that's different, but as 152 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 1: of the recording, it has not yet happened. Now, moving 153 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: on to two thousand eleven, we have a groundbreaking ceremony 154 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,199 Speaker 1: for the Vandenburg Air Force Base space launch complex that 155 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: SpaceX would use. Uh. Now, at that point, SpaceX was 156 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: valued at about one point three billion dollars, pretty impressive 157 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: considering that it only had had started back in two 158 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: thousand two. Yeah. Yeah, And and this Air Force space 159 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,199 Speaker 1: that they were celebrating was not for them alone, right, 160 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: it's a government facility exactly. It's it's essentially they're saying, hey, 161 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: do you mind if we use your your playground to 162 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: launch our our our rockets and air forces. You know, 163 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 1: we can work up a deal, and that's exactly we 164 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: can work that out. Um. Meanwhile, over at NASA, the 165 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: Shuttle program was officially shut down in eleven after the 166 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: Atlantis Is final flight, which returned to the Kennedy Space 167 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: Center on July one. This means, among other things, that 168 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: the amazing infrastructure that is the Kennedy Space Center and 169 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: its launch pads would be rendered idle um at a 170 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: cost of like some a hundred thousand dollars per month 171 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: in maintenance. I don't think that's offset by tourists like 172 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: me going to look around at the Kennedy Space Center. 173 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: Not quite no, um. So you know, in turn, that 174 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: means that you can bet NASA was pretty eager to 175 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: start looking at at ways to recoup that and start 176 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: renting out those launch pads to private companies. Yes, so 177 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: that will become more important a little later on. Yes. 178 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 1: In two thousand twelve, in May, SpaceX would launch a 179 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,960 Speaker 1: successful mission to have its Dragon spaceship dock with the 180 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: International Space Station. So the Dragon spaceship is like a capsule. 181 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,239 Speaker 1: If you look at it, it kind of is reminiscent 182 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: of something like one of the Apollo capsules. It looks 183 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: kind of in that same sort of general shape. Um, 184 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: and it's not carrying any cargo on this first test. Uh. 185 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: And there it doesn't have any people aborted on the 186 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: first test, but it was successful in docking with the 187 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: I s sh yeah. Yeah, and the astronauts who are 188 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: already up there could open the docked capsule and go 189 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: right on inside, which is any brave. Yeah, I mean 190 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: you said there thinking. I mean, I'm sure they had 191 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: all the instrumentation to prove that in fact, it was 192 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: perfectly safe. But just think of this, This unmanned capsule 193 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: docks with the space station and it's you know, docks 194 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 1: to an airlock, and I can't imagine the amount of 195 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: tension I would feel opening the airlock for the first 196 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: time and not knowing for sure that everything on the 197 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: other side was still okay. I'm sure that they were 198 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: like tethered in, and I'm sure there are many safety 199 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: precautions taken. It's just interesting to be like, as are 200 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: a world apart from me. I'm too nervous to be 201 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: able to do. Yeah, I get anxious, like going to 202 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: the grocery store. So let's talk about this Dragon spacecraft. 203 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. So it's designed to deliver people and 204 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: cargo to space, although again no people so far have 205 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: gone anywhere. Specifically, is designed to go to orbiting destinations 206 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,199 Speaker 1: like the I S S or satellites, as opposed to 207 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: some longer mission to say the Moon or Mars. It's 208 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: not meant for that. About how much stuff can it hold? 209 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: It can hold eighty three cube feet of cargo, which 210 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: is twenty five cube meters on at least on the 211 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 1: way up. And it has a mass of six thousand kilograms, 212 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: which means it weighs thirteen thousand, two hundred twenty eight pounds. Now, 213 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: the return payload when it comes back to Earth is 214 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: three thousand krams or six thousand, six d fourteen pounds, 215 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,719 Speaker 1: and the return payload volume for the Dragon spacecraft is 216 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: three eight cube feet or eleven cube meters. And you 217 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,439 Speaker 1: might say, well, why why is the difference? Where where's 218 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: the difference with the volume when it goes up versus 219 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,199 Speaker 1: the volume when it comes down. And so part of 220 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: the capsule when it's going up is a connector that 221 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: connects the capsule to the launch vehicle right and in 222 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: that in that area you have an unpressurized chamber, and 223 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: inside the unpressurized chamber. You can have certain types of 224 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: cargo stuff that does not need to be protected in 225 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: that way. So let's say that you have some extra 226 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: satellites that you can just you know, throw in the back. 227 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: It's in the back of your truck. Essentially you go 228 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: up into space. Well, when you get up into space, 229 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,559 Speaker 1: the capsule, when it's going into re entry, will disconnect 230 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: from that connector that originally had it next to the 231 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,880 Speaker 1: launch vehicle, and so the capsule itself will come down, 232 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: which means that you can't carry as much back down 233 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: as you could carry back up. Now, why would you 234 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:18,839 Speaker 1: want to carry stuff down in the first place, But, 235 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,560 Speaker 1: like we mentioned in the first episode, occasionally stuff aboard 236 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: the I s S needs to be repaired or maintained, 237 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: and they can't necessarily do all of that on the 238 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,319 Speaker 1: station itself. Or maybe they want to send little bits 239 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: of scientific experiments back down to Earth, right, and in 240 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: that case you would need to have exactly so that's 241 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: what that would be used for. So the pressure I section, 242 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 1: which would be the one that would carry humans if 243 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: we ever sent any up in a Dragon Space capsule UH, 244 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: can also carry cargo and it has something called draco thrusters. 245 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,959 Speaker 1: So these are these are thrusters. They're meant to provide uh, 246 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: propulsion and some maneuverability in space, developed by SpaceX. So 247 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:05,359 Speaker 1: since it's the Dragon Capsule, of course it's the Draco thrusters. 248 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: There are eighteen of them spread across four pods, So 249 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: two of the pods have four thrusters, two of the 250 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: pods have five thrusters. Now, the thrusters provide all this 251 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: maneuverability whenever they're needing to to dock with the I 252 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: S S or whenever they're they're trying to reposition themselves 253 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: for re entry um and each individual thruster is capable 254 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: of creating nine pounds of thrust. Now, the Dragon also 255 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: has this unpressurized trunk that was talking about. That's the 256 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: part where it'll disconnect just as you start to go 257 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: into re entry. And uh that's also why you're able 258 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: to carry more stuff up than down. As I said before, 259 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: on May thirty one, the Dragon Capsule returned to Earth safely, 260 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: completing that first test mission of the capsule. And it's 261 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. 262 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: So in August of two thousand eleven, SpaceX would send 263 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: a Dragon spacecraft up again to pick up return earned 264 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: cargo to bring back to Earth, and Elon must champion 265 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: the mission as a demonstration of America being able to 266 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: deliver cargo and to take cargo from the I S 267 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: S for the first time since the space Shuttle program 268 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: was shuttered. Now keep in mind that particular capsule had 269 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: not actually carried anything up to the station, It just 270 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: brought stuff back down. But in October the Dragon capsule 271 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: would be the first private spacecraft to complete a resupply 272 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: mission to the I S S. So by the end 273 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 1: of two thousand eleven, it had done it all. They 274 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: had done a successful test stalking, they had returned cargo 275 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: safely to Earth, and they brought stuff up supplies back 276 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: up to the I S S in order to support 277 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: all of this. Meanwhile, that McGregor, Texas testing facility that 278 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: I mentioned in the first episode was running at eighteen 279 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: hours a day, six days a week. Wow, And you 280 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,440 Speaker 1: know I have actually heard I didn't include this in 281 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: the notes, but recently we're recording this in in August 282 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: of two thousand fourteen, and very recently there have been 283 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: some news reports of former employees who are laid off. Uh. 284 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: This happened very recently at SpaceX, who have also laid 285 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: allegations that they were not allowed to take breaks that 286 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: they would have legally been um allowed to do, uh, 287 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: and that they were not being paid sufficiently for overtime. 288 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: So whether or not any of that is true, I 289 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: don't know, but that that that is an ongoing thing. 290 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: But when you hear something like this about these facilities 291 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: running these crazy amount of hours per day, oh yeah, 292 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: especially when I think McGregor only employs some two fifty 293 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: people today. I'm not sure what the employment rate was 294 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: back then, although I think that that's the that's just 295 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: about the working team that they that they hire out. 296 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: So SpaceX, Yeah, exactly, space X as a as a 297 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: full company as like three thousand employees. So it's you know, 298 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: it's one of those things that that's an ongoing situation. 299 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: So we don't have a lot to report about that 300 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: particular issue. But you can imagine that there are people 301 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: who are working really, really hard and I hope it 302 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,679 Speaker 1: turns out that they're being compensation. Okay, But also in 303 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, SpaceX would test something else called the grasshopper. 304 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: This is a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle. Yeah, so 305 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: it's a rocket that can take off and land vertically. 306 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:21,159 Speaker 1: So here's the reason why they want to test this 307 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: other thing while the Falcon nine is working. It's really 308 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: kind of testing a proof of concept that they could 309 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: build a rocket that they could launch up into wherever, 310 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 1: and then when it starts coming back down, they could 311 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: maneuver it so it could land safely upright exactly the 312 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: way it had taken off. It's got landing you know, 313 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 1: it's it's got struts essentially that act like landing gear. 314 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: And the reason you would want that is if you 315 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: sent any one to someplace like Mars, it would allow 316 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: them to, you know, come back would be nice. We've 317 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 1: talked about a lot about Mars, both on this show 318 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: and on Our Sisters show Forward Thinking, and some plans 319 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: don't involve the return ticket. I I prefer the plans 320 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:02,679 Speaker 1: that involved the return ticket. Everyone collective sanity. Yeah, you know, 321 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:04,960 Speaker 1: even people who think it's exciting to go to Mars, 322 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: even if there's no way back. I'm not sure that 323 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: you're going to feel the same way. It's a five 324 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: years on Mars or ten years or forty years or 325 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: forty minutes. Who knows. I mean, it might be like, wow, 326 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,120 Speaker 1: I really underestimated how boring it is up here and 327 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: how deadly. So yeah, this would be a way of 328 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: creating a vehicle that could potentially visit a distant surface 329 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,479 Speaker 1: and then take off again from it. Um. Now, this 330 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: particular one is too, is just designed to be a test, 331 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 1: but it would hopefully be built into the Stage one 332 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: Falcon nine rockets, which would also make them reusable, uh 333 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 1: in the sense of being able to actually land them 334 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: so that you could recover them, and the actual reprocessing 335 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: phase would be much shorter than if it were you know, 336 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: if you had to go out into the ocean and 337 00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: retrieve it from you know, crashing in there. So now 338 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: we move up to two thousand thirteen, SpaceX announced a 339 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,880 Speaker 1: plan to launch a satellite into geo stationary orbit, which 340 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: is different from low Earth orbit. Geo stationary orbit is 341 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,640 Speaker 1: one in which an orbiting body holds the same position 342 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,439 Speaker 1: in the sky relative to an observer on the ground, 343 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: which means that if you're standing on the ground for 344 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: a week, I mean, you know, I guess you're having 345 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: people bring you snacks, but and look up the the 346 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: satellite would be there the entire time and maintain its 347 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: relative position to you that whole time. Uh. And in 348 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: order to do that, you have to actually put that 349 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: out a little further than your low Earth orbit. Also, 350 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: I should all clarify that geostationary orbits are a subset 351 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,680 Speaker 1: of geosynchronous orbits. A geosynchronous orbit is one in which 352 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: an orbiting body will return to a given position along 353 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: its path after a given amount of time. So you 354 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,640 Speaker 1: might say that you have a satellite that has kind 355 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: of a figure eight type orbit over the southeastern United States, 356 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: and then every three days the satellite is over the 357 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 1: same point of reference along that pathway. That's a that 358 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: one is a geosynchronous orbit. Geostationary is very specific and 359 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: that it maintains that's that particular location. So we would 360 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 1: have like a geostationary satellite directly above Atlanta, that would 361 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,680 Speaker 1: be an example. Um. But yeah, in order to get 362 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: it out there, you gotta get it pretty far out 363 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,680 Speaker 1: into the orbit. It's it's your your your local ones 364 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: are much closer in uh. Yeah, lower orbit satellites might 365 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: be some one thousand, two hundred miles that's one thousand 366 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: nine kilometers out from Earth's surface. Uh, GEO stationary satellites 367 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,160 Speaker 1: are something like twenty two thousand miles or thirty five 368 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: thousand kilometers out. And just for perspective, because I don't 369 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: know about you guys, but but those ranges of numbers, 370 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: my brain starts to go, I don't have no idea 371 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: what that means. I can't compare that to things that 372 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: means stuff to me. A thousand, two hundred miles is 373 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: something like driving from New York City to Miami. Great 374 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: road trip, Uh, it can be, it can pleasant through 375 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:06,679 Speaker 1: certain parts shirt um and uh, two thousand miles, by contrast, 376 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: is like eighty percent of the circumference of the entire planet. 377 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 1: So a longer road trip is what you're saying, A 378 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: very much longer road trip than trip. Yes, you would 379 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: have to have a submarine or jet skis. Well, I'll 380 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: hold off on planning that trip. But yeah, So that 381 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: that same year, SpaceX would put in a bid to 382 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: lease one of the Katy Space Center's launch pads, right, 383 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: you were talking about this earlier. Yeah, they the Kennedy 384 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,679 Speaker 1: Space Center finally opened up one of their launch pads 385 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: thirty nine A to be specific, which is like the 386 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: historic Apollo Mission launch pad out to a private company, 387 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: and SpaceX put in one of the bids. The other 388 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 1: bidder was Blue Origin, which is Amazon founder. Jeff Bezos 389 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: is space Company. In this corner, we have Elon Musk 390 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: and in this corna Jeff Bezos. I love the thought. 391 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: I mean, we've done episodes on both of these people, right, 392 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 1: We've done We've done a Bezos episode, We've done a 393 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: Musk episode, and they're both these very dynamic, wonderful personalities 394 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 1: that have these big dreams and all of this stuff. 395 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 1: So you know, will come out the winner either way. 396 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: But as it turns out, the story ends ends up 397 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: with with a single entity winning that bid, right. Well, 398 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: that was actually part of the bidding war here. Well, 399 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 1: it wasn't really a bidding war as much as it 400 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: was just a general political and legal kerfuffle because Blue 401 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: Origin and Jeff Bezos were really aiming for this pad 402 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: being opened up to multi company use. They wanted, you know, 403 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,400 Speaker 1: many people to be able to come in and use 404 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: this thing, and you know, under the argument that leasing 405 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,880 Speaker 1: to a single company would put that company in basically 406 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: monopoly territory as far as space launches go. On the 407 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,679 Speaker 1: other hand, SpaceX was really the only company that was 408 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 1: prepared to actually use a launch site like that. Even 409 00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,879 Speaker 1: Bloor Origin had never had a successful test at that point, 410 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,400 Speaker 1: so SpaceX might be saying like, well, that's all well 411 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: and good, but we're the ones doing stuff and if 412 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: it just lays dormant that it's not doing anyone any 413 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: good anyway. Yeah, and they would eventually win that bid 414 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,720 Speaker 1: in December. Sadly, it was not the way I had 415 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: proposed when we were talking about this before the episode, 416 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: where I said all all all disagreements among entrepreneurs should 417 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: be settled in the thunder Dome, as as our ancestors 418 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,879 Speaker 1: would have had it. Yes. Yes, in fact, you know, 419 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,200 Speaker 1: you bust a deal and you face the wheel, and 420 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: that's no way. That's a different part of the movie anyway. 421 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: Two two thousand fourteen, So we're up to this year, 422 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: at least the year were recording this. For those of 423 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: you in the future who are listening to us, I 424 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: hope you found it quaint. But in May of two 425 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: thousand and fourteen, SpaceX would unveil the design for the 426 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: Dragon version to spacecraft, and we all thought it looked 427 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: gorgeous because it is. It also has the crew capacity 428 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 1: for seven crew members. Yeah, it looks it looks like 429 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: Apple designed the interior of this thing. Right, if you 430 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,959 Speaker 1: ever look at the controls, all right, if you get 431 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: a chance, go on Google image search and look at 432 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: what the Apollo spacecraft control panel looked like. It looks 433 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: kind of like the Millennium Falcon. It's all these little 434 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 1: switches and buttons and things like nothing. Nothing looks like 435 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,199 Speaker 1: it would control a spacecraft in the sense of, you know, 436 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: being able to manually take control of this thing. The 437 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 1: the one that was unveiled. The concepts at least for 438 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,159 Speaker 1: the Dragon version two console look like it was designed 439 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: by Apple. You have these enormous flat panel displays, this 440 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: very elegant looking control scheme set up. It looks the 441 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 1: way you would think a science fiction spacecraft control would look. 442 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: It's pretty pretty beautiful. Now, again, these are concepts, so 443 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: we wait to looks. But anyway, it will according to SpaceX, 444 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: and it will be able to and propulsively almost anywhere 445 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 1: on Earth, so you don't have to worry about a 446 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: window opening up for you to be able to land 447 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: at a specific location. Yeah, that was one of those 448 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 1: big limiting factors for the Shuttle program, right, like if 449 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: you missed that window, you had to wait until you 450 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: came back around around so um, which is important because 451 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: it's meant to be reusable. Yes, uh, you know, after 452 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: being processed and refueled, it can go right back into service. Yeah, 453 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: which is kind of crazy. And it will have eight 454 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: Super Draco engines built into the sidewalls. I just talked 455 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: over the fact that they're they're building these right into 456 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 1: the side walls of the spacecraft. Absolutely. Yeah. The idea 457 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: being that if there's a problem during launch, the Super 458 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: Draco thrusters can actually allow the capsule to detach from 459 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:52,199 Speaker 1: the launch vehicle and potentially save the lives of the 460 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 1: astronauts inside. That would be, you know, amazing, would be 461 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,880 Speaker 1: a really important development in this kind of spacecraft. They 462 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:03,360 Speaker 1: can produce one twenty thou pounds of axial thrust uh 463 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: and m. Also, the Super Draco have engine chambers that 464 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,719 Speaker 1: were created in a three D printer. It's the first 465 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: time that an actual working part of a space engine 466 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,679 Speaker 1: has been built by a three D printer, not a 467 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: not a prototype. That'sn't then that's normal, right, that's that's 468 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: part of the course. No, but the actual bits that 469 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: are going into this space. Yeah, it's kind of interesting 470 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: and amazing and one of those. And again it really 471 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: brings home the fact that three D printing is playing 472 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 1: a very large role in in multiple industries. So it's 473 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: I was really blown away by that when I heard that, 474 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,159 Speaker 1: I thought, surely they mean that they just printed the 475 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: prototype and tested it. No, these are the actual chambers themselves. 476 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: In July two thousand fourteen, SpaceX received approval from the 477 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: Federal Aviation Administration with the f a A to build 478 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: a launch facility in Texas, which would be the first 479 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: purely commercial launch site. This is different from relying on 480 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: that Air Force facility the or leasing the launch pad 481 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,360 Speaker 1: at the Kennedy Space Center, and they're hoping to support 482 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: twelve launches per year. It's a pretty impressive site, all 483 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,359 Speaker 1: you know. It's not huge. It's just seventy acres. It's 484 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,359 Speaker 1: in a town called Boca Chica Beach, which is about 485 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: twenty miles outside of the larger town slash area of 486 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:21,680 Speaker 1: Brownsville in Texas, near the Mexican border. The US Census 487 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: has identified this area as being the poorest in the 488 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: entire country. Six percent of its residents live below the 489 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,919 Speaker 1: poverty line. Um, the spaceport is going to be an 490 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,119 Speaker 1: eighty five million dollar project, or is projected to be 491 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 1: so right now, which is gonna be bolstered by fifteen 492 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 1: point three million dollars in funds from to Texas organizations, 493 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: one being the Texas Enterprise Fund, which makes perfect sense, 494 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: and the second being the Spaceport Trust Fund, which apparently exists. 495 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: So that's the thing, um and uh and yeah, local 496 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: government is pretty excited about the some three hundred jobs 497 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,920 Speaker 1: at the construction is likely to create in the area, 498 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: and the hundred fifty or so staff members that it's 499 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 1: likely to hire once it's complete. Also all the tourism 500 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: and stuff like that that it's going to bring hopefully, 501 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: and then you also have to have the businesses just 502 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,840 Speaker 1: to support the existence of this thing. Sure, sure, yeah, 503 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: you're gonna have to build a lot more Starbucks or 504 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 1: whatever it is, which is that's great news for this town. 505 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, but the potential for some some real 506 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,879 Speaker 1: rejuvenation of that town's economy is pretty exciting. Uh. And 507 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,120 Speaker 1: of course Texas and Elon Musk have a standing, if 508 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: slightly to multious relationship. You know, in addition to housing 509 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 1: that that testing facility. Texas was also one of the 510 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: first states to have Tesla charging stations um, although as 511 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: if this recording, it can't actually sell Tesla vehicles in 512 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: the state due to car sales laws that preserve dealerships 513 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: being the sole distributors of consumer vehicles. You can't have 514 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: a company sell directly to its customers. Um. And for 515 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: more on that, you can check out our two part 516 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: or the Tesla Tale, which published in March. And rumor 517 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: has it that Stay Governor Rick Perry is really trying 518 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: to change this whole thing because it would be pretty 519 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: good for the economy of the state, many people argue, 520 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: but yeah, the laws have not budged quite yet. And 521 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: also Texas is on that shortlist of states that may 522 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:18,120 Speaker 1: eventually house Tesla's giga factory battery plant. Yeah, the one 523 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: that would be making the Just like Musk wants the 524 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: space industry to be something that the United States can 525 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: really focus in on internally, same thing for producing the 526 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: batteries that would go into electric vehicles and improving the 527 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: batteries and improving the working conditions around all of that. Yeah, yeah, 528 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:41,600 Speaker 1: so important stuff. Yeah. The only confusing thing about this spaceport. 529 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 1: For me is that the announcement about it really only 530 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 1: came a couple of months after SpaceX signed that lease 531 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: for that Kennedy Space Center a launch pad, but that 532 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: was for a lot, like, you know, six months or 533 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: something twenty years. Who alright, so they're gonna have their 534 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: own space and they're leasing the other like dormant space. 535 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: Maybe they are like kind of edge and everybody else out. 536 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm yeah, I'm not sure what's going 537 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 1: on there. I mean, you know, it's sub lease of Yeah, yeah, 538 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: I'm figuring that maybe they're going to try to use 539 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: their own launchpad for for commercial purposes, for helping other 540 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: companies get into space using that infrastructure and maybe preserve 541 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: the Kennedy area for their own stuff or maybe for 542 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: their NASA related trips or something like that. Yeah, that's 543 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: a possibility. Well, and and maybe it'll be one of 544 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: those things where certain types of launch vehicles will be 545 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: able to use their one facility and others might need 546 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: a larger one. For example that you know, there's we'll 547 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,880 Speaker 1: talk about the Falcon Heavy at the end of this episode, 548 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: and that one makes the Falcon nine look like a 549 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: junior just as the Falcon nine dwarf, the Falcon one, 550 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: the Falcon Heavy dwarfs, the Falcon nine right makes it 551 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: look like a paper airplane. Yeah, I mean, you gotta 552 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: you gotta do this. You have to keep on making 553 00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:58,360 Speaker 1: larger and larger vehicles so that we can finally get 554 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: to start destroyer. I mean, we've all seen where this leads. 555 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 1: Is that the reason scientifically. One of the other things 556 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: that is kind of interesting about this and and this 557 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: is one of those things. I just came across this 558 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: while I was doing some research on SpaceX, and this 559 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: may or may not indicate anything in the in the future, 560 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: but we've also talked about the hyper loop, uh, this 561 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 1: concept of this enclosed train system that would be able 562 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: to move it really super fast speeds. Apparently SpaceX is 563 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: now the company that owns hyperloop dot Com. At least 564 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: from what I was able to find. It used to 565 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: belong to someone else. That ownership has apparently transferred to 566 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: space X. I have not completely fact checked this, so 567 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: this could be wrong. But if that is possible, can 568 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: you just imagine that the commute to go to work 569 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 1: at your space factory is on the hyper loop and 570 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: you live in some other town in Texas and you 571 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: just in like fifteen minutes there would be pretty incredible. 572 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 1: I wonder, I wonder if company employees, if you know, 573 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: they actually could buy Tesla vehicles in the state of Texas, Uh, 574 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: if they would get like an employee discount on it. 575 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: It's funny because this description just makes us us think 576 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: that this, this very tiny town, this this town that's 577 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:24,480 Speaker 1: been struggling with poverty, could transform into like a super 578 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: future tech place in a span of like a decade 579 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: or so, like the the center of the new space Age. 580 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: That's pretty crazy. Well, meanwhile, to to kind of conclude 581 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: this conversation, there's some other things we have to talk about. 582 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: One of those is that SpaceX has run into some 583 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: political opposition, and there are a lot of different ways 584 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 1: of looking at this. But some politicians are claiming that 585 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: the company should be accountable to taxpayers, which is a 586 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: little odd because it's a private company. It's not it's 587 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: a contractor, it's not a government organization. And some folks 588 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: like fill the bad astronomer plate, have hypothesized that the 589 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: politicians are actually trying to protect interests in their home 590 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:08,320 Speaker 1: states because the states involved happened to be the same 591 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:12,719 Speaker 1: states that have large manufacturing facilities owned and operated by 592 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 1: companies like Lockheed and Boeing. So when the representatives of 593 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: those states happen to be the ones who are raising objections, 594 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: it does raise questions about, Okay, well, where are your 595 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:27,280 Speaker 1: objections coming from. Is it from just an honest place 596 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,719 Speaker 1: of concern or are you trying to protect a large 597 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 1: company that falls in your constituency. Yeah, so tough questions. 598 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: On top of that, the company SpaceX has actually sued 599 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,920 Speaker 1: the US government specifically over military contracts between the US 600 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: Air Force and United Launch Alliance, that being the organization 601 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: I guess that both Boeing and Lockheed belonged to in 602 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: order to preserve their own best commercial interests for space 603 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: technologies exactly, And so SpaceX as that those contracts were 604 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: awarded unfairly in the bidding process, was non competitive. In 605 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 1: other words, that the Air Force went ahead and stuck 606 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: with its longtime partner, United Launch Alliance rather than going 607 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: to the lowest bidder. Now, if those suspicions are true, 608 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: that would imply that the politicians are playing favorites and 609 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: potentially that the Air Force would be wasting money on 610 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,359 Speaker 1: another company with the expensive contracts that they could they 611 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: could be they could be doing the same thing for 612 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: less money. And since that money ultimately comes from the 613 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,439 Speaker 1: United States taxpayer, this is this should be a big 614 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:40,160 Speaker 1: deal to citizens. And it's even more complicated than that though, 615 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,920 Speaker 1: right because Russia and and the Russian technology companies come 616 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,120 Speaker 1: back into it. That's right, because ULA ends up getting 617 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: some components from Russia, UH specifically from a company that 618 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,719 Speaker 1: is largely owned by the Russian government. And as we 619 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: have relations between the United States and Russia become more 620 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: common implicated. The situation in the Ukraine obviously is an 621 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: example of that. Then you also have these these complications 622 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:12,840 Speaker 1: that arise their their concerns about UH security, their concerns 623 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: about fairness. It's it's all wrapped up into this big 624 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:21,719 Speaker 1: political mess. Right. So again, another argument SpaceX makes is, 625 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,440 Speaker 1: if you go with us, it's all in the United States, 626 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about funding a government that 627 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,320 Speaker 1: you may have disagreements with, unless you're disagreeing with yourself, 628 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,880 Speaker 1: in which case we really can't help you. Um, But 629 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: at any rate, it's messy, is what we're getting down to. 630 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:41,839 Speaker 1: And then on the government side of the issue, right, 631 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: because it's certainly not one sided. Yeah, I mean you 632 00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: have to look at all sides of the I always 633 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: try to look at all the sides of any given 634 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 1: issue and not just try to jump onto one or 635 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: the other. So on the government side of things, you 636 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,800 Speaker 1: have to understand, first of all, the politicians are citing 637 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: that there are anomalies and SpaceX tests and launches so far, 638 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:02,680 Speaker 1: which may or may not hold merit. It all really 639 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: depends upon your point of view, because space launches are 640 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,080 Speaker 1: potentially really hazardous, so you don't want anomalies obviously. You 641 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: want it to be as predictable and rough replicatable as possible, 642 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: so that way replicable, but you want to make sure 643 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,359 Speaker 1: for that for the safety of the astronauts, right and 644 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: the cargo, I mean everything, oh, Sharon, and just the 645 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: money that you've poured into it, exactly. So uh. On 646 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: the other hand, you know, space launches are also really complicated, 647 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,840 Speaker 1: and even companies that have been in the industry for decades, 648 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:37,319 Speaker 1: way longer than SpaceX can have anomalies. Yeah. Yeah, So 649 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,239 Speaker 1: the question is are the anomalies that are the quote 650 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,719 Speaker 1: unquote anomalies that are in these SpaceX launches, do they 651 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:46,319 Speaker 1: fall inside that same sort of set of parameters as 652 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: what you would find in any other business exactly. So 653 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: I don't have the answers to those questions. I don't 654 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: know really, Like this is not so simple as to 655 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: say SpaceX is right and the government is wrong, or 656 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,799 Speaker 1: the governments and space X is wrong. It's there are 657 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,799 Speaker 1: a lot of factors you have to take into consideration, 658 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,239 Speaker 1: and frankly, I don't have all the information, so I 659 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: can't really come down on it. I hope that SpaceX 660 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,680 Speaker 1: is able to to be really in the mix for 661 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,560 Speaker 1: these competitive projects because I would love to see that. 662 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: I think competition is always a good thing. Oh of course, yeah, no, 663 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:20,960 Speaker 1: And and I think that the thing is that nobody 664 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 1: has that information right at this very moment. This is 665 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,240 Speaker 1: all very much ongoing and uh and but but hopefully 666 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:28,080 Speaker 1: it'll come to a resolution for the best of all 667 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,600 Speaker 1: of us soon absolutely so, speaking of the future, since 668 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:34,080 Speaker 1: we're talking about soon, this is soon and not so soon. 669 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 1: But next year two thousand fifteen, SpaceX plans to do 670 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: a test launch of a super powerful rocket. This is 671 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: the Falcon Heavy that we talked about earlier. This would 672 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: be the launch vehicle that would allow us to to 673 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,040 Speaker 1: actually go to places like the moon or march with 674 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: people with people exactly now this one. You know, the 675 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,320 Speaker 1: first stage of the Falcon nine was a rocket that 676 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: had nine engines. The first stage of the Falcon Heavy 677 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: is made up of three Falcon nine engine corps for 678 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 1: a grand total of twenty seven Merlin engines, ye creating 679 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:11,320 Speaker 1: nearly four million pounds of thrust seventeen thousand kilo news 680 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,720 Speaker 1: and capable of launching a payload that would weigh fifty 681 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,960 Speaker 1: three metric tons into orbit. The second stage of the 682 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,360 Speaker 1: Falcon Heavy launch vehicle same as the Falcon nine. So 683 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:24,239 Speaker 1: once you get up there, Yeah, if you ever look 684 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,440 Speaker 1: at pictures of what this is going to look like, 685 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,760 Speaker 1: it looks like a it looks essentially like a Falcon 686 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,799 Speaker 1: nine rocket with two other Falcon nine stage ones strapped 687 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,520 Speaker 1: to the bottom of it. And so it's really fat 688 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,719 Speaker 1: on the bottom and skinny on the top because you've 689 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: got a regular Falcon nine stage two and the payload 690 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: at the top of it. Pretty amazing if they are 691 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,239 Speaker 1: able to actually make this work, and it sounds like 692 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:50,960 Speaker 1: a feat of engineering that I am so far out 693 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,319 Speaker 1: of the comprehension of I would I would love to 694 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: see the first launch of this, right, I would love 695 00:38:56,239 --> 00:39:00,080 Speaker 1: to be present for the test launch of the Falcon Heavy. 696 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,400 Speaker 1: I am sure it's going to be an awesome site, 697 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: and I mean that in the classic sense. Yeah. Uh. Now, 698 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,759 Speaker 1: there's some rumors that have been around pretty much since 699 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: SpaceX started that the company will go public, but as 700 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,000 Speaker 1: of this recording that has not yet happened. That doesn't 701 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:20,319 Speaker 1: stop the rumors from going around. I mean they've been, 702 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,799 Speaker 1: They've really picked up since two thousand thirteen. Musk says 703 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,280 Speaker 1: that he has no near term plans to go public, 704 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:30,839 Speaker 1: and likely he would wait until SpaceX is Mars Colonial 705 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,840 Speaker 1: Transporter is in service. That would mean the actual vehicle 706 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,879 Speaker 1: that would be capable of taking people to Mars, whether 707 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,440 Speaker 1: or not it would actually be people would probably be 708 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,879 Speaker 1: you know, unmanned missions at first. But I can see 709 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:48,040 Speaker 1: where I mean, you know, Musk is such a such 710 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 1: a personal driver of all of his businesses, and so 711 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:52,480 Speaker 1: I can absolutely see where he would want to retain 712 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 1: that kind of control everything that they're and not have 713 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,279 Speaker 1: to answer to a board, to a board that does 714 00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 1: not necessarily have him is the head of it, because 715 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 1: he is on the board of directors, right now as 716 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,840 Speaker 1: is the president and CEO. Uh, she is also on 717 00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:09,160 Speaker 1: the board. But yeah, when you have stakeholders, when you 718 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 1: have we have uh, you know, stockholders, I should say, 719 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: then you've got to answer to a lot more people, 720 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 1: And often you may if you're in an industry that 721 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,839 Speaker 1: requires as much risk as the space industry, you may 722 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,359 Speaker 1: have stakeholders who say, I'm not really I think can 723 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,400 Speaker 1: we make money some other way? I can see you 724 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,680 Speaker 1: getting pressured pretty easily into, you know, not doing these 725 00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: crazy things like retiring the Falcon after one successful mission. Yes, exactly. 726 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,480 Speaker 1: So it is interesting. We'll have to keep an eye 727 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:44,239 Speaker 1: on it and see if, in fact, SpaceX ever does 728 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,920 Speaker 1: go public and become a publicly traded company. But um, 729 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,479 Speaker 1: it's it's been a fascinating journey just to learn more 730 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: about this company and what what goes into it and 731 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,279 Speaker 1: uh and what their plans are. And I have to 732 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:02,520 Speaker 1: tell you, before I started researching US, I was a 733 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,000 Speaker 1: skeptical is probably not strong enough a word for it, 734 00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,279 Speaker 1: but very doubtful that we'd be ever able to get 735 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: anyone to Mars by twenty by the mid twenty twenties. 736 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,440 Speaker 1: Even now, I'm I'm skeptical, but I'm more willing to 737 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:19,239 Speaker 1: believe it based upon the incredible accomplishments this company has 738 00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:21,160 Speaker 1: done so far, and it seems like they're gearing up 739 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: for something pretty big. Yeah, yeah, that's I mean. I 740 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,640 Speaker 1: can't wait to find out what happens next. So for 741 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:30,799 Speaker 1: those of you out there who also cannot wait for 742 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,920 Speaker 1: us to cover yet another interesting topic on tech stuff 743 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,399 Speaker 1: and you're wondering why we haven't done it yet, here's 744 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: the thing you gotta tell us, because our telepathic powers 745 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:43,360 Speaker 1: have been fading rapidly. There when we're in the studio, 746 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 1: all of the sound foam really interferes. Yeah, all I 747 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:48,920 Speaker 1: all I can get is from I get from Knoll 748 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:52,120 Speaker 1: the idea of hey, guys, um is okay for me 749 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: to eat these uh these almonds? And from Lauren I 750 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,680 Speaker 1: get I will stab you if you don't shut up 751 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,120 Speaker 1: so I can't eat. I need food. And for me, 752 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:05,520 Speaker 1: I just get the sound of wind. Is it nothing 753 00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:10,319 Speaker 1: going on upstairs? Dial tone? Right? So, guys, you need 754 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,200 Speaker 1: to write us, is what I'm getting at. You need 755 00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:14,319 Speaker 1: to let us know what you want to hear. So 756 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,640 Speaker 1: send us an email or address this tech stuff at 757 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Four drop us a line 758 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,000 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, or tumbler or handle it. All three 759 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:24,759 Speaker 1: is tex stuff, hs W. We look forward to hearing 760 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:28,600 Speaker 1: from you, and you'll hear from us again really soon. 761 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,080 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, does it, 762 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: How staff works dot com