Elon Musk Just Revealed New Details How SpaceX Catching Starship Booster In Flight 5!

nearly 10 years ago SpaceX amazed the World by achieving the vertical Landing of the Falcons booster heralding a new era in the Aerospace industry now a decade later a new Legend seems ready to unfold this incredible story will start with flight five when a massive rocket booster returns to its launch site and is caught by the Chopstick mechanism it sounds Fantastical but the brilliant mindes at SpaceX have devised a clear and exciting plan as we eagerly anticipate fly 5 today's episode of great SpaceX is dedicated to this groundbreaking moment the capture of the Starship booster by ways of the mechazilla r it's incredible how quickly things have progressed just a year ago today SpaceX was still grappling with repairs and upgrades for the Starship after flight one however through Relentless effort they managed to conduct three more flights the recent flight 4 was especially groundbreaking marking the first time a rocket was fully landed this success sets the stage for SpaceX to pursue the ambitious goal their founder discussed a few months ago um if if the landing on the virtual Tower with the booster works then we will actually try with flight five to to come back and land on the tower recently musk tweeted next flight we will try to catch it with giant mechazilla arms inspired at least a part by Kong versus Godzilla there's no doubt that the upcoming flight will see the booster returning to Star base and being caught by the arm the goal is clear but how will it happen here let's find out booster will come back it'll have an impact Point that's out to see so it'll have to steer itself towards the the the Tower with the catch arms yes everything will unfold just as we imagine after a journey lasting about 3 minutes the booster will separate from its companion in previous flights it took about four more minutes to land in the ocean at t + 7 Minutes 22 seconds however on this flight the booster will undertake a longer Journey back to Starbase including other operations The Landing will likely occur over 10 minutes after liftoff as musk explained the booster will need to steer itself towards the tower two critical factors come into play here deceleration and navigation these will be managed by two systems the grit fins and the engine in fact both systems performed admirably in the recent flight there were no incident reports involving the git fins and they were intact when booster 11 landed despite the middle engine breaking down down it did not affect the landing process the deceleration from over 12200 to approximately 10 kmph and less than 20 seconds is Clear Proof of that however challenges still await SpaceX in complex missions like catching the booster with the mechazilla r in Flight 5 both the git fins and the engine will need to not only replicate their performance from flight 4 but also improve upon it for instance although the engine decelerated effectively many believe that 9 kmph is still too fast for a precise landing on the mechazilla arm SpaceX will definitely need to address the engine issues soon one engine failed shortly after liftoff and another during Landing this likely results from excessive Heat and the constant switching on and off of The Landing engines these factors can easily cause problems as evidenced by the recent engine failure that caused a fire when the booster was close to the water fortunately it didn't affect the other engines but this issue needs to be resolved quickly in short full engine operation is crucial for successful navigation and deceleration leading to a safe landing on the mechazilla arm not only does the vehicle need to perform flawlessly but the launch Tower especially the Chopsticks mechanism must also work perfectly in the next flight the Chopsticks will need need to open and close quickly precisely coordinated with the booster's movement the timing of this action will be measured in seconds even the slightest delay could result in an explosion inside the Chopsticks an important system called an actuator will align the booster's position helping it fit accurately with the orbital launch Mount I and perhaps all of you hope that SpaceX can resolve these issues to ensure a safe landing our expectations is that the booster will return on the right track to Starbase decelerate and steer properly the Chopsticks below will then open an ideal space for the booster to enter Then close to hold and lower the booster the actuator will then adjust the booster's position and finally the Chopsticks will rotate and place the booster on the orbital launch Mount to complete the mission however unexpected incidents can happen during this series of actions according to Elon Musk the success rate for the upcoming attempt is only 50% SpaceX is certainly preparing for unforeseen situations one proof of this is the backup solution that Elon Musk recently revealed and if anything is if the booster detects that anything's wrong it'll suicide itself into the ocean um if if things are looking good it'll steer over to the Tower and the AL should be able to grab it if this method is used the period before the Boost approaches the launch Tower will be extremely important and monitored very carefully as musk stated they will keep a close eye on the booster's status in my opinion SpaceX will need to monitor both the vehicle and the launch Tower if any problems arise the booster will return back and self-destruct in the ocean similar to the vertical Landing procedure in previous flights regarding the landing location I believe SpaceX will aim to land as far from the coast as possible to minimize the impact on humans and animals this area will be clearly designated by the agency's in nmar or a notice to Mariners or Hazard warning before the flight but let me emphasize once more that Landing with the mechazilla arm remains spacex's ambitious plan the current launch license remains unchanged for these new missions looking ahead SpaceX will need to submit a launch license modification to the FAA following the success of flight 4 confidence in successfully Landing the booster with the mechazilla arm has surged yet skepticism lingers regarding this daunting task do you believe SpaceX can accomplish it in Flight 5 please share your thoughts with a yes or no and your reasoning in the comments down below regarding the feasibility of this Mission much discussion has centered on another crucial Factor the new launch Tower many experts in observers argue that Landing both stages or just the booster itself will likely hinge on the completion of this new tower this Viewpoint is understandable because with a dedicated tower for each stage the process of catching and securing them becomes more efficient SpaceX would also gain additional time to inspect and prepare each Tower before launches moreover the new launch Tower serves as a contingency plan in case the current one encounters significant issues but even though I'm a big fan of the two towers I only partially agree with this perspective in my view catching the booster can proceed effectively with the current launch Tower firstly this upcoming Endeavor focuses solely on the booster not the entire rocket secondly if issues arise they could stem from various factors and it wouldn't be fair to solely attribute them to the launch Tower moreover let's consider the Chopsticks performance for flight 4 it consistently handled stack and D stack operations with reliability compared to many other systems Chopstick has demonstrated a high level of dependability thus far musk has also stated that the tower will withstand thousands of Landings further bolstering my confidence that the current launch Tower is sufficient for this task another Factor supporting my viewpoint is the potential delay in the construction progress of the new tower currently the the last two Tower segments and Chopstick are on route to Texas once they arrive it will take several weeks for them to reach the assembly site at the launch site based on past construction timelines which approached nearly a year I estimate the new Launchpad construction could span four to 5 months musk has projected flight 5 schedule for July just a month away while there might be some delay it shouldn't be significant additionally the FAA recent decision not to investigate the mishap in Flight 4 suggests that flight 5 will likely proceed with a single launch Tower in typical SpaceX fashion setbacks like these won't hinder overall progress SpaceX remains committed to achieving full rocket reusability this year as for the new tower it seems more practical to commence work from flight 6 onwards when both stages will return to Starbase now more than ever I urge you to place your trust in the Brilliant Minds over at SpaceX SpaceX has long contemplated the challenge of Landing a rocket with the mechazilla arm and now we're closer than ever before despite numerous challenges they have laid the groundwork to achieve this feat if they can fake doing it in movies we can do it in reality Elon Musk boldly declared let's eagerly await how they will rewrite history and that folks is about it for today's episode thank you so much much for tuning in and as always this has been Kevin from great SpaceX until next time keep looking up