SpaceX Starship Flight 4 Breaks New World’s Records! What Next?? Musk revealed…. - SpaceX Weekly #11

so fantastic no doubt Starship will be the best rocket in the world from now on spacex's Rocket has once again soared into the sky and this time they officially landed their giant rocket successfully that's what we call history the history of Aerospace now without any further Ado join us as we dive deep into this wonderful flight everything today at Starbase is incredible right it's the day SpaceX continues The Unfinished story with a new chapter called fully Landing before the flight SpaceX decided to push back the launch by about 50 minutes to 7:50 a.m. CDT but of course that couldn't dampen our excitement Right From Dawn 2 hours before launch time the venting process was in full swing at the tank farm olm and launch Tower around 7:00 a.m. CDT about 45 to 50 minutes before launch the fuel loading process began as scheduled more than 10 million pounds of fuel were loaded onto the ship and booster just like every previous flight or test ready to fully power this gigantic monstrosity and at 7:50 a.m. it all started just moments before liftoff the water dillu system activated it spraying powerfully to protect the Launchpad from the immense force of the Starship join me in the countdown three 2 one liftoff wow the engines are once again generating thrust that is shaking up the Aerospace industry the brilliant Fire Light and Rising smoke create a stunning backdrop as the Starship ascends from the Launchpad and there it is the spectacular mock Diamond effect a phenomenon not seen with all Rockets but wait something seems to have occurred one engine was not running what happened even so the Starship kept going despite having an engine out it continued its Journey passing through Max Q at t plus 1 minute and 2 seconds and at t plus 1 minute 46 seconds the booster main engine cut off process began with the engines in the outer and middle Rings shutting down leaving only the three inner gimbal engines active just a few seconds later at t plus 2 minutes 51 seconds the engine in s29 fired up and we witnessed the impressive separation thanks to hot staging at this point s29 and b11 officially separated to proceed to the next stages for b11 a few seconds later the 10 middle ring engines reactivated to begin the landing process at t+ 3 minutes 47 seconds those 10 middle engines and then the three inner engines turned off to prepare for the new Step we've been eagerly anticipating hot staging jettison and it happened at 10 plus 4 minutes and 10 seconds the camera angle captured the moment when the hot staging ring smoothly detached from b11 for the first time contributing to a successful Landing process b11 then spent 3 minutes in peaceful descent before heading towards the critical objective it had yet to complete landing at t plus 7 Minutes 9 seconds the 13in internal engines reactivated in conjunction with the git fins for the landing process at this point b11 was only 1 km above the C Surface with its speed rapidly decreasing we could see the engine light emitting strongly as it approached the ocean surface and at around t plus 7 Minutes 22 seconds white smoke Rose signaling that the booster had made contact with the sea surface ending its Journey to the Applause of the control team at Starbase immediately after the live stream redirected to space where s29 was on its own Journey similar to the previous flight s29 exceeded a speed of 26,000 kmph the vacuum and sea level engines then shut down one after another unfortunately SpaceX did not conduct any additional missions during this flight unlike flight 3 the signal was lost for a while but was restored by T plus 36 minutes 36 seconds at this point everything was still going well since we started to see the pink Lights of the plasma effect emitted from the heat shield indicating that the re-entry process had begun with each passing minute the re-entry process became more intense with Sparks and pieces of the heat shield falling away at around t+ 57 minutes 23 seconds there was a moment when the forward flap appeared to have started burning subsequently it seemed that the layer of char from the fire flew up and covered the ship's camera making it impossible to see The Landing process clearly however based on the remaining blurry angles we could still see that s29 successfully splashed down with the flap gently swinging in the water although the re-entry was quite harsh it seems that everything Ended as expected and that is the moment that will Mark a new phase of the Aerospace industry SpaceX has done it successfully Landing a fully reusable rocket with this historic moment let's immediately check out the reactions from some key figures during and after the flight many notable tweets appeared SpaceX posted on X Starship Raptor engines have ignited during hot staging separation super heavy is executing the flip maneuver and boost back burn after that Elon Musk also continuously updated successful soft Landing of the Starship super heavy rocket booster despite the loss of many tiles and a damaged flap Starship made it all the way to a soft Landing in the ocean congratulations SpaceX team on an epic achievement Kate Ty SpaceX quality systems engineering senior manager said during live commentary it was so loud here I haven't heard the crowd get that loud probably since liftoff of flight one after the s29 landing SpaceX posted another tweet splash down confirmed congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting fourth flight test of Starship other individuals also gave notable reactions re-entry heat is wicked I've survived it three times learning a lot about the difference between simulation and reality today SpaceX congratulations on both both soft Splash Downs pushing the envelope right to the edge excellent and of course the character that many people are interested in NASA administrator Bill Nelson reacted congratulations SpaceX on starship's successful test flight this morning we are another step closer to returning Humanity to the Moon through Artemis then looking onward to Mars indeed that is what SpaceX will aim for in the future there will be many more flights and missions as they land Rockets with the mechazilla arm build the refueling system and develop Starship hls then they will proceed to the moon and Mars the final door is officially open everyone join me in calling its name again Starship flight 4 fly up and come back that is how rockets in the future will operate and none other than the rocket that opens it up is the SpaceX Starship everything was unbelievable but stay calm we still have some things to consider despite the successful Landing the s29 still seems to have many problems right after the flight Elon Musk continuously pointed out one of the problems that perhaps you all realized in the flight the damage to the flap why does this happen how will SpaceX fix it so after an amazing 1 hour and 6 minutes SpaceX has finished its fourth test flight with Starship that moment officially marked the complete Landing of a rocket a feat that perhaps we only think of as appearing in movies but it came true and we were lucky to witness it let's take a closer look at the process that went into making it happen from t plus 045 qu pink plasma flashes appeared starting the re-entry process once again it recreated the dramatic moment we saw in March after a few minutes the beam gradually cleared and turned orange red showing the increasing heat we can also see that in addition to the plasma beam there are also strong friction waves coming from the re-entry speed of up to nearly 20,000 kmph and a positive sign is that the re-entry process has lacked fed instead of just a few minutes like before but then the incident happened when we were most excited at around t plus 5723 Sparks seemed to creep through the joint connecting the flap to the main part of the ship and then Flames appeared we can see debris and Ash flying from that location while one flap connector appears to be completely separated from the rest after that it seemed that pieces of Ash unfortunately flew into the camera position and caused the view of the entire journey to be significantly limited but it seems that the flap continues to cling to the ship until the end of the journey because through a small blurry perspective we can see the flap moving gently possibly due to the impact of seawater this problem clearly comes from the impact of re-entry it is possible that the heat shield has been affected thereby causing the stainless steel part behind to directly suffer heat from this process and obviously although stainless steel is durable it is not strong enough to withstand those harsh conditions furthermore the flap is attached to the ship with a system of screws and bolts and is the most vulnerable part of the ship that led to the recent incident with Starship after that many reactions were given about this issue according to expert Scott Manley the damage to the forward flap would have led to a nose dive but the Control software managed to adapt and the flap operated despite missing a huge chunk of it during this process SpaceX commentator Kate Ty exclaimed this is a nailbiter meanwhile there were many positive comments for flap such as this flap deserves a medal of honor or this little flap is the hero today to acknowledge flap's perseverance in accompanying him to the end Journey with ship Elon Musk posted on X despite loss of many heat shield tiles and a damaged flap Starship made it all the way to a soft Landing in the ocean congratulations our SpaceX team on an epic achievement like other parts one side of the flap will be equipped with heat shield tiles to protect it from Heat up to 1500° C when re-entry but perhaps everything is not perfect enough and the incident with the flap shows that Elon Musk then also said a fully and immediately reusable orbital heat shield which as you know has never been made before is the single toughest problem remaining being able to iterate with many ideas on many ships is key to solving this the heat shield is one of the systems that received a lot of attention from SpaceX after flight 3 when SpaceX first first entered the re-entry process s29 after every test monitors and even replaces many positions on this system and with the recent results SpaceX will further promote upgrades with this system including changing the layout or increasing connectivity with the ship everything will be expected to help Starship reach its greatest Perfection when Landing after this Landing SpaceX will aim for another splash down on flight 5 the Prototype that will participate in this flight is the s30 which has currently undergone the static fire test maybe after the recent flight with s29 SpaceX will conduct major upgrades on the heat shield system of s30 all Hop For A Perfect Landing towards the goal of Landing by mechazilla arm in flight 6 not only the heat shield but after the problem with the flap stainless steel was also mentioned quite a lot after the flight in a tweet after the flight Elon Musk shared we did switch to a passive mostly glass heat shield rather than actively cooled steel as as the ladder was heaviest at least according to initial calculations years ago when SpaceX switched from Big Falcon rocket bfr to Starship they also switched from carbon fiber to stainless steel stainless steel is considered more durable than aluminum or carbon fiber with the ability to withstand heat up to more than 800° C meanwhile aluminum will melt at 66.5 De C while carbon fiber is durable but it will begin to decompose at about 200 100° C Elon Musk himself recently tweeted worth noted that the ship would have failed on re-entry if made of aluminum or carbon fiber as they can't take the Heat this will help SpaceX reduce the thickness of the heat shield thereby reducing the overall mass of the rocket in terms of price the cost of stainless steel is much cheaper than carbon fiber with a price of only $3 per kilogram while carbon fiber will cost up to $150 per kogam but then everything will still need to be improved further in the next flight to increase the ship's reliability if the heat shield has problems Elon Musk said this flight demonstrated the incredible resilience of stainless steel at temperature he set the goal we will further hone our sx300 alloy to withstand even higher temperatures so when will the changes be applied in my opinion with the heat shield SpaceX can upgrade immediately from the following prototypes specifically from s30 onwards removing and changing the heat shield design will be EAS easy and won't take much time anyway in contrast stainless steel reinforcement may be more difficult and it will not be possible to change the current prototypes everything may be upgraded from upcoming production prototypes specifically the Starship V2 SpaceX will start producing six pairs of this version this year and I believe we will soon see a change coming from stainless steel as for the upcoming flights the heat shield will still receive many expectations to help protect the ship to return home with the best state honestly heat shields have never been an easy problem because NASA itself has continuously encountered problems with this system earlier this year NASA announced it had delayed until September 2025 the crude Artemis 2 swing be of the Moon a practice run to prepare for 20 26's Artemis 3 mission which will land astronauts near the lunar South Pole one reason cited for the 10-month delay was getting to the bottom of re-entry heat shield data from Artemis 1 which sent an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back the 25-day Artemis 1 Mission ended on Dex 11 2022 with the Orion capsule splashing down under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean off Baja California Orion's heat shield took on the 25,000 mph 40,000 kph re-entry speed that day protecting the capsule ably but soon thereafter NASA and contractors began wrestling with the discovery that Orion's ablative heat shield wore away differently than predicted some areas of expected char material a bladed away in a manner not forecast by computer modeling and ground testing also there was slightly more liberation of the charred material during re-entry than anticipated post-flight inspection of the Artemis 1 Orion heat shield showed an unanticipated loss of char layer pieces from the spacecraft NASA has been laser focused quite literally on understanding the root cause of the charloss phenomena as well as avcoat cracking NASA is still working continuously with this system the NASA off has stated we expect the material to ablate with the 5,000 de f 260° c the spacecraft encounters on a re-entry through Earth's atmosphere and to see charring of the material through a chemical reaction but we didn't expect the small pieces that came off versus being a bladed in comparison SpaceX is at least still showing more efficiency than NASA in the heat shield system especially when it is used on Starship hopefully Elon Musk and his team will soon upgrade this system to create a perfect Landing for ship in future flights contributing to the goal of full reusability as well as reaching distant goals than the moon or Mars flight 4ce conclusion triggers intense analysis of encountered issues with attention also drawn to spacex's plans for flight 5 Elon Musk previously outlined the intention to use the mechazilla arm to catch the booster reaffirming this goal postflight 4 with booster's strong performance rocket catching seems Within Reach 3 months ago marked the pivotal moment when booster commenced its Landing process igniting a surge of anticipation as it approached within 1 keter of the sea surface however this excitement was abruptly cut short as the booster failed to reach its final destination this setback intensified the spotlight on b11 despite encountering a hiccup with a failed engine at the outset b11 embarked on a remarkable Journey at t plus 7 minutes and 9 seconds the engines roared to light working in tandem with the grid fin to guide the booster to a controlled descent the sight of Sparks igniting and white smoke billowing signaled B 111's successful touchdown on the waterers surface effectively concluding The Unfinished tale of its predecessor B10 this Triumph has undeniably injected a profound sense of morale into SpaceX and its Visionary leader Elon Musk musk wasted no time in expressing his optimism swiftly tweeting I think we should try to catch the Boost with the megazilla arms next flight but what underpins Elon musk's steadfast confidence let's delve into the reasons behind it examining starship's current capabilities it becomes evident that elon's assertion is rooted in Solid Ground the Flawless execution of B 111's Landing stands as a testament to this fact the seamless operation of its engines played a pivotal role in crafting that awe inspiring Landing moment the engine Maneuvers unfolded with remarkable Precision initially the engines were shut down to facilitate the separation process between the two stages following separation they were reignited to orchestrate The Landing sequence subsequently they were once again deactivated to facilitate the hot staging phase from the booster as the spacecraft approached the sea surface the engines sprang to life once more guiding the booster towards a successful touchdown as I previously mentioned the continuous cycle of engine activation and deactivation poses a potential risk for operational glitches however space SPX has demonstrated remarkable Mastery in executing these Maneuvers with utmost precision and stability this proficiency is a result of the invaluable experiences gained from the previous flights particularly flight 3 it's evident that spacex's Relentless pursuit of Excellence has paved the way for such success looking ahead I am confident that SpaceX will continue to SAR to new heights with Starship whether it's executing sea Landings or employing the mechazilla arm in future missions spacex's proven track record ensures a promising trajectory of achievements during the aformentioned flight b11 utilized a virtual tower for landing a novel approach not previously employed by booster this necessitated the pinpoint accuracy in landing location marking a significant advancement while SpaceX has remained relatively tight lipped about this development their confirmation of super Heavy's splash down in the Gulf of Mexico indicates a successful Mission outcome setting the stage for the next challenge the mechazilla arm furthermore SpaceX achieved commendable success with the in roduction of the hot staging jettison step during its inaugural application this strategic maneuver aimed at reducing booster Mass to enhanced Landing reliability proved to be highly effective SpaceX demonstrated this efficacy through a captivating camera angle showcasing the seamless separation of the hot staging from the booster subsequent procedures unfolded smoothly further validating the efficiency of hot staging jettisoning while some theories posit that this step may serve as a temporary measure slated solely from flight 4 indications suggest otherwise in upcoming flights the hot staging ring May undergo a redesign characterized by reduced Mass simplified construction and larger vents to optimize heat and pressure dissipation Elon musk's presentation hints at a design reminiscent of the hot staging mechanism employed in the N1 rocket although initially slated for implementation in version two it's plausible to anticipate its application in version one for testing purposes thereby Expediting V2s transition to official op operation the belief in the capability to land the booster with the mechazilla arm on the upcoming flight 5 serves as Elon musk's Foundation do you share in the optimism for Elon musk's goals please reply with yes or no in the comment section and don't forget to show your support for SpaceX by liking the video sharing it and subscribing to the channel the pressing question now is when will flight 5 occur based on the previous time frame we anticipate flight 5 to occur in approximately 2 months likely around the beginning or middle of August this timeline appears entirely feasible considering the lack of impact on the environment or systems at Starbase as indicated by the flight overview this should significantly expedite the mishap investigation process Paving the way for the next flight sooner than later let's not Overlook the fact that previously the FAA granted SpaceX permission to proceed with the flight without waiting for the completion of the mishap investigation from the previous flight instead SpaceX only needed to ensure adherence to public safety requirements in the flight 4 launch license the FAA explicitly stated that they would not mandate a mishap investigation in numerous scenarios such as issues with the heat shield during re-entry problems with the flaps navigation capabilities and challenges encountered during Raptor Landing with this streamlined process in place I anticipate Swift progress turning to the flight Hardware the s30 recently completed static fire testing just last month furthermore B12 is already stationed at the production site I believe that after flight four when the Launchpad becomes available it will be the opportune moment for B12 to undergo static fire testing following this both stages will be fully stacked and subjected to the wet dress rehearsal test marking the culmination of major preparations for flight 5 given spacex's pensant for expeditious operations I am optimistic that they can expedite these processes and wrap them up in less than a month indeed all signs point towards the realization of Elon musk's vision of Landing the booster with the me ailla arm sooner than anticipated looking ahead SpaceX has plans for flight 6 where both stages will be landed using the Chopstick arm assuming flight 5 proceeds smoothly assuming flight 5 proceeds smoothly I am optimistic that flight 6 could potentially take place this year achieving the goal of landing and reusing both stages within the year will lay a solid foundation for SpaceX to pursue other significant objectives in the coming year these include establishing a refueling system constructing the Starship hls demonstrations and preparing for Artemis 3 however to achieve these ambitious goals SpaceX must first navigate the challenges associated with flight 5 successfully first and foremost SpaceX must prioritize further improvements in engine reliability while the engines performed admirably in the last flights contributing to the success of b11 we cannot Overlook the fact that issues arose when one of the 33 engines failed to operate after liftoff although this anomaly did not impede the flight address addressing such issues is imperative to optimize overall flight performance SpaceX must meticulously inspect and fortify every aspect of the engine system paying close attention to minute details like nozzles electrical wiring and other susceptible components that may have been compromised during the recent liftoff potentially leading to engine failures undoubtedly this task will pose significant challenges additionally if the new hot staging hypothesis proves to be accurate SpaceX must ensure that the redesign designed system functions seamlessly without introducing new complications altering the design at this juncture entails inherent risks that could potentially disrupt the broader development trajectory of Starship regardless of the design specifics hot staging remains a critical component of the separation process exerting a profound influence on the overall success of the flight thus SpaceX must navigate these complexities with utmost care and precision to safely return to Starbase and execute a successful Landing SpaceX must articulacy ensure the seamless integration and operation of all systems across the booster launch Tower and olm achieving this level of precision is Paramount especially considering the proximity of Starbase to a large fuel system furthermore significant work lies ahead for SpaceX concerning ship primarily they must continue enhancing the heat shield system to provide optimal protection for the vehicle thereby preventing incidents like the recent issue with the flap however this endeavor presents considerable challenges as here Shield technology remains a persistent obstacle that SpaceX has yet to fully conquer to achieve a successful two-stage Landing SpaceX requires a new launch system namely Launchpad b or the second Launchpad currently the construction of the system is progressing rapidly with most of the tower segments already delivered to Starbase the remaining components are on Route on Route once assembled SpaceX will need to expedite the stacking process to ensure Readiness for flight six however time constraints pose a significant challenge in this endeavor fortunately SpaceX can draw upon their wealth of experience having previously constructed two launch systems for Starship Elon Musk and his team are undeadly facing numerous challenges yet I firmly believe that these obstacles will not deter them from achieving their objectives before spacex's emergence many Concepts existed only as fanciful dreams in the minds of people however The Talented engineers at SpaceX are gradually turning these Visions into reality demonstrating the remarkable potential of human Ingenuity once again SpaceX is gearing up for another groundbreaking feet this time aiming to land the rocket using the mechazilla arm we are indeed fortunate to be alive during this era witnessing these extraordinary moments unfold before our eyes the anticipation is palpable as flight 5 draws near in less than one to two months you and I may find ourselves standing here together eagerly discussing the next chapter in SpaceX and starship's journey mechazilla arm the new way to return before discussing the problems that need to be solved we must recognize the achievements that flight 4 has brought with the successful Landing of both the super heavy booster and the Starship it became the first rocket to land all of its launched Hardware this achievement is the result of many efforts from this flight firstly the vehicle operated stably and reached important Milestones even though one engine failed right after leaving the Launchpad this is a clear instance of demonstrating redundancy having 33 Rockets sure does help especially when one goes was out secondly the remaining engines performed extremely reliably during both on and off operations thirdly the hot staging ring continued to be effective in the separation process smoothly detaching from the booster despite this being its first time in use Additionally the grid finin and Landing Engine Systems worked well allowing the booster to land safely in the ocean in Space the heat shields performed better than before helping the Starship survive the harsh re-entry process at the Launchpad after many upgrades the systems continued to operate stably with no major problems recorded okay those are the great strides that SpaceX achieved with Starship in Flight 4 I hope they will continue to maintain those capabilities in the upcoming flights but we can still expect future flights to be even better if SpaceX can fix the problems that appeared in the last flight so what will SpaceX need to upgrade to answer that question we first need to point out not the problems in Flight 4 as I mentioned one of the 33 engines did not light up after liftoff although the subsequent steps went smoothly suggesting that the impact of this problem was not too significant SpaceX probably shouldn't be complacent the engine that failed in the recent flight was in the outer ring which only works in the beginning so it didn't affect much but what if that failure occurs in the middle or inner engines which have more influence on later stages if engine issues are a common problem for the super heavy the heat shield is the biggest challenge for the Starship even though the heat shield performed well on this flight it may not have reached its highest reliability many heat shield tiles fell off during flight and were picked up by civilians this issue compromised the Rocket's safety as evidenced by the flap being burned and severely damaged during re-entry with these issues in mind we can outline the changes SpaceX needs to implement moving forward firstly on the Starships SpaceX will definitely continue to focus on improving the heat shield system this was confirmed by Elon Musk on X when he responded to Everyday astronauts tweet about the heat shield not a difficult prediction we will have this nailed for the next flight clearly the issue with the Fallen heat shield indicates that the connection of the tiles to the Starship requires an upgrade SpaceX May opt to change the attachment pins system to securely hold the heat shield in place additionally the layout of the heat shield needs to be modified to provide more comprehensive protection particularly for parts like the flap as seen in the recent flight furthermore SpaceX should re-evaluate the materials used for the tiles in images of the recovered heat shield after the flight we observe instances of breakage and melting it's understandable given that the vehicle must withstand temperatures exceeding 1500° C during re-entry while Starship heat shield is in better condition compared to NASA's Orion spacex's goal is complete vehicle reuse including the heat shield hence they must enhance its capabilities to minimize damage facilitating quick refurbishment for immediate use in subsequent flights in addition to upgrading the protection system internal Hardware also requires enhancements to prevent issues like those with the recent flap Elon Musk mentioned in a tweet about the heat shield note a newer version of Starship has the forward flaps shifted Leeward this will help improve reliability ease of manufacturing and payload to orbit with this upgrade the flap will be shift it further towards the side without the heat shield system this adjustment ensures that the connection point between the flap and Starship is more carefully concealed minimizing direct exposure to the immense energy from re-entry this enhancement significantly increases reliability and by reducing the impact of re-entry SpaceX can simplify the flap attachments streamlining production while maintaining flexibility during ship navigation for landing another system slated for upgrade on the Starship is the the addition of roll control thrusters and other Hardware this enhancement will assist SpaceX in better controlling The Landing process and attitude mitigating issues such as valve clogging that occurred in Flight 3 SpaceX has indicated that they have implemented this upgrades since s29 and after the success of flight 4 it's likely they will continue to incorporate and refine this enhancement in subsequent prototypes regarding the booster SpaceX will need to continue improving its engines in previous upgrades SpaceX focused on eliminating or simplifying complex and vulnerable Parts such as wires and nozzles resulting in better engine performance after each flight however it seems that the necessary reliability has not yet been achieved and SpaceX will need to further strengthen its engine improvements as we all know engine enhancement is an ongoing process that applies not only to a particular version but also to the entire Raptor engine system from raptor 1 to Raptor 2 and eventually Raptor 3 small details will gradually diminish and some may even be eliminated simplified or integrated with each other these optimizations will significantly reduce operational risks decrease repair and production time and continue to increase the engine's power also concerning the engine issue SpaceX needs to upgrade the systems within the vehicle specifically addressing the problem from flight 3 SpaceX stated that the failure of the B10 engines resulted from a blockage filter in the liquid oxygen path from the fuel tank to the engine leading to a loss of Inlet pressure in the oxygen turbo pump engine SpaceX has upgraded the fuel filtration inside the liquid oxygen tank to address this issue starting from the b11 and subsequent prototypes to enhance reliability particularly in light of the recent engine failure on the b11 they will continue to closely Monitor and further strengthen these upgrades regarding hot staging we can anticipate a new design for the staging ring in upcoming flights while hot staging was not problematic in the recent flight it still requires modification SpaceX aims for a lighter simpler and more efficient ring design this was evident in the separation of the hot staging from the booster during the last flight to reduce the mass of the B1 however such separation will be unnecessary once SpaceX implements a new hot staging design many eagerly anticipated upgrades aren't there each enhancement sets the stage for SpaceX and Starship to achieve their future goals following successful two-stage Landings in the ocean SpaceX will now set its sights on Landing using the mechazilla arm starting from flight 5 beginning with the super heavy b12 with Comprehensive upgrades planned for the engine and hot staging coupled with the proven Landing ability demonstrated in the recent flight SpaceX is incredibly determined to validate the effectiveness of this new Landing method an accomplishment no organization has achieved before in fight 5 the s30 will once again splash down into the ocean the promised upgrades to the heat shield and flap will significantly increase the S3's chances of surviving re-entry intact this will serve as the foundation for space ax to achieve full reuse of their massive rocket for the first time with the mechazilla arm in flight 6 the challenge will escalate as Chopstick will need to retrieve the Starship from orbit a task made possible by the aformentioned upgrades which will be crucial for SpaceX to accomplish once the Rocket's Landing is assured SpaceX will set its sights on venturing even farther into space whether it's the Moon Mars or or any other Celestial body the heat shield engine and flap will all play pivotal roles in these Endeavors ahead lies a challenging Journey for the SpaceX teams through testing problem solving and implementing massive changes SpaceX has achieved remarkable success over the years this same formula will continue to guide them as they pave the way for Humanity's interplanetary existence next we'll turn to the European Space Agency which has just announced plans for a new rocket the Aryan 6 specifically Issa and its Partners have announced a July 9th launch date for the first Aran 6 rocket Issa revealed the launch date at the Ila Berlin Air Show on June 5th after announcing last month that the launch would take place sometime in the first two weeks of July however Issa did not disclose a specific launch time or window for that day Martin Sion chief executive of Aran group the prime contractor for the rocket said the announce of the scheduled date for Aryan 6's first flight puts us on the home stretch of the launch campaign and we are fully engaged in completing the very last steps those final steps include a fueling test and practice countdown known as a wet dress rehearsal or wdr for short Issa had previously stated that the wdr would occur on June 18th and this schedule remained unchanged in the announcement of the launch date the inaugural Aran 6 launch is primarily a demonstration flight it'll car carry eight Cube SATs from various companies and organizations along with five payloads that will remain attached to the Rocket's upper stage additionally it will deploy two re-entry capsules one developed by Aran group and the other by the exploration company a European startup that recently won an Isa award to establish a commercial cargo spacecraft the centerpiece of this launch is undoubtedly the rocket itself Aran 6 which has faced significant delays holds critical importance for Europe's efforts to resolve a launcher crisis risis which has temporarily hindered its independent access to space this crisis stemmed from delays in the Aran 6 program the retirement of the Aran 5 the loss of the Solus rocket following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a Vega sea launch failure in late 2022 Joseph ashbacher director general of Issa highlighted the significance of Aryan 6 stating Aryan 6 marks a new era of autonomous versatile European space travel this powerful rocket represents the culmination of many years of dedication and Ingenuity from thousands across Europe as it launches it will reestablish Europe's independent access to space last month ashbacher mentioned that a qualification review identified several unspecified issues with the launch system that needed addressing before proceeding with the launch he emphasized that none of these issues were considered showstoppers expressing confidence in meeting the then two we window in July for the launch if the inaugural launch proves successful Stefan Israel chief executive of Aran space stated that a second launch would follow before the end of the year followed by a steady rise to around 10 launches a year once we reach cruising speed in contrast SpaceX conducted 14 launches of its falcon9 rocket in May of 2024 alone yep you just got to remind him who boss in any case folks that's about it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in and as always this has been Kevin from great SpaceX until next time keep looking up