Elon Musk Just Revealed Why SpaceX Change Starship Material After Flight 4!
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0:00 – 0:24 : Intro
0:25 – 1:11 : Recent announcements
1:12 – 4:43 : SpaceX’s switch from carbon fiber composite to stainless steel
4:44 – 7:05 : SpaceX’s switch from stainless steel 301 to stainless steel 304L
7:06 – 8:28 : Material selection in comparison with Russia’s Soyuz
8:29 – 8:34 : Outro
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#techmap #techmaps #elonmusk #starshipspacex #spacex
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SOURCES OF IMAGES AND VIDEOS:
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Elon Musk Just Revealed Why SpaceX Change Starship Material After Flight 4!
The fourth test flight of Starship gave space fans some of the most breathtaking footage ever, with both stages of Starship landing controlled on the ocean. Intact. What a tough guy. ‘Worth noting that the ship would have failed on reentry if made of aluminum or carbon fiber, as they can’t take the heat.’ Yes, Musk made the right call in choosing the materials for the ship. Today, let’s explore the strength of the material chosen to build Starship.
Elon Musk Just Revealed Why SpaceX Change Starship Material After Flight 4!
SpaceX has long recognized the crucial role of material strength in their missions. In mid-2020, Musk revealed they would develop a proprietary stainless steel material called 30X. Recently, he called it Sx300 and announced on X that they will further hone it to withstand even higher temperatures.
This move seems directly related to the change in the heat shield cooling mechanism that Musk mentioned on X recently. Accordingly, they switched to a passive glass heat shield over almost the entire area, instead of actively-cooled steel, to reduce weight.
Exciting, right? The latter refers to Transpiration cooling, a fascinating method that not many people discuss on YouTube. Very interesting, but we might talk about it in future videos.
Elon Musk Just Revealed Why SpaceX Change Starship Material After Flight 4!
SpaceX has been building Starship with stainless steel from early on, but initially, they planned to use carbon fiber composite. The community was abuzz when, in the fall of 2018, Elon announced switching from carbon fiber to stainless steel, even after successfully building and testing a massive 12-meter diameter carbon fiber tank. Everyone assumed the grand Starship would be made from carbon fiber. Even his own team was surprised by this decision, and Musk had to convince them strongly. We’ve all seen it, the fourth test flight has proven that abandoning expensive carbon fiber for stainless steel was one of the best decisions SpaceX has ever made—if not the best.
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