Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast. This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla, X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden. Elon Musk's social media platform X has introduced private likes for all users, expanding a feature once exclusive to X Premium subscribers. This change aims to boost user privacy and genuine engagement by concealing the identities of users who like posts Now.
The move was confirmed by X owner Elon Musk, showing the desire to let users like content without fearing backlash. Now the private likes feature is explained by XS Director of Engineering is designed to protect users public image and encourage engagement with diverse content without judgment. Users will still see who liked their posts and the total like count, but others will not see this information for the moving away from public like counts as
a measure of social approval. Now, the update to private Likes is part of a broader push by X to enhance user privacy and foster a safer, more inclusive online environment, according to X. And by removing the pressure to conform to public opinion, X hopes to promote more authentic interactions on the platform. This change will also see the removal of the Likes tab from user profiles. Now, X's engineering team announced the feature, stating it would better protect users privacy.
Users will still be able to see their own liked posts, and the author of a post can see who liked it. Metrics such as like counts will continue to appear under notifications. Maintaining a balance between privacy and feedback on content popularity and the introduction of private likes follows a recent policy update by X concerning adult content. The platform now allows consensually produced and distributed adult content, provided it is properly labeled and not prominently displayed.
This policy reflects X's belief in the autonomy of adults to engage with and create content reflecting their own sexual beliefs and experiences. Now, however, X maintains strict prohibitions against non consensual, exploitative or harmful pornographic content and bans the use of adult content for profile pictures, banners and other publicly visible
areas. These regulations aim to ensure that while adult content is permitted, it does not compromise user safety or violate community standards. Now, as of Wednesday, private Likes feature has been implemented with the Likes tab no longer visible when viewing other users profiles. The change was announced through an update on X and a pop up notification encouraging users to engage more, suggesting that liking more posts will improve
their For You feed. Now, this privacy feature was initially introduced for X Premium subscribers in September, allowing users to hide their Likes tab. This option provided users with greater control over their activity visibility, aligning with the broader trend of prioritizing user privacy on social media platforms. And the removal of the Likes tab from public view addresses privacy concerns, especially considering past incidents where public figures liked content led to controversies.
For instance, in 2017, Ted Cruz, the senator from the US, liked a sexually explicit tweet causing a public relations issues that was later attributed to a staffer. Sounds like a politician, doesn't it? Let's blame it on somebody else. That's my thoughts on this one. It's it's kind of funny though, if you ask me. Now, by making likes, Private X aims to reduce some public mishaps and the necessity for disclaimers like likes and retweets aren't endorsements in user BIOS.
This measure ensures that users, especially public figures, can interact with content without fearing unwanted scrutiny. Now, the shift of private likes is part of a series of changes introduced by Elon Musk since acquiring the platform in 2022. These changes include the launch of a paid subscription tier, offering features like more direct messages in the coveted blue check mark. Musk's tenure has seen significant policy adjustments aimed at refining user
experience on the platform. Now, the broader context of these changes include a move towards enhancing user engagement by reducing performative behaviors. By making likes on X private, it encourages users to interact with content they actually enjoy, free from external judgement, which may contribute to a more positive and authentic user experience. Now, the policy updates here and the feature introductions are a concerted effort by X to balance
user privacy with engagement. And while users can still gauge the popularity of their posts through likes counts, the emphasis on privacy ensures that this feedback does not come at the cost of personal exposure or public scrutiny. The changes are also indicative of X's evolving approach to content moderation and user interaction, seeking to create a platform where users feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves no matter how they want to do it.
This includes accommodating diverse forms of content while maintaining strict guidelines to prevent abuse and exploitation. Now the decision to allow adult content with stringent rules on its display and distribution. It demonstrates XS commitment to respecting user autonomy while safeguarding the own community. It's a nuanced approach that seeks to support free expression within a framework that prioritizes safety and
responsibility going forward. Today's episode revolves around the $56 billion compensation package for Elon Musk as the CEO of Tesla. Now, Tesla investors are poised to vote on this pay package. This is the company's proposed relocation from Delaware to Texas. And at an important shareholder meeting this week, analysts warn at the risk that Musk could leave Tesla to focus on other ventures such as his AI startup XAI, social media platform X. And that is if the pay package is rejected.
Remember, this is the largest pay package for any CEO anytime, ever in the history of humanity. The voting on Musk's controversial pay package is set to conclude on Thursday, with major consequences for both Musk and Tesla. And over recent weeks, Musk has actively campaigned to persuade shareholders to reinstate his nearly $50 billion pay package, which the Delaware judge who voided it described as the largest ever observed in public markets.
Now, Tesla released a video featuring Optimus, which is Elon Musk and Tesla's humanoid robot, instructing shareholders on how to cast their ballots. Voters were offered a chance to win a Musk escorted tour of Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, and Musk has been vocal on XS social media platform about the vote, predicting a win and claiming the public sentiment in is unequivocally supportive. Now, as the vote approaches, the
outcome remains uncertain. Major shareholders are divided on whether Musk, often seen as a distracted leader, deserves such a substantial reward. The final decision may rest on individual investors, many of whom are drawn to Musk's public persona as a genius. Now. The vote has broad implications for Tesla, though, which has faced challenges such as weak sales, global competition and
mass layoffs. And Musk has indicated he might leave Tesla if the pay package is denied, potentially pursuing advanced technology projects elsewhere. He's threatening people. And if approved, Musk would gain more control over Tesla's board through stock options. Now, Tesla Chairperson Robin Denholm has urged investors to support Musk, emphasizing his unique contributions to the
company. He said Elon's unique contributions have built Tesla from a company that was in 2018 a loss making ambitious company with significant hurdles and challenges to overcome into what it is today, a company that is literally changing the world. However, critics like New York City Comptroller Brad Lander argue that the package is unreasonable given Tesla's struggles and Musk's divided
focus among various ventures. He said we need a full time CEO who's focused on growing the company and producing great shareholder returns, not allowing for a distraction or chasing shiny new objects. Now. In 2018, a majority of Tesla shareholders approved Musk compensation package worth $56 billion in stock options instead
of a salary. This propelled Musk to become the world's richest person, funding his ventures into space, brain digitization and acquiring Twitter's de facto town square. However, some shareholders sued, claiming the process was improper. Now, earlier this year, a Delaware judge invalidated the pay package, calling it an unfathomable sum and noting that it was approved by a board filled with Musk's friends and a former divorce lawyer.
The board now asked shareholders to restore the package, which would increase Musk's voting power to nearly 25% and authorized Tesla's corporate move to the state of Texas. Now the votes outcome is uncertain, with some key investors opposing the package and others remaining silent. Major institutional investors like Vanguard Group, BlackRock and State Street Corp holding about 17% of Tesla stock collectively, have not publicly declared their positions.
None responded to our requests for comment at this point. Now about 40% of Tesla stock is held by non institutional investors, including individual retail investors. And many are Musk supporters, such as billionaire Ron Baron, who called Musk indispensable to Tesla and asserted that his compensation should reflect that fact, He said Our answer is clear, loud and unequivocable. Tesla is better with Elon. Tesla is Elon. That's what Ron Baron said.
Yet some investors have become delusioned with Musk amid Tesla's performance struggles. Leo Coogan, one of Tesla's largest individual shareholders, stated the that he'd vote against the proposal, saying enough is enough. A coalition of seven large institutional investors, including the New York City Comptroller and Amalgamated Bank, has urged shareholders to reject the package, setting a
material governance failure. Now, proxy advisory firm ISS criticized the package as excessive despite Tesla's success, doubting it would increase Musk's focus at Tesla at all. Marcy Frost, CEO of the California Public Employees Retirement System, representing 2.2 million public workers, also plans to vote against the package, as it did back in 2018 as well. Now, Frost said that the decision wasn't personal, but about ensuring returns for shareholders of Tesla.
Frost also said. It's really important then as a shareholder that we get the return on the capital that were allocated to these public companies. James Park, who was a UCLA School of Law professor, indicated a vote for the proposal would signal shareholders desire from Musk's continued involvement, while a Novo would reflect dissatisfaction within its
leadership. Now Denims later highlighted Musk's role in Tesla's growth over the past six years and stressed the importance of the pay package by retaining his attention and motivation, she wrote. If Tesla is to retain Elon's attention and motivate him to continue to devote his time, energy, ambition and vision to deliver comparable results in the future, he must stand by our deal now. In January, Musk tweeted about his need for more control over Tesla.
He said. I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI and robotics without having about 25% voting control. Enough to be influential but not so much that I can't be overturned. Both Musk and Tesla decided to decline for comment on this matter to us today. Now this vote occurs as Tesla grapples with a significant drop in stock value, having lost more
than 30% since the year's start. The company reported a 55% plunge in first quarter profits in April due to slowing sales and to ease investors worries, Musk promised to launch a fully autonomous robo taxi by August, a timeline which is met with skepticism considering full self driving isn't quite a thing yet now. Park noted that the current economic backdrop would influence voters decisions.
He suggested that some retail investors dedicated to Musk might overlook recent events and vote in favor of the package, while others might be disillusioned by Tesla's recent performance. Analyst Adam Jonas warned that rejecting Musk's pay package could slow down Tesla's AI efforts. Some investors are willing to take that risk. Nell Minow, vice chair of Value Edge Advisors, donated most of her Tesla stock to charity after
voting against the pay package. She criticized Tesla's corporate governance, saying there's no way you can consider this board independent. If he doesn't have enough of an incentive from his current holdings, then I don't know if this gigantic amount of money would make a difference. Kevin Smith, who's and software engineer with a few Tesla shares, was frustrated and he said it seems to be a symbolic
gesture against the court. So my symbolic vote is no. This vote will determine Musk's future role at Tesla and could influence the company's direction amid ongoing challenges. Though investors must weigh Musk's potential departure against his leadership contributions and Tesla's needs. The decision will shape Tesla's path forward in the competitive EV market and AI in the future.
Like as we have noticed from Elon lately, he has been stating that if you think Tesla is a car company, you've got it all wrong. Tesla's a technology company that just so happens to build the best car and they're making AI, they're making robots, solar roofs, power everything. So without Elon at the helm to lead things, where would the company go? That's where I'm going to give my thoughts on this now. I'm a person that doesn't like corporate green. I don't like billionaires that
don't give back. Elon has given back numerous times. He pays his taxes, things like that. He's doing OK. Well in that regard. In my opinion, he's doing all right now. I'm a big fan of SpaceX. If you haven't noticed, I love talking about SpaceX and Starship. It's one of the things that I really enjoy doing. I know he focuses a lot of time at SpaceX due to the Starship program, but he did put some people in place there to take over when he's not available.
So Gwynn Shotwell, of course, and Kathy Leaders, like Kathy Leaders is one of the people that used to run the human Space Flight for NASA and now she runs the Starship factory down in Texas. So he put some leaders in place to take over the things that he used to do. He basically helped build that factory from the ground up down in South Texas. Now, Elon does have people at Tesla that work really closely with him and do jobs that he doesn't do, but he's the visionary.
So think about that. I'm I'm a big supporter of the things that Elon wants to get done. Build robots, build a rocket, then go to Mars. The Boring Company is very cool. I think it's a really cool idea to have tunnels where there's congested traffic or where you just need to go a couple miles and you don't want to sit at red lights for a while or you don't want to get an Uber or whatever. Just go into the tunnel. That's really neat.
The cyber truck's pretty cool. I really enjoy all the Tesla vehicles. They're very fun to drive. I've driven them, driven them Model S and a few others. But if, if it seems like in this regard, and I want to know about this in the comments, it seems like Elon is threatening shareholders almost. I wouldn't say blackmailing them, but he he said that if he doesn't have 25% of the company, his heart's not in it anymore. He just can't get up in the
morning to go to work. He expressed that there were, you know, if he doesn't have 25% voting control, He said, I'm uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI and robotics without having 25% voting control, enough to be influential, but not so much that I can't be overturned. So 25% of Tesla is going to make him a lot of money in the future and he made the company so it could be controlled by the
shareholders. And if he has 25% control, they could overturn him if enough people vote against him. And it's just like his pay package. Now, do I think that the pay package is legit 2018? Now, you got to remember the board of directors at that time were basically Elon's friends. You know, I'm just going to put it straight out there. His brother, his friends, people he was very close with were on the board at that point. In 2018, they came up with this package.
So Elon would stay the visionary and he would stay with the company. And at that point, it seemed like a great idea because SpaceX was growing, Tesla was growing, other companies were growing. And at this point, he needed to have control over Tesla. He needed to make money. And since he wanted to make some more money, he wanted us more control in the future. Billions of dollars, 10s of billions of dollars in the future. It makes sense, $56 billion is a lot of money.
But they didn't know it was going to grow to this point. And he did everything he needed to do in order to get that pay package. And if the board of directors said that it was OK and the other members thought it was all right, I don't see why he shouldn't have the money. So some people have commented on this channel about that.
I'm something I got. I got this crazy comment the other day from somebody and say that I said that I'm a left wing Democrat shill or something with the mind virus or something. Dude, I'm going to say this straight up to you, whoever read the account. I read it and I laughed at you. You're spitting out this rhetoric. That's weird. I just tell you how it's going. What's going on, by the way? I'm being honest with you guys.
I know I'm like, if you, if you listen to this podcast, I don't usually go off on tangents like this. I usually read the news to you and I tell you what's going on and then I log off. And then we can go out about our days, right? About 10 minutes of Elon Musk news. But the fact is you have to look at all points of data for things like this, and I skewed towards both sides on this one. It's a really tough decision because the guy did everything he was supposed to do.
He hit all the numbers he was supposed to hit. And if you don't pay the guy for doing his job, then what kind of message does that send? I don't know. Do you think he's worth $56 billion? Is that is that too much money for one person to have? And also if he's saying that he has, if he the 25% influence on Tesla and if he doesn't get it, well, I can't, I can't keep doing my job. That seems kind of weird to me. I want to know what you think in the comments.
If you're on Spotify, please hit the follow button and leave a comment down below. Or any other podcast platform that you can leave comments on, including YouTube. Please let me know what you think about this because this is a weird, it's a, it's a tough one. And we're going to know on Thursday what's happening to Elon and his control. And if he doesn't get the 25% control and if they don't give him the pay package and if they don't move to Texas, he's going to flip out 100%.
Elon's going to flip out. We'll hear about it on X. He's going to throw a tantrum sometimes. Elon goes a little bit wild. He's a genius. He's an absolute genius and I will never take that away from him. He's done incredible work so far and he has incredible ideas. But I believe if he doesn't get what he wants, it's kind of going to be like a spoiled brat,
you know? And I wouldn't understand why if he doesn't have 25% voting control of his company that he was, he helped start and helped grow to what it is now. I can understand where he's coming from. I can understand why if he doesn't get his money, I can understand where he's coming from because don't mess with somebody's money and don't mess with somebody's company or their family. And those two things, the company and the money, everyone's messing with him
right now. So if he doesn't get his 25%, I think we're going to hear about it pretty, pretty legit on X after this. So again, let me know in the comments. I appreciate everybody sticking with me on this one. I'm going to do more of these podcasts where I speak my mind a little bit more. I think it's important that we all have a conversation here and then we're all part of this together, this whole show. So I'm going to continue doing the news for you.
I won't be slanted with it. I lean middle, I'm right in the middle. I look at all the data. Sometimes some of these things are, you know, some of the news is a little bit off. You know, it's it try to do it right down the middle and sometimes it's a little bit left, sometimes a little right, whatever. Try to do it as center as possible. But I thought it was funny that somebody said I have a mind virus like that's that's a weird thing to say a mind virus. Oh my God. Anyway, thank you.
The guy who said this a mind virus. I know you still listen so you know who you are and I'm not laughing at you, but maybe you're the one with the mind virus. I'm just joking. I really, I really do wish you the best and I'll catch you guys in the next one. Take care of yourselves and each other and make sure to subscribe to the show if you haven't already on whatever podcast platform you're on right now.
And on this episode, we're going to be talking about Starship, IFT 4, IFT 5, possibly IFT 6, but mainly we're going to be talking about an environmental group that's going to be possibly contesting Starbase down in Texas. Could they be canceling Starship launches in Texas? We're gonna take a look at that in a second. But let's first talk about IFT 4 and IFT 5. IFT 4 went off without a hitch, almost. There's a little bit of a hitch. The landing of the booster was
great. The way that the ship came back into the atmosphere looked great, but there were some heat tile adjustments that need to be made for IFT 5. And Elon Musk has talked about this a little bit. He said that the new heat tiles for IFT 5 will be a little bit better, be able to reduce the friction, reduce the heat on the ship. And also they're going to be putting like a secondary layer, like a secondary skin underneath
those tiles. So if there's any sort of leakage from the plasma that goes through those tiles and hits the actual ship, there can be another material there that will hopefully stop it from rupturing the stainless steel construction of the ship fuselage. Not only that, they're going to take a look at the hinges, where the wings and the hinges of the ship itself connect, and they're going to be making some adjustments to those.
Because as you can see from the footage from IFT 4, when it comes back into the atmosphere, that's kind of where things went bad, but it made it, so it's OK, right? But they're trying to get this perfect. So when they put people in this, it's going to be a whole complete safe ship. And they need to put Starship in this category of safe for people because they need to send it to the moon for the Artemis program, Artemis 3 in
particular. And of course, SpaceX thinks they're going to be able to do it in a few years. But experts around the globe have said numerous times it's probably going to be 20-30. And not just because of Starship, but because of NASA and also Axiom putting everything together and making sure that all the Is are dotted, all the TS are crossed before they actually launch to the moon. It's a big undertaking. You can't just stick somebody in a rocket and hope it works.
You have to make sure that it's completely safe. And if it's not completely safe, they have to not do it. So there, there was a little margin for error, but this is going to be a margin that SpaceX doesn't want to deal with. So they're going to get this right in the next few flights for the ship. Now, Elon also mentioned something about landing the booster back at Starbase instead of in the Gulf of Mexico. Did they get enough data?
Elon mentioned this in a in a post that he had on X the other day. He did a live stream and he was watching some games, watching some stuff and he just talked started talking about Starship. Basically. He talked about will they be catching IFT 5 and he said they don't quite have enough data yet to see if they're going to catch this thing, but there's a possibility that they still will. So what Elon was saying, he got excited after IFT 4 landed, after everything looked great.
He's like we're going to try to lot. We're trying to catch it in IFT 5. Everybody blew up. I went nuts. I was like, no, this can't happen. Like you're going to ruin everything. Can't do it. I freaked out. So I have T5 Elon's like if we have enough data that supports that we can actually land this thing, we're going to do it. So on the way back to the landing, the, the explosive mechanism that destroys the booster on its way back down to
Earth gets saved, right? So at some time during the flight, it gets saved. So will they be able to change that? Will the FAA be able to change that before this next flight? Will they have to make, they have to make sure that they destroy the the booster if they get enough data that says it might not make it back or they might do a landing in the Gulf of Mexico again. So we're going to see that's where we're at right now. We're going to see if we're going to wait and see what Elon
and SpaceX say. But Elon said they're gonna try to launch this thing in July. How could they launch this in July? Like within a month? The turn around could be pretty quick if I mean, if that's the case, if he thinks, but he's also said that in the past, right? So Elon has said that in the past that they're going to launch this thing in a month, which of course they they've never done before. So could this be the first time that they do a one month turn
around for Starship? That's another thing we have to think about. One month turn around for Starship would be incredible. They have other boosters ready, they have a ship ready. They've done some testing already, but they haven't done final testing. They haven't done a final stack, they haven't done AD stack, they haven't checked all the ground systems again, they're just getting over IFT 4. They haven't even moved everything to the pad yet and it's been a few days.
So what's happening? You know, if it were going to be in a month, they would have that stuff down there already and starting the testing out. So I don't think they're going to make it in the month. I think they're going to be close. If they, if they can figure it out really quick. They have to pour through a bunch of data. They have to talk to the FAA to get another license. You know, the, the incident report for IFT 3 was kind of it was pushed aside for the flight.
Why are they going to be doing that for FT42 probably and IFT 5 as well? So we're going to see what happens with that. Right now it's a waiting game. As much as everybody's excited about a July flight, I don't think it's going to happen. I think we're going to be getting like, you know, maybe, you know, maybe not an early July flight, but maybe like a late July flight. I think that might happen. So not quite a month, a little
bit over a month, I should say. So like a month and three weeks or something like that. Could be the next flight of Starship or a little bit longer. It could be two months, they might have a lot of work to do and they might have to change some things. So not only do they have the hardware right, So we see the hardware testing on the outside, we see the booster blast for the for the tests. We also see the ship blast for the test.
You know, they check all the engines, make sure everything works, make sure the ground systems work. They cryogenically cool it, they make sure all of that hardware works. But when you are inside of the ship, there's electronics. And within those electronics there's code. You know, the code that runs it. It's important. And if something is a little bit off, they might have to recode a bunch of stuff.
And sure, code is a little bit faster than building a rocket, of course, but they got a debug code. You have to test it, you have to QA it. There's all sorts of steps that you have to do in order to make sure that the code works properly every single time. So you don't get spaghetti code, which is kind of a, it's a code word for just a bunch of garbage code in there that nobody really wants or uses anymore. Yeah, I got to have clean code.
So every single flight they probably look at the code and go, how can we improve? You know, if they're not doing that, then I don't see, you know, why did they, why they, why wouldn't they do that? They have to do that every flight. How can we make the code better to make things more efficient? We don't want to use as many lines of code, you know, we want to use as few lines of code as possible. The best part is no part, right? So IFT 5, possibly late July, that's what I'm guessing.
Let me know in the comments what you think, what you think about that. I think late July, good estimate for IFT 5 flight, maybe early July too, or early August. So that'll be a hot one. That'll be really hot 1. So I also want to talk to you about this. There's another thing. Starship launch damage, shore bird nests, environmental survey finds. OK, so we've had some stuff like this before, right?
Environmentalists love to hate on Starship and the surrounding area because it's a protected environmental zone. It's a protected beach. It's a, they're in a protected area, this giant rocket factory and giant rockets are in a protected area. So wildlife here is very precious. Now piping plovers and turtles and things like that are protected species.
Now here, I'm going to zoom in a little bit for you so you can see some of this text said last week, launch of Starship from South Texas damaged or destroyed numerous shore bird nests in the area surrounding the private space company's launch facilities, according to a new report that also noted other
environmental damages. The nonprofit Coastal Band Bays and Estuaries Program said its survey found that each of nine nests it monitored South of the launchpad had missing and broken eggs after Thursday morning's launch. OK, ongoing here. What's they say down here? Ongoing and annual monitoring. A Boca Chigari has documented shifts and overall reductions in shore bird nesting activity in recent years since rocket testing and launch activity
began. OK, so they do surveys around the Texas Parks and Wildlife Area where SpaceX is planted, where they where they have all of their facilities. This is what the environmentalists and the environmental studies are going to be looking to do possibly in the future. So if they can show enough evidence that SpaceX is damaging endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, some populations of snow plovers are considered a near threatened species.
The Texas population is not among them, but the Snowy and Wilson's plovers are, however, considered species of greatest conservation need under the state Wild Wildlife Action Plan monitored by the Texas Park and Wildlife Department. OK, So what does that mean? It means there's really endangered species near Starbase. And if SpaceX destroys any of their habitats, they could be at fault and environmental groups could sue them.
They could go to court for this. Could they possibly halt Starship operations and launches from Starbase until SpaceX figures this out? And how to protect these animals? The answer is probably they've done it before. Remember when they had the environmental study a little while ago and it took them months and months to figure this out?
So Elon and company, along with the government, came to a conclusion that they didn't really damage anything environmentally, so they had to put in some measures to protect it so they didn't damage it in the future. And that's kind of where we're at with these in their environmental or endangered species.
Here is if they can prove enough that SpaceX is destroying these species of birds and becoming a detriment to them, they could possibly halt production of Starships and halt launches of Starbase while there's another environmental review. Could this happen if there's enough evidence? I believe it could. I believe it could because if and they already did an environmental review. But it's not unheard of to do numerous environmental reviews if there's more evidence shown. It's not.
It's not like court. You don't go to court and, you know, say if you did a crime, they're like, Oh yeah, you, you got off, you know, like, cool, you're not guilty. OK, so then you then you're free, right? The court said you're free, but there's more evidence because this is an ongoing thing. So they said at the time SpaceX had altered a wild or a habitat on a Wildlife Refuge.
So if they're building a case here with, if they can do hundreds of, if they could show hundreds of pieces of evidence for this, could they halt Starbase for a little while? SpaceX, as you can see, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Texas. Parks and Wildlife Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Of course they wouldn't. This could be a big deal.
Could be a big deal if they, if they're shown to destroy some endangered species, either A, they would just pay a fine, which is probably going to be the case. Probably going to pay a fine to be like, oh man, we didn't know. We didn't know this was going to happen. Or if they do it enough, they pay a bunch of fines, which you know, they should pay for what they did wrong. Of course, everybody should. That's the right thing to do.
But if they really destroy some stuff and then these habitats and these birds never come back and SpaceX is at fault. Look, I'm with you. I understand we need to go to Mars, right? We need to go to Mars. And I, I want us to go to Mars, but we only live on Earth, right? We live on Earth. We should protect it and take care of it. This is our home. We don't live on Mars yet.
So at least protect this stuff. And I, I think what was what would actually happen is the Department of Wildlife in the Texas Parks Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and SpaceX. But I'll come to a conclusion of how to protect these, these species and what can SpaceX do even more than they've already done to protect these species. And I think that's the case. What would happen here as opposed to them shutting down operations unless it's really
bad. If it's really bad, then SpaceX could do something. You know, it could be, could be something really bad. So we'll see. We'll see in the, that's pretty much where we're at right now. We'll see what happens, see if there's any sort of if there's any sort of Wildlife Conservation department and these environmentalist groups, if they talk to each other and if there's a lawsuit, we'll see. But I'm excited for IFT 5 because it's not going to happen before IFT 5.
I'm excited for IFT 5I. I would love for them to catch the booster, but I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think it's, I don't think it's worth it. It's not worth it for SpaceX to do that. So I don't think IFT 5 is going to be a catch. I think IFT 6 is going to be a catch. Maybe after seven, maybe they're going to wait a little bit, which they probably should. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never miss an episode. And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly. And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero. And please take care of yourselves and each other.
And I'll see you tomorrow. Let's talk about Starship. Let's talk about New Glenn, and let's talk about ula as well for a national security space launch phase three launch services program. OK, that's a lot. Wow. OK. So we know that SpaceX works with the Department of Defense, and we also know the Blue Origin hasn't launched New Glen yet. So those are the two things we have to think about today.
SpaceX works with the Department of Defense, with Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and they also work with NASA and other firms around the world. Blue Origin sends people to space to do what some would call a carnival ride. You go up, you come back down. I think it's pretty cool though. Right now the the Blue Origin launcher that sends people to space sent Captain Kirk to space. I mean, come on, you can't just be a hater on that.
That's pretty cool. But New Glen, their giant massive rocket, hasn't launched yet. Why did they get these contracts? How do they get this contract, and what does this mean for SpaceX in the overall scheme of things? This contract is coming up $5.6 billion / 5 years from fiscal year 2025 to 2029. They'll compete for at least 30 NSSL Lane One missions, which launch up to two years in advance. So let's talk about Blue Origin
first. Blue Origin, who is founded by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon guy, is selected for the first time to launch national security satellites under the NSSL program. The only rocket that they have that can do this is New Glen, which hasn't launched yet. We they haven't even test fired the thing. Now heavy lift reusable rocket is expected to attempt its first orbital flight later this year. Could this be possible?
Could we see a New Glen flight? I think it would be freaking awesome if we saw a New Glen flight. Let me go down to the comments. If you support Blue Origin and their gigantic massive New Glen rocket, it's not as big a Starship. Mind you not, I don't think it's as cool as Starship. But because it's all hidden in secret, we don't really know what's going on with New Glen until Blue Origin releases something.
It's not like SpaceX where you can drive down Hwy. 4, literally parking the side of the road, like across the road from it, take a couple pictures or like to stand there and hang out and notice how huge this thing is. You can't do that with New Glen. It's all in secret. But they receive $5 million for initial capabilities assessment and nearly $18 million for early integration studies for New Glen, their initial capabilities assessment. What can it do?
What can the blue origin rocket do? How much can it hold early integration studies for new glance? So they get 50 or 5,5,000,000 and 18,000,000 for both of those things. Just it's kind of like a study like, hey, early integration studies like how can this how does this thing work? How will it work for the Department of Defense? Like that's a bunch of money. And then phase three, this is how the program structure and lay details.
I'm going to read this off to you because it's hard for me to remember all this stuff. It's divided into two lanes. Lane one is for less demanding low earth orbit launches and lane 2 for heavy lift rockets capable of delivering payloads to 9 reference orbits. So SpaceX has Falcon Heavy, it's their heavy lift rocket. And then Jeff Bezos with New Glen, that's their heavy lift rocket.
Lane one contracts are confirmed for Blue Origin, SpaceX and ula with no other launch providers meeting the criteria. Lane two providers will be selected later this year with up to three contracts awarded for high performance launch systems.
So lane 2 heavy lift rockets, SpaceX is more than likely going to get it with Falcon Heavy. Not quite Starship yet because I don't know if the, I don't know if the Department of Defense really is into, I know they're into Starship, but I don't know if they're ready for a Starship launch yet. And Joey Roulette, we're going to talk about that in a minute too. Joey Roulette had some information about this on X as well. I'll talk about that in a little bit.
Now the competition. Space Force aims to increase competition and drive down launch costs, which is a great thing for SpaceX while maintaining assured access to space through redundant capabilities. Do it through ula do it through Blue Origin, do it through SpaceX. You have three different things. You can launch with three different launch providers. So it's going to be redundant. They can always get something to
orbit or beyond on wrap. Opportunities will be available early year to allow new providers and systems to enter the competition. So if anybody else out there has a heavy lift rocket or rocket that can suffice what the Department of Defense needs, sure, throw your hat in the ring. Go for it early year every year to allow new providers to and systems to enter the
competition. Potential new entrance for lane one include Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, Firefly Aerospace and they're all, they all have like medium lift rockets right now or they're developing them. So the task orders, task order number one in phase three, lane 1 includes 7 launches for the Space Development Agency and one for National Reconnaissance Office. SpaceX and ula as incumbent phase two providers will each receive 1.5 million. It's not that much money for
these mega mega corporations. Only launch providers who have completed a successful orbital launch prior to the proposal due date can be in for task orders. So why are they using Starship right now? They don't really need to. They have fucking heavy. Starship isn't proven yet. Could they do? Could they do it by then? Yeah, of course. And also, if they do it with Falcon Heavy this year, they could always bid for the
Starship on next year's program. So Blue Origin looks like they have the confidence of the Department of Defense, which is great because we need competition. Not only do does Blue Origin compete with Starship, but they're going to be competing with these giant contracts, with these giant contracts. SpaceX wants that money. So they're going to make Starship better, faster, a bigger, cheaper also ula going to do the same thing actually
ula is kind of old space, right? So Ula does things the old way where they have a fixed way of doing things. And the rocket doesn't change until later. I mean, it will change later on. They will have their blocks for this rocket, but it's not clear exactly when that'll happen. Also, it's not really clear when Starship will make it to orbit and complete a full orbit, but I'm hoping it's by the end of this year. That would be great. I'm assuming that it will be by the end of this year.
They'll they'll complete a full orbit and they'll possibly get some Starlinks into into orbit while they're up there and hopefully they'll catch a booster. And I don't think, I don't think, you know, IFT 5's going to be the booster catch. I think IFT 6 or 7's going to be the booster catch. I'm still optimistic. You know, I'm not a pessimist about this thing. I'm just being realistic. So I think somebody left a comment in on the last video that I was pessimistic about
this stuff. I'm, I'm just being realistic, man. You know, with the, with the booster catch for Starship, it's just a little bit dangerous, you know, and I'm optimistic about Starship. I want it to work very well. I want it to work perfectly. But sometimes you got to be realist, you know, IFT 5, if everything looks great, go for it. Go for it. But you know, it seems like the Department of Defense really likes Blue Origin in this case.
And Space Force plans to select lane two providers this fall. And it they said the government intends to award up to three contracts for the NSSL phase three lane two launch launch service procurement lane two providers this fall. Could that be Starship possibly, possibly.
That's a heavy lift 1. So it's either going to be Falcon Heavy or Starship. If they can show that they can get to orbit, SpaceX has to make some sort of some sort of door, some sort of hatch for their satellites to come out because I don't think they're ready for they're not ready for the clamshell quite yet. You know, how want the, the clamshell with the, the nose of the Starship opening up like this and then the, the satellites come out. I don't think they're ready for that yet.
They could do a hatch of some sort. They did the the Starlink hatch, which seemed to be OK, seemed to work all right. As far as we know is that they said it was a successful test. So yes, it was successful. Was a little bit janky and little, you know, and, you know, probably a couple seconds worth of closing the doors little janky, but you know, it's their first try and it's a Starship so it's huge. It's massive. So The thing is, Starship may get this contract.
Falcon Heavy more than likely like that's reliable. It's proven. If SpaceX wants to go the proven route for this one, I would say just get the contract, take that money. Because if you can demonstrate for the Department of Defense that you can do these things again and again with Falcon Heavy, of course, use that as a heavy lift rocket. It's not a super heavy lift rocket like Starship. And I don't think they're going to need a Starship for what the Department of Defense, US Space
Force needs for this launch. So why would you use the Starship if you don't need it? Let me know in the comments down below what you think they're gonna do. Joey Roulette, I'm gonna read you some of his tweets. So he just goes over Space Force awarded Blue Origin 5 million to conduct da, da, da. And then so he says, Joey says SpaceX pitch Starship, Blue Origin pitch New Glen Ula pitch Vulcan. Then he goes on to say, I've asked SSE if Starship was admitted to lane one.
They said yes. But I don't think that's correct. SpaceX got 1.5 million for a well understood system, which obviously wouldn't be Starship, it would be Falcon. And it's highly doubtful Starship would be operational by December. So fully operational by December. He said it's highly doubtful. I think there's a possibility it's possible SpaceX pitch Starship for lane one independent of Falcon because why not? And SSC only chose its Falcon bid, but that's not confirmed.
I don't know waiting SSC to clarify, but it certainly seems obvious Falcon is the one. And then Nick Proxima said, hey, hi Joey. Where exactly does it say what each vehicle was pitched? Just trying to phrase this the best of my ability. Thank you. And then Joey said Space Force confirmed to him, as did the company's execs exec SpaceX. And then he said, I don't think it's Starship. So interesting that it's not Starship when New Glen is launching too.
So Joey's very reputable about this stuff. So it's it's kind of a little bit weird, but also you got to understand it. This is a business like they don't do this to show off Starship. They do this to win contracts. They do this for billions of dollars. So if they have a rocket that can already do that, use the rocket that's already there. Use the Falcon Heavy for now until you get your Starship ready. And then when starship's ready, start launching. It's not like they lost a race
or anything like that. They're here to win money and they're winning money with Falcon Heavy because they have a reliable rocket that already works. Unlike Blue Origin who has, you know, their has their tourism rocket, which takes people up to space. They float back down. It's all good. It's fun. It's pretty cool. It's actually it's actually really cool. I like that the rocket idea for Blue Origin. I would love to do it someday. So there you have it.
That's what we know so far. Starship isn't going to be launching these as far as we know. If anything changes, I'll let you know. So leave a comment down below and please hit the like button and the subscribe button because if you like SpaceX and NASA and Space Flight content, if you hit the like button and the subscribe button, and also if you leave a comment, YouTube will see that in the algorithm, it'll start pushing you more Starship and SpaceX and NASA and Space Flight content.
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