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. Can we for one second think about SpaceX launching hundreds of Starships every single year, both from Boca Chica, Starbase, Texas, and Kennedy Space Center in Florida? Now there are two companies that made it very apparent that they don't want this to happen. They did this the other day.
And this is a thing that we have to talk about as a community and as people that want to see humans go to space, live on the moon, live on Mars. And these two companies want SpaceX to be halted from sending anybody to the moon for the Artemis program or in the future to live on Mars. They made this very apparent in some posts the other day.
And Christian Davenport on X posted this in a finally with the FAA regarding Spacex's proposed use of Pad 39 A for Starship. Blue Origin Jeff Bezos company asked for a cap on the rate of Starship Super Heavy launch, landing, and other operations, including but not limited to test firings, transport operations, and fueling.
Blue Origin also says there should be mandatory penalties for SpaceX for conducting operations not included in an EIS or other environmental restrictions, violating a launch license or any other laws, regulations, or other rules for operating. OK, let's take a look at this O this read's super heavy operations are expected to have
a greater environmental impact. Remember that part, The environmental impact part is extremely important here than any other launch vehicle currently operating at KSC. Super Heavy can hold up to an unprecedented 5200 metric tons of liquid methane for propulsion, resulting in qualified distances for safety margins that potentially overlap the operational sites of other companies, the government and
the public. Now Blue Origin is talking about their own facilities at Kennedy Space Center here also the government, we pull them into this too, and the public which does regular people doing regular jobs, which is just people landscaping or doing whatever, you know, whatever they do. Now the scary part is they included environmental impact with this. And this is where it gets a little bit dirty.
Now the data qualified quantifying these qualified operations operation distances has not been published, but given the anticipated Super heavy launch rate and vehicle impact, the impact of Super heavy operations at Kennedy Space Center maybe even greater than at Starbase. Now let's go on a little bit further. According the EIS should thoroughly evaluate the considerable risks, alternatives, mitigations and resources listed below. The issues raised herein are
reasonably foreseeable. OK. Capping the rate of Super Heavy launches, landings and operations. Capping basically cutting off SpaceX at the kneecaps so they can't do any launches or very few launches from Kennedy Space Center. Also, no test firings, transport operations, fueling to a number that has a minimal impact on local environment, locally operating personnel and the local community.
They're just talking about the locals in consideration of all risks and impacts, including but not limited to anomaly risk, air toxin and hazardous materials dispersion, Rd. closures, and heat and noise generation. They're basically calling out SpaceX here. It's making them seem like
monsters. Government investment in additional launch infrastructure that would make more launch pads available to other entities in a manner that de conflicts the Super heavy operations from other launch providers. Basically saying, hey, give us the opportunity to continue doing our own launches while SpaceX is doing their Starship stuff. It's a pretty big document and it seems pretty sketchy in my opinion, and I'm going to get into that a little bit later. Why it's sketchy?
What they want to do is put a public perception of SpaceX into the zeitgeist. The SpaceX is bad and Blue Origin is good. Jeff Bezos, oh, he's such a good guy. Elon's unhinged. He's crazy. Look at this guy. He does all sorts of wacky stuff. He's a Wildman. Jeff Bezos secretly undercover builds this massive rocket that's in direct competition with SpaceX. Direct competition was super heavy. So by softening the blow with a greater environmental impact statement on the 1st sentence,
they make people think. They make the government think, oh, this is going to be bad. It's bad for the environment. Nobody wants to mess up the environment. I don't I, I mean, you don't want the water to get polluted. You don't want all of that wildlife to die. Oh my God, what could happen if SpaceX, if something happens to SpaceX is super heavy rocket at Kennedy's Space Center. That's what they that's what they say. This is a direct attack against SpaceX.
Now, mind you, the second sentence, unprecedented 5200 metric tons of liquid methane for propulsion resulting in qualified distances for safety margins. I understand this part that potentially overlap the operational sites of other companies, the government and the public. OK, so this part is true. When Starship launches, the safety precautions that will be needed for people, planes, boats, other companies, it's a big kind of blast radius for this thing.
They have to be 7 miles away. And some of these companies, including Blue Origin, aren't in that. They are inside that blast radius. They're not in the safe zone. So Blue Origin during these launches, if there's going to be hundreds of launches per year, that could be 100 days that SpaceX takes over Kennedy Space Center. So this part of it totally understand Bezos totally get it dude, you look like a super villain. OK, you have your giant yacht.
You have all the money in the world and you also don't want this to stop your giant rocket from launching and for your from your company from making money which totally get it. Bezos is a savage businessman and he will go after anybody that impedes his companies in any single way. So SpaceX here, if Blue Origin is in the blast radius of Starship super heavy, the keep out zone from launches and of
test flights. SpaceX, Elon actually said they're not going to do test flights from Kennedy Space Center, but they have to, right? They have to get the the Starship ready to go at Boca Chica, Starbase, Texas. But the first flight that they do from Kennedy Space Center, it's not not a test. They're going to be testing all
the systems the first time. Sure, it might be a successful launch and landing of the Super heavy Starship, but it also could be, you know, a, a test of sorts because they've never flown from that position before from that spot. So from the Kennedy Space Center launch tower that isn't even built yet, it's kind of a test. So Bezos and company over here at Blue Origin, they kind of have a point.
I mean, that part of it, yeah. But the whole environmental impact thing, that's just a cover up for what they really want. And that's for SpaceX to get sued. They want legal precautions put in place, mitigations, if you will, for SpaceX. So they can't launch from Kennedy's Space Center. They want to hold them within red tape, strangle them for years to come for within a environmental assessment, environmental impact studies possibly could take years to
complete. Environmental impact studies, you know they say here. Accordingly, the EIS Environmental Impact Study should thoroughly evaluate the considerable risks, alternatives, mitigations, and resources listed below. Issues raised herein are reasonably foreseeable. Now, here we go. This is the part that gets a little bit wonky. They're way ahead of everybody else. So why would SpaceX not want to keep going forward here? Elon and company, they're going to keep working no matter what.
They're going to keep doing whatever. Whatever they do at Boca Chica, they're going to make that second tower. They're in the process right now on everyday Astronauts channel. He interviewed Elon and Elon said they're building a brand new tower. Everything's brand new. The tower that we see now, it's going to be garbage compared to this new tower apparently. And they're going to upgrade everything, a new water system, new flame trench type system, he said.
Elon said the engineers are going ham on this thing and building a, a better tower. So bigger tower, better tower. And in here they say the government investment in additional launch infrastructure that would make more launch pads available to other entities. So basically, hey, we won't have the ability to launch when SpaceX has super Heavy ready to launch. We won't be able to do any of our operations. We need, we need the room, we need the space, we need the time.
So build us another pad, get us all the other stuff that we need, the the roads, whatever we need. We need like some other ways to do our job. Totally get it. And is Elon and SpaceX pushing the boundaries of Space Flight? Yes. But is he pushing back on people that are slow? Yes. You know, if if Blue Origin can't keep up with them, then what is what is Blue Origin
supposed to do? They're going to sue them, you sue, you sue the hell out of them, and the FAA is going to go along with it. You know the FAA isn't going to go along with it, but the FAA. This is a letter to the FAA, by the way. This isn't just something they put out there. So here's another second company. So not only was it bad that Blue Origin was doing this, but also the ula has entered the chat. What is up, Tori Tori Bruno? You have a cool cowboy hat.
You have a cool mustache when you grow it out. You ride a horse. You have a giant rocket company that's worth billions of dollars, but yet you joined up with Blue Origin to also attack SpaceX, and it seems kind of sketchy. I'm not gonna lie here. I want everybody to get along. I want all these rocket companies to work together so people can work and live on the moon and go to Mars. Why would you want to stop that? The reason is it's Monday. Moolah Big green.
Now this is what Ula had to say. As a threshold matter, the EIS must acknowledge that Starship is still in experimental stages. SpaceX plant operations at LC39A Kennedy Space Center have evolved and continue to evolve. We know it's a test vehicle right now the FAA knows Starship is the largest rocket ever built and is currently tested at Spacex's private base in Boca Chica, Texas. And in prior test results test flights SpaceX now this is the scary part.
People has experienced several technical accidents. In addition, SpaceX has acknowledged that the vehicle is not meeting anticipated performance levels, and as a result, SpaceX has indicated that it plans to increase the size and thrust level of the vehicle stages to address this performance shortfall. This would result in environmental and safety issues greater than those witnessed at Boca Chica. Let's scare the pants off everybody. Let's just scare them, OK?
They have a big rocket. We know that it's going to have more thrust than anything. Everybody knows that the FEA works completely hand in hand with SpaceX. So it's not like the FEA doesn't know this stuff. And I can't believe they did this on the same day as Blue Origin within the within 24 hours of each other. Come on, Tori. You know what, Tori? I'm not mad about this. I'm just disappointed in you. You could have taken the High Road. You could have done the right thing.
You could have competed with SpaceX directly. You could have spent money building reliable reusable rockets that could be launched from an American launch provider with such a heritage and prestige. Like ula you could have just fought them hand to hand combat. But instead you're using sneaky tactics. You're being a little sketchy here. You're talking at the side of your mouth.
You should be talking straightforward instead of saying this environmental stuff, these rockets, they're going to hurt things. Yeah, it's in a it's, it's a deal, right? The FAA, SpaceX, it's a big deal. It's a big rocket. But instead you took the low Rd. Tory Ula and Blue Origin. If you think they're not working together on this, they're both posted within the same 24 hours. There's some stuff going on here between these two companies. People talk, they're in the same
industry. They work right down the road from each other. So of course, somebody wrote an e-mail, hey, we're going to release this thing or ula saw what Blue Origin did and said, hey, we can do the same thing. Let's get on. Let's get them guys, make a better rocket that can compete with the Super Heavy. You wouldn't have to worry about this.
OK, so there's other parts to this that we can go through, and Blue Origin covered most of it. But they're disguising this as an environmental issue when in all actuality, this is about money, baby. Billions of dollars that they could be getting from the government and from other sources. Department of Defense, private contractors flying satellites into orbit, whatever it is ula Blue Origin. See the writing on the wall? They're scared. They're backed up into a corner.
SpaceX is eating their lunch. Now these two are trying to fight back. They're trying to be the bullies. But what they're doing here is they're being sneaky, and they're being, let's just say, a little bit underhanded. They're using the system, the FAA and the government to their advantage, and they're coming directly at SpaceX for this. Now, remember, if SpaceX gets tangled up in this red tape, they could be stuck in it for
years to come. And we couldn't see a SpaceX Starship launch from Kennedy Space Center for two, maybe three years because of this. What happens to the Artemis program because these two petty companies are attacking SpaceX? I understand where they're coming from. If they're in the blast radius of a Starship, figure it out. The FAA, SpaceX, Kennedy Space Center, they'll all figure it
out. And because these two bigger companies, these two big companies, massive rocket companies are working with the government and they're working with NASA, Kennedy Space Center, etcetera, they have some pull. So I get it. I totally get it, but just do it the right way. Let them handle their business. I understand where you're like where you're airing this out right now, but it's pretty sketchy. It's pretty like obviously you work together on this.
No matter Like show us, show us, show us that you didn't show us that you didn't work together. How about that? OK, that's pretty. It's very funny though, that like they didn't, they didn't expect us to get that. Do you do it right? Let them go through the proper channels, let them go through the FAA. Let them do their thing. If the FAA says they're ready to go, then they're ready to go. SpaceX intends to launch a larger model at LC39A than it is currently testing in Boca Chica.
SpaceX reveal plans to at minimum quadruple payload size to make up for shortfalls. I'd like this, the shortfalls and predicted performance. Starship will eventually be 492 feet tall by the way. That's freaking huge. 500 feet tall. 50 story building. What in the world is going on? Super Heavy booster is expected to hold up to 4100 metric tons of propellant, a Starship up to 2600 metric tons.
The maximum liftoff thrust is anticipated of 103 Mega Mega Newtons resulting in launch impacts would far exceed current impacts seen during current Boca Chica launches. Yeah, it's a bigger rocket. We know. Additional growth of the Starship launch vehicle may be planned if performance continues to fall below expectations.
Given these changes, the EIS must perform a comparative analysis between current usage impacts and the proposed operations, with a rocket proposed to be more than double the size of any current licensed launch vehicle and with increased frequency of launches. So hundreds of launches per year, hundreds of launches, say 100 launches, say even 50
launches per year, 50 launches. That's fifty days that some of these engineers and workers in the office anywhere, any driving a truck, who knows what you're doing out there. You could just be like watering the lawn, doing landscaping at Kennedy Space Center, but you couldn't do it because SpaceX is launching a Starship. I get it, Tori, I, I understand where you're coming from. SpaceX and the FAA work like this. They work like this. They also do this. That's a magic trick, by the
way, children. Yes, that's a trick my dad taught me anyway, that to be a little bit weird. But that's a cool thing you can do, by the way, and show people that you have magic fingers. And if you do it to a little 3 year old, they're going to be like what just happened. SpaceX knows what they're doing. They've been working with the FAA. Since inception, and the FAA is very knowledgeable about what's going on in Boca Chica. They have to be because they're operating with SpaceX.
They're authorizing SpaceX to launch these rockets from Boca Chica. So they know exactly what's going on. They did damage reports for the first, second, third, and upcoming launches. They're doing all that stuff with SpaceX and they know what SpaceX is planning. So anything they do here, anything that Blue Origin or ula does, it's just them beating their chest and shoving SpaceX to the side and saying, hey, let's wrap you up in some red tape. Let's do another environmental impact study.
You think putting up pressure on the FAA, it could happen and SpaceX could be stuck in that red tape for two years while they do an environmental impact study to see if anything is going to happen with the Starship if anything goes wrong. Do you think this is right ula and Blue Origin, do you think this is the right way to do it? Or do you think that, you know, making this public and posting these things on the same day? You don't think this is an attack, direct attack on SpaceX?
2 two of the biggest Space Flight companies in existence just just so happened to have the same idea on the same day. It's so cute. It's so cute. June 25th, Hey, I got this idea. I think I'm going to post something on my account about the FAA. This is pretty cool. And then that was Blue Origin by the way. And then ula goes, I got an idea. I got this really great idea. I think I too am going to post something that I don't know anything about Blue Origin, but I'm going to do it myself.
Let me just post this. And nobody, nobody knew that this was going to happen. Whatever, dude. These companies, they're talking to each other. There's some background stuff going on. They're both like, yo, what are you going to post today? Hey, let's post this up, dude. There's like two people, you know, there's, there's like this scheme, you know how you always think like those people that are like, oh, there's like a dark whatever in the background that's controlling things.
It's just people, right? But these people are weird. Like these two entities ula and Blue Origin, they're like, let's make the maximum impact against SpaceX. Let's do it together, let's fight SpaceX. And if we do it and there's two of us, SpaceX can't fight us because we're gonna get the FAA involved. We're gonna wrap him up in this red tape and they'll never get
out. And then me being Blue Origin, I'll be able to launch my giant rocket from Kennedy Space Center before SpaceX launches their rocket from Kennedy Space Center. You get a little bragging rights. You might get some contracts that SpaceX doesn't get because you have a flight proven rocket.
SpaceX doesn't have that yet. You might get big contracts, you might get government contracts, you might get Department of Defense contracts that are only awarded to rockets that have made it to orbit or have done other certain things. And if Blue Origin can push SpaceX back from doing that from Kennedy Space Center, who knows what kind of contracts they
could get. Millions of dollars, billions of dollars worth of contracts the SpaceX might not get because Jeff Bezos and company ula included Tori calling you out. Cowboy hat looks cool. That big mustache that you had look cool. But you know what? You're a punk. Stop it. Stop it, Jeff Bezos, stop it. Tori, you're being babies about this. SpaceX is going to work with the FAA. You didn't have to do this. This is such a bitch move, dude, come on, come on.
I know my channel's like for fun, but this is a real bitchy thing to do. So come on. It's all I'm saying. Christian, thanks for posting this. Washington Post, Christian Davenport, good, good tweets. But if you like this kind of commentary and you want to be part of this community, please, I urge you to hit the thumbs up and the subscribe button. If you're on YouTube, if you're on your podcast platform, please hit the follow button because it does help out the channel
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