00:00Scott Morton spent nearly a decade at SpaceX as an engineering manager for Starship, focused on software before leaving to
00:07found Revel, which builds software to help companies design, test, operate complex machines.
00:12I think we'd agree, Scott, that Starship is a complex, multi-faceted machine.
00:18But just your reaction, you've been inside the beast, right?
00:21You understand how important this milestone was for TestFlight 14.
00:28Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, overall, this was a monumental step forward, like actually going to orbit.
00:34I mean, that really meant that SpaceX and the FAA thought that Starship was ready.
00:40You know, they did have a hiccup with one of the engines, but, you know, they deployed Starlink satellites in
00:47orbit.
00:48And then they've also, it sounds like they've successfully completed the first de-orbit burn.
00:53So I think overall, this is like, I mean, if I were internal at SpaceX still, I would be seeing
00:58this as a massive success.
01:01When you, the time you'd left SpaceX, you were the program, software manager for the Starship program, right?
01:08We talk a lot about the iterations on the hardware, the heat shield in particular, but generation to generation, those
01:15hardware changes they make.
01:16But software is absolutely critical because the launch system and the spacecraft itself is essentially autonomous, right?
01:25Explain that part.
01:27Yeah, I mean, it's actually autonomous, I'd say, even further out on the kind of on the launch pad, getting
01:33ready for flight.
01:35But, yeah, you know, if you can plan for everything that you want to do with the vehicle and encode
01:40all that in software, it's a much easier kind of thing to reason through than having a lot of manual
01:48commanding.
01:48As much as you can automate as you possibly can, it's definitely the best approach.
01:52And even like the scenario that happened today, this was definitely fully planned for.
01:57There was software already ready to go for all these types of contingencies.
02:01I am familiar with over-the-air software updates for my Tesla vehicle, right?
02:08And that gives, with existing hardware, new capabilities to the car, improves performance.
02:15How does that work in the context of the most powerful rocket and spacecraft launch system that humankind's developed?
02:23Does it work the same way?
02:26At least at my time at SpaceX, we could not kind of do over-the-air updates.
02:31I'm not sure where they are today on that.
02:33There are a lot of things that you can tweak, you know, parameters and things that you can update.
02:38But generally, you want to have, you know, the software be quite locked down and not be kind of making
02:43changes, especially not on flight.
02:46I assume long-term, they'll have some type of capability for this when you have, you know, vehicles on orbit
02:50for very long durations.
02:53But at least in my time on the program, you know, you want to have the software very locked down.
02:59There's a lot that you need to make sure is kind of that you're operating within the bounds of what
03:04is expected
03:04and kind of not kind of going too far off of those plans in real time.
03:12When people kind of question whether or not a mission is successful against its original goals,
03:18one of the things that SpaceX always talks about is the data that is generated from whatever the outcome of
03:24the mission.
03:25How do the software teams take the data and then use it?
03:29Like, if there was a sort of iterative process on software, how meaningful is the data from the mission that's
03:35gathered?
03:37I mean, it's massive.
03:38They're going to spend weeks and weeks, probably actually months on this one, going through every single system,
03:44all the software that was run, literally point by point in some cases, like telemetry point by point,
03:49to make sure everything performed as expected.
03:53So, yeah, the data is actually, I'd say, the most valuable thing coming out of this flight.
03:57They actually went to, I just like, you know, I was on the program from the very beginning.
04:02I think I was probably the first software engineer down in Boca Chica, Texas, down in a star base.
04:07And the fact that it has now gone to orbit is just incredibly exciting for me.
04:13But, yeah, the most valuable thing coming out of this, all the data that they're going to be going through,
04:17I'm sure they've learned a tremendous amount from this flight.
04:20Take me back again to your time there.
04:24Where, you know, prior to SpaceX's IPO, like the prospectus made it crystal clear that all of those kind of
04:30out of this world,
04:31but future business lines, they're all predicated on Starship working, being fully reusable, rapidly reusable.
04:38But when the program started, what was the kind of vision for Starship?
04:42Like, what were you all talking to each other about, hoping to achieve with it at that time?
04:48Yeah, I mean, even back at the very beginning of the program, we had, you know, we had kind of
04:55CAD drawings of what is there today.
04:58I mean, this is exactly what we were hoping for and what ultimately happened.
05:02And obviously much further beyond that, that Starship would be, you know, it takes people to Mars.
05:09That is 100% what we were thinking about day to day as we were putting in the extremely long
05:13hours.
05:15So, yeah, I think, you know, this is exactly, this is like, for me, this is like absolutely incredible that
05:22we, you know,
05:22Starship has gone on to orbit.
05:23It has actually now successfully done the first sea orbit burn, which is kind of one of the most concerning,
05:27I'd say, parts of the whole mission.
05:30But, yeah, I mean, extremely exciting for everyone at SpaceX and everyone that's contributed to it to date.
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