I gotta say it again... Having an interviewer who really understands what the interviewee is talking about is WAY WAY WAY FREAKING BETTER than the superficial fluff we get from big media and NASA. Thanks Tim!
That moment we're he is answering a question and you can sée in his eye oh no that answers was to technical and Tim just ask a technically deeper question and his face lights up this will but more fun than I thought.
It's what separates the successful rocket companies from the not so successful ones. SpaceX, Firefly, Rocket Lab, ULA, Astra - all run by Engineers. Blue Origin... not so much.
I feel like this is the norm from now on. It just feels like what should happen and what should’ve been happening for years now but it’s just not starting to become a thing. And I love it
I still get amused how people think these CEOs are just some MBAs in all of these wonderful companies. Most of them have got their hands dirty and have years of experience working with rockets. It's just wonderful to see.
So cool to see! A previous president of my rocketry club works at Firefly now and bragged about getting a picture with you Tim! Makes the whole commercial space industry seem more down to earth, yet somehow even more amazing! Keep up the great content!
This just shows that Tim's attitude towards being genuinely "team space" resonates with people in the industry. They want to talk to him, they like that he's excited about what they're working on, and that he has knowledge about their work. Great work as always Tim! Still really looking forward to your History of Soviet Rocket Engines, maybe this year eh? XD
@@chyza2012 You can be team space while also following the golden rule. As a journalist and communicator, burning bridges is not the way to succeed. Give positive press to the good ones and give zero press to the bad ones.
@@chyza2012 Just because Tim tries to be neutral publicly in most things, doesn't mean he's pro Boeing or ULA. He doesn't have to be outspoken and protest the establishment to be a fan of spaceflight. He acknowledges all space accomplishments. He's keeping his opinion to himself and giving us unbiased information...you know, kind of like professional journalists used to do!
@@chyza2012 It's hard to keep a straight face saying anything good about Boeing these days. Muskman is throwing extreme shade on the sector. ULA at least has a perfect record, put up all the latest and greatest exploration missions and Tory Bruno deserves much respect, but they've been caught sleeping on the job...
At least someone goes somewhere and is being allowed to have a peak whays going on. What value does that bring if he would be pro spacex or whomever? I guess spacex also is not perfect but they are more crazy with stuff that just blast ppl brains.
Kind of a poke at SpaceX too since their rapid development process is: design, build, test, figure out why it failed, tweak, build, test... But it is a process that works for them.
Not forgetting the soundtrack to rocket launch work. Just hoping rocket music will develop into something less hmm bland. Come on Tim rock out like you mean it.
What's with rocket company CEOs being so awesome? Tory Bruno, Peter Beck, Elon Musk, and now Tom Markusic. Hats off to these people for being awesome and engaged with the space community.
They realize that someday they might need to go public therefore being liked as a cool ceo that gets the job done might work in their favor aka all of us buying shares
You notice that the ones who are viscerally excited about it and are ACTIVELY involved in the process are the ones who are succeeding spectacularly. The one(s) who see it more as their personal toy box that they are having somebody else build aren't doing as well. The established industry who see it as a way to tap the government gravy-train aren't really even innovating any more and are not doing very well at all. Excitement AND involvement (and vision) lead the way.
Blurred sections, rather then awkward jump-cuts - GREAT CHOICE :) It lets the interview keep flowing, rather then loosing content, even though it's more work in post-prod. That work is appreciated, by the viewers, and no doubt by the companies, as they know they can trust EDA to keep corporate secrets under wraps, meaning they are more likely to repeat the offers of access, and that gets us all in-depth content. Edit: 800+ views when starting to watch, 5000+ by the time I finish,...
Just so you know, here's how most aerospace companies handle ITAR and proprietary information in video interviews. Their PR Dept. does the actual blurring/editing. They do not allow Tim or any other interviewer to take the raw video with them. Because even though the journalist may not post it publicly, these companies must ensure that such information has no chance of being released to unauthorized persons.
With all those space channels popping up daily on YT, all of them giving reduntant but almost real time information, it's nice to see that EverydayAstronaut chose to go for quality over quantity.
Yeah but I'll admit I watch just about every space video that comes up, hungrily waiting for the next "huge news". Glad I can get both kinds of content.
it was a long time ago i heard about it but the only thing they can't show is the injection piece, it's considered an ICBM or something like that. im prob wrong tho.... yeah im prob wrong
@@kschleic9053 They have edited out some of thier proprietary tooling, manufacturing techniques and technology. This is a highly competitive industry afterall.
This is such a good video! So many interesting tidbits. Props to Firefly for letting you do this and being so open, Tim. Tom is such a likable and interesting guy. Cant wait for flight 2!
yeah man, total respect to that attitude, the businesses you compete with are making a living just like you, and in this case pushing the boundaries of science and space exploration. Also, as someone that has worked for great bosses and awful ones, I feel sorry for the folks that work for the latter, not only for how they won't feel the pride they ought to feel for their accomplishments, but because imagine how their boss treats them.
blah blah meh oh yes sorry about that I did see several shirt's at a local thrift store from Space X all never been worn still had the original price tags on them they were still over priced
Seems like it’s company policy to follow SpaceX, they’re making all the same moves, which to me is the obvious way to succeed! SpaceX is incredible, best wishes to these folks too, looks like they got game.
@Author B.L. Alley Musk is not the prime example of someone caring about the working class and workers rights but yes Bezos is in a different league of his own in exploiting workers.
Why do I get emotional when a CEO becomes upfront honnest and passionate? This should be the baseline, I should not feel surprised and happy about it :D
Team space is exactly right. In many ways, the leading companies are sharing more of a partnership than competition. What competition there is is more of a friendly competition than adversarial.
It's weird how it has that reputation in the States (and probably elsewhere) just by their marketing strategy. When I first tried that stuff I must've been in a good shape for that day as I actually felt it do something. Quite likely didn't have any coffee in a while, too. So, given how that stuff (for me) is also the one energy drink which in it's standard flavor doesn't make me wanna leap from a 30th floor window, I, too, drink Monster, despite being quite intellent. Guess the bashing just as well doesn't speak too much for intelligence, in itself (not considering negative properties of energy drinks in general). It's basically is a bias serving as an extension (gone bad) to the original marketing's success.
Watching Tom Markusic grinning while the rocket was running was the best part of this video, and the rest of the video is awesome. That dude is now my favorite rocket CEO other than Elon. He really loves what he’s doing and it shows. That was one of the best interviews Tim has ever done.
I come back to this comment to say I just watched the Everyday Astronaut do a walk around with Jeff. I’m impressed in a different way with Jeff and how he talks about the rockets. We need Elon’s and Jeff’s in this world. I think both are doing a great job. I was wrong about the 2 minutes… wish it had been 2 hours!
@@leschortos9196 well like everything the connector looks perfectly fine until you shove it into a shaking and accelerating tube of angry metal riding an explosion.
Thanks Tim, again like Elon's interviews really insightful learned more about Firefly in twenty minutes than all the normal media for five years. Earplugs next time maybe, lol. I know you don't normally, but can you DM me when you get a chance. I have something to share with you that might be a story. Gadget NZ
I work here at this site. We have lots of prior SpaceX and Blue Origin employees. Some of the OG ones too that made out on the stocks. They drive the nicer cars, lol
Very interesting video! A quick summary of some Firefly propulsion facts: *ENGINE GENERAL INFO:* US combustion chamber, Ukrainian turbo-machinery. Tap-off cycle. 11:15 This engine uses a pintle injector 32:36 Combustion chamber runs at 1300 psi (90 Bar) Tap off 1100 psi (75 Bar) expands to about 30 psi (2 Bar) in the turbine 7:38 The temperature in the thrust chamber is 3000C, but the temperature of the gas fed to the turbine is 600C. This is achieved without any additional dilution of tapped off gas -- it just happens so due to the natural topology of the injector flows in the thrust chamber. [This is not quite clear -- the patent which Tom refers to, describes the upper stage "Lightning" engine, which does use tap-off gas dilution with fuel, and does not have the same injector.] 7:33 2.3 O/F ratio (36:23) 2.2 O/F in the first flight, but also run at 2.4-2.5 in tests. 30:50 The turbine rotates at 33K RPM, developing 900 HP [the torque is just under 200Nm, the total force acting on the blades on the order of 150 kgf] 6:43 11:42 The engine does not throttle, except for a little bit, by changing the pressure in the tanks. [Probably because the turbine is fed from the thrust chamber tap-off and depends on subtlety of the flow patterns at the engine head, this coupling makes thrust control much more difficult. That's one of the reasons why tap-off cycle is so rarely used.] 9:35 Turbine is started by Nitrogen spin start. Very low spin start is required before the engine bootstraps. "Could plug the nozzle to help it" *THRUST CHAMBER* 6:02 11:00 Thrust chamber is high strength copper alloy liner [usually Copper-Zirconium-Chromium bronze in the USA] with nickel-cobalt electroplated on it. (Inspired by Shuttle main engine technology) 29:19 A forging for the thrust chamber liner. (narration at 26:42) it starts as a rough shape weighing about 600 kg. After machining the weight becomes approximately 40 kg. 31:58 24:47 Copper alloy engine liner at the machining area, (on the left). Lots of shavings! 35:58 "We can run the [combustion chamber] barrels without film cooling. In some engines we had film cooling in the throat area, where the heat flux is the greatest." 36:52 On film cooling orifices and chamber fabrication technology: "The chamber will have cooling channels milled into it and then we will put wax in those channels and then we'll electroplate nickel over that, and then we'll melt the wax out now you've got channels. That's how we make our cooling channels. Before you put the wax on when you have those channels if you just go a little bit above the throat and use 12 mil electro-discharge machining wire and just pop little holes through those cooling channels into the chamber before you plate it now you plate it and in those channels you have an array of little tiny holes above the converging section and that will inject jets of cold fuel." 26:13 "Just hired a new machine shop manager, who has experience in mass production of thrust chambers. Will be buying some new machinery that will allow to machine thrust chambers in hours instead of days that it takes now." 27:12 3D printing of the liner of this size is still not economical. [Launcher Space 3D prints a similar engine -- even using the turbopump from the same Ukrainian source.)] *WARM GAS TAP OFF FROM COMBUSTION CHAMBER TO DRIVE THE TURBINE* 16:25 Tap off cycle was Firefly's call -- "fortunately it worked". 8:36 Tom talks about "not having any soot" but also seems to imply fuel rich gas; [But the original Ukranian turbine was designed for oxygen-rich cycle!] Says "we never had coking in the turbine" comparing to Gas Generators running at 0.3 O/F ratio and "puking soot." 30:02 Inconel tap-off manifolds on the shop floor. (narration at 25:30) Machined from forgings, will be 3D printed in the future. *TURBOPUMP* 5:38 Soviet heritage turbomachinery [from RD-8 vernier engine of Zenit, developed in Ukraine] 200 people work[ed] on it in Ukraine for Firefly. 17:50 "the turbopump is clean-sheet design" [Starting as Soviet RD-8 engine, becoming Ukranian RD-809K engine, and now used in several engines all over the world -- in Korea, Germany and USA] Tom explains that LOX and RP-1 pumps are separate units, joined together by a coupler. [See cross-section of the RD-8 turbopump.] 30:50 Turbine wheel being made using the machining center. The turbine rotates at 33K RPM, developing 900 HP =============== *MISC. TRIVIA* 20:44 Bulk LOX is super friendly, it even puts fires out. But hot oxygen gas burns the engine up in a white flash of light in a second. 33:46 At moderate combustion pressures (1300 psi) soot-carbon combustion products LOX/RP-1 condense on the walls of combustion chamber and form a natural thermal barrier which inhibits heat transfer. At higher pressures or higher O/F ratios this beneficial soot formation does not occur. 34:54 LOX-RP is amazing. Impulse density is on par with everything. In the balance of things, methane is a hassle. 37:45 In other engines, Tom have seen engine liner erosion that sometimes produced fuel leaks which provided film cooling preventing further erosion, after which engine ran happily. 51:00 Wasps cause serious problems by plugging with mud the vents that are necessary for actuating engine valves! Was a problem at SpaceX McGregor, caused engines to blow up. Must have screens on all vents! --- 21:37 Modern US metallurgy allows to create oxygen-rich staged combustion without special coatings. 22:45 Aerojet-Rocketdyne brazing oven for the combustion chambers, the largest in the world. Will allow to switch from electroplated nickel-cobalt thrust chambers to brazed steel jacketed engines. 5:24 The configuration of four engines gimballed in one axis each is inspired by looking at many Soviet rockets, where it is a common design.
Compare these tours with Destin's tour of the ULA factory, these companies are not worried at all about showing things because they know it doesnt do any good to see the parts.
Another legendary interview Tim. Well done and well done to Tom for taking the time to explain some of this stuff to us. Learnt a lot about rocket engines just from this interview. Well done to the Firefly team. Cant wait for their next launch.
I can’t help but compare this interview to the 3 part series Tim just did with Elon. Both are great for their own reasons, I enjoy this one for how well spoken Tom is and how is and how clearly he is able to explain all the details and specs in plain English with little to no jargon. Elon, whom I admire, I have to admit is a bit harder to follow andthe listener must work harder to extract all the details.
@@gregbailey45 100% the left wing mob hate him, he walks the walk but refuses to talk their talk. So he's garbage to them. Such caring, such inclusivity.
@@Ashborn- I dont think he thinks in words he sees all of the things and has to get the picture to words and has to translate through a filter, space still has a lot of Protected items.
I think he was more looking at the nozzle & what they were doing, especially after the slight clang from the tool dropping. "You guys aren't putting dents in the nozzle, are ya?" :D
wow, awesome. i love the way Everyday Astronaut makes all these thing so accessible for us. i've learned so much from this channel and make me so excited for space!
Firefly has officially won me over. Soviet propulsion tech, the beautiful rocket itself, and I just love smallsat launchers. I'd love to work there as facility maintenance That bit about oxygen rich was interesting
It sounds like Tom Markusic has learned a lot from working for Elon at SpaceX's rocket engine department in how to speed rocket development up. Develop, test, learn, repeat and try new ways of doing the most with the least parts. Really cool that Tom worked with past Soviet rocket engine scientist, from the Ukraine, for designing a key part of the current engine! Thanks Tim for interviewing the heads of various Rocket companies and showing how there methods are different and where they are the same.
I have the amazing opportunity to interview with Firefly in the coming weeks. It's crazy to think that I'm going from watching Tim's videos to interviewing with a company like this, and all my knowledge comes from you, Tim! Keep up the great work!
"We just hired a guy who has experience in mass production of combustion chambers." Exactly how many places mass produce combustion chambers? I'll give you 3 guesses and the first 2 don't count.
Every tech company should have an Engineer as the CEO. Many years ago Boeing was like this but today it is run by bean counters who couldn't find a thrust vector if was in logged in their bums.
Let's hope they don't get cancelled by the investors, before they even finish the first season. I'm really looking forward to see it light up in orbit and travel to new frontiers.
Not only do you get the best interviews and tours, it always seems like they're both really happy to have you there and with the questions you ask. Thanks for the upload Tim!
Instead of giving a seat to Shatner, Blue-Origin could just give it to Tim Dodd and unite all space fans and come to the fold so we could have thriving space adventures for folks of all kinds, everyone doing what they are good at. All this hate is slowing the space flight progress down.
1:55 omg when he references that scene with Kaylee and the bounty hunter Jubal Early, I immediately thought of his unbelievably menacing line "have you ever been r*ped?" I thought that CAN'T be the line Tom is about to quote LOL. The writing & characters on that show were so good, so sharp. *sigh* RIP Firefly. It's still too soon...
I'm only 22 minutes into this and I gotta say, Tim is doing a great interview! And Tom Markusic seems like a chill dude, nevermind the rocket-science brilliance that these two guys have.
You have such a great style in asking these geniuses questions that allow them to share their thought process behind the innovation they are creating. Keep Up the great work.
Not even half way through yet and this is a fantastic interview and Tom is very generous with his time and knowledge. Their first test was so close. They are going to be gaining a lot of new fans.
Never have i ever seen a rocket ceo go like “Well this electrical connector..” and goes and just points to that connector. The visuals here are Amazing. Great job Tim ! Also.. beautifull rocket with a great name
Shout out to Tim and Firefly for welcoming everyone to experience the history of spaceflight in the making. It's a win-win-win as Tim gets great content, Firefly gets fantastic advertisement, and we get the access we all want
51:10 they're actually called "Dirt Dobbers" and they're not wasps..They actually kill wasps and wasp larvae. Other than imposing on the rocket tech they're highly benificial...
Great interview,.I love that the CEO is giving us a show and tell..NASA, Elon Musk started this transparency in the aerospace industry so it's really cool that Tom is doing the same with Firefly.
Loved the video , funny seeing him talk about machining Inconel forgings though . I worked in aerospace manufacturing for 43 years mostly as a ME but I spent plenty of time actually on machines because I liked it and I was the guy companies came to because I had a reputation for making what seems impossible , possible . I liked Inconel 718 over many other exotics , the one I didn't like was Rene 41(kills tools fast) , I didn't even mind working with Hastelloy and most machinists would say no thanks to that stuff , but I found all these things to be a bit time consuming but very stable material and I like that in a material . It's like the difference between machining 6061-T6 aluminum and 2024-T851 aluminum , I would way rather work with the 2024 , the 2024 is very stable but the 6061 will likely stress relieve a lot more (even if you get it in the T651 condition) when you start cutting on it .
I am happy to see this coverage. Tim is 1st class all the way. Love how he dives deep into the technical side of rockets, and can explain things so well to us that know little to nothing about that side of this business. Without Tim, we wouldn't have seen any coverage like this. Is you still haven't subscribed, please note, it's completely free. So is clicking like. One of the best things you can do to support Tim!
Can someone tell me what happens at 6:43, there's a major cut there it seems. I'm guessing that Tim first asked him a question that he didn't know the answer too, so they cut it out?
Some of the history which might have been discussed in that gap can be picked up from open sources. During Soviet times, Ukraine has developed RD-8 four-chamber vernier engine for Zenit line of launch vehicles. It is a 10 ton oxygen-rich closed combustion cycle engine. More recently, they took the turbopump from this engine and derived several newer single-chamber engines from it, including RD-809K. Mr. Polyakov who owns Firefly is rumored to have brought this turbopump in his suitcase to the US, to show to various customers. Presumably this is what Firefly is using, especially because it is also used in South Korea by KARI, in Germany by "Rocket Factory" and by other startups in the USA -- for example by Launcher Space. (Now Astra is also buying it from Firefly.) From this video, it looks like Firefly is at least partially machining the turbopump in-house. The original design used special materials, because of the oxygen-rich environment. But since Firefly is using fuel-rich tap-off gas, they now can use more common materials.
What's with the green flames at the end of the burn? Looked kinda like TEA-TEB. Perhaps an engine-rich exhaust? Also, are you going to make a tap-off t-shirt?
Tom Marcusic: "Why would anyone use something different than RP-1 as booster propellant?" Elon Musk: "Methane is the only way to go for high reusability of rockets and becoming a multiplanetary species by having the possibility to manufacture methane on other planets". Am I missing something?
Wonderful interview. BTW the nitty gritty details of the motors was total gold. Please keep doing this. Not holding my breath for the Bezos Blue Origin walkthrough. 😀
This interview with Tom and his showcasing of their operations was totally interesting and inspiring. Didn’t realize that Tim with both these interviews is so in tune with rocket technology which makes these interesting interviews . Great work Tim .
There is hope for America when you see such an impressive CEO such as Tom Markusik. Imagine what he could accomplish if he had the finance behind him such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (both of whom are v impressive successful entrepeneurs that made it themselves!)
They love space and everyone who shares their love for space. It's more of a partnership than a competition, though competition does drive the bleeding edge.
I love that some of the other private space fairing companies are starting to showcase what’s going on underneath the hood. Tim, you’re brilliant man. For doing these insider interviews and your knowledge on propulsion. So cool, please keep em’ coming!
