From: jfindley@cinci.nospam.rr.com
In article ,
jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca says...
>
> On 2021-05-09 09:38, Jeff Findley wrote:
>
> > It seems like it wasn't long ago that some people were doubting that a
> > first stage could be flown and recovered 10 times. Yet here we are in
> > 2021 and SpaceX is routinely flying recovered boosters.
>
>
> For the record, I wasn't doubting it could be done. I was saying that at
> the time, it ws too early to claim SpaceX had proven it could fly 10
> times since at the time that had only flown twice or 3 times, and with
> no public info on how difficult the turn around/refurbishement would
> involve (time/money).
High bypass turbofan jet engines are far more complex than liquid fueled
rocket engines and yet have become so reliable that twin-jets routinely
fly over oceans. Each GE-90 engine costs $24 million which is far more
than it costs SpaceX to make a Merlin or Raptor.
It's just that no other company besides SpaceX has focused on the cost
of launch and economical reusability. SpaceX is proving that space
travel doesn't need to be as hard or expensive as we've been told for
many decades.
I have no doubt that SpaceX will iterate Raptor into a reliable engine.
Starship and Super Heavy are still under development, but they too are
using iterative development. If all goes well, we'll see Starship prove
out in orbit cryogenic refueling and reuse of an upper stage. These are
both things that other companies could have been working on decades ago,
but chose not to.
Jeff
--
All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone.
These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends,
employer, or any organization that I am a member of.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
