PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - SpaceX Starship Explodes
View Single Post
Old 24th Nov 2019, 16:54
  #31 (permalink)  
Winemaker
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Yakima
Posts: 591
Received 209 Likes on 82 Posts
No, it’s made of stainless steel. A fraction of the price of the equivalent in composites, and lighter than the composites plus heat tiles.
Musk says the machine will use tiles, although originally there were thoughts of using coolant between skins or, perhaps, transpiration. Per Musk's tweet, 24 September, 2019:
Could do it, but we developed low cost reusable tiles that are much lighter than transpiration cooling & quite robust
Also, the rocket will be powered by six engines, not 27; three are optimized for atmospheric use and three for vacuum conditions.
Winemaker is offline