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SpaceX's genius has never been getting the absolute maximum possible thrust out of engines. It's been designing them so they can be mass produced inexpensively,
by valuearb 9y ago
SpaceX's genius has never been getting the absolute maximum possible thrust out of engines. It's been designing them so they can be mass produced inexpensively, and re-used. They've proven that is the far more important skill.
So making the Falcon Heavy work as simply and well as possible is the important part. Getting another 10% by making crossfeed work, at the cost of making it more complex, harder to build and re-use, simply wouldn't be worth it.
- hinkley 9y agoReproducible results is a skill set unto itself.
- nickik 9y agoI think it would be worth it if they were not already looking working on BFR. Falcon Heavy can fly for a couple of years now and it can handle current demands. They will open up to next level capability with a next level vehicle.
- mikeytown2 9y agoI bet if Elon could turn back the clock he'd skip F9H and going straight to BFR. F9's Payload to LEO numbers have been going up; first design: 10,450 kg, current: 22,800 kg. On paper when Heavy was designed it was 25,000 kg to LEO.
- nickik 9y agoI'm not sure. There are some things that the FH can do, military and space tourism and maybe a couple other things. Might be worth doing before the BFR, we will have to see how often i launches. We just don't have the numbers, I would love to see the internal accounting of these projects.
- samcat116 9y agoI'd argue that if they put the engineering effort into BFR that much earlier, we might have a vehicle by now that can meet those demands as well as be a much better mars vehicle.
- greglindahl 9y agoAre you quoting something that SpaceX said?