3 ms·
I never claimed it was the _only_ reason, but it is certainly one of them. Even if you wanted to make F9 out of steel (for whatever reason) you still couldn't d
by elteto 6y ago
I never claimed it was the _only_ reason, but it is certainly one of them. Even if you wanted to make F9 out of steel (for whatever reason) you still couldn't do it with Merlins in an economically feasible way.
This is a simple fraction:
thrust-to-weight ratio = thrust / weight.
If you increase the denominator but keep your thrust the same then you lose payload capacity.
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoThis is incorrect. A T/W ratio by itself is meaningless since it ignores mass. The propellant mass fraction is what actually matters which takes into account the mass of the vehicle. The fact that the Raptor is more powerful than the Merlin is barely a consideration in the "Build the Starship out of steel discussion". They would have loved to not have to bite into their mass budget, but other engineering concerns triumphed.