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At least as a layperson, I really appreciated Everyday Astronaut's explanation for why aerospikes never caught on, and perhaps never will: https://youtu.be/D4Sa
by mumblemumble 6y ago
At least as a layperson, I really appreciated Everyday Astronaut's explanation for why aerospikes never caught on, and perhaps never will: https://youtu.be/D4SaofKCYwo https://youtu.be/D4SaofKCYwo
It digs in much deeper than the usual offhanded, easy explanations like the, "We're stuck with bell nozzles because they were invented first," that this article offers.
- jjoonathan 6y agoAgreed! It's also worth highlighting the bit where he asks Elon Musk: https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=382 https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=382 I've internally asked this question so many times, like, guys, shouldn't we maybe do an aerospike? Musk focused on the high combustion efficiency of traditional combustion chambers, combined with the high efficiency of having two stages, as the reason why they won out. Jettisoning irrelevant fuel-containing mass as you go is great for efficiency and as a bonus it makes it easy to put sea-level-optimized nozzles on the bottom stage and vacuum-optimized nozzles on the top stage.