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Why does Jeff Bezos’s rocket look like that? An inquiry
- cratermoon 5y agoIt's shape is really not all that different from the Soyuz descent and reentry capsule [1]. The distinctive appearance comes from it having a slightly larger diameter than the suborbital booster and the lack of a fairing and LES. On Soyuz, the latter hides the shape of the spacecraft itself [2] 1 https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/soyuz/landing.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/element... 2 http://www.astronautix.com/s/soyuz7kt-ok.html http://www.astronautix.com/s/soyuz7kt-ok.html
- JohnFen 5y agoI honestly thought that the phallic appearance was an intentional stylistic choice and not really driven by engineering concerns as such. I still sorta do.
- Engineering-MD 5y agoYes, it seems like that. But you can use a different reason to justify things after the fact!
- bsder 5y agoFrom Akin's Laws on Spacecraft Design: https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html 30. (von Tiesenhausen's Law of Engineering Design) If you want to have a maximum effect on the design of a new engineering system, learn to draw. Engineers always wind up designing the vehicle to look like the initial artist's concept.
- mythrwy 5y agoEven if it wasn't deliberate on viewing the first design sketch it or designing it the resemblance had to be noticed.
- robomartin 5y agoWell, how about that TV show from 1979? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bNjAabLjCc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bNjAabLjCc If you squint you can see aspects of both Blue Origin and SpaceX's adventures in this short-lived TV show. I remember watching it as a kid.