4 ms·
The next two prototypes already being built for a while now do not have tiling in them , that doesn’t suggest there is confidence in the design is final and sta
by manquer 4y ago
The next two prototypes already being built for a while now do not have tiling in them , that doesn’t suggest there is confidence in the design is final and stable .
The addition delay and opportunity cost [1] [2] in perfecting re-entry is probably not worth it , I.e. better to launch now without second stage reentry than get it perfect and then launch
[1] Starlinks on F9
[2] not being able to launch full v2 higher mass and volume on current gen
- XorNot 4y agoThey also don't need the tiles for the moon lander Starship variant.
- sebzim4500 4y agoTrue but without being able to reuse the tanker the mission would be ridiculously expensive by SpaceX standards.
- Kye 4y agoThere might be a point where they get cost low enough to trade some of those savings for things like simplifying engineering and increasing launch cadence.
- HPsquared 4y agoEven without the tiles, they can probably still test several parts of the reentry process. Just not once it gets too hot...