I know its literally rocket science and a lot of very complex systems need to work together, but shouldnt we be able to iterate on a working formular?
In: Engineering
There are different types of rocket engines. Some are easier to make than others. Some use different types of fuel. Some are reusable. What we figured out ages ago was how to make a rocket engine that use dirty fuel, that wastes some of the fuel, and that can only be used once. And that’s the kind of rocket engine we used for most of the space missions in history.
The Space Shuttle main engines were an attempt at making something reusable, that wasted less fuel. They were pretty good, but they were too expensive to maintain and ultimately not cost effective.
SpaceX started with the old type of engine — they called it the Merlin — and they had very good luck with it. The Falcon series of rockets with Merlin engines do not keep exploding. But they also use dirty fuel, waste some of the fuel, and can only be used a few times.
Currently they’re trying to make something that wastes no fuel, is very reusable, uses a cleaner fuel that can be made on Mars, and is inexpensive enough to make lots of them. That is something that hasn’t been worked out perfectly yet. But they’re getting there.
Also, they’re trying to put 33 of these engines in one rocket so that its very powerful, and they’re trying to do some fancy things with them that a lot of other rockets can’t do well — like throttling, and stoping and starting them mid-flight.
And they’ve also taken the development philosophy that it’s better to test than spend too much time at the drawing board.
Put it all together and there are a lot of unknowns on each launch. And that often means exploding.
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