why are we still designing rockets with the same shape (cylinder/nose cone)? Do we still not have the technology to send up boxier/flatter objects with thrusters on like the 4 corners, making for more stable landing and re take off?
In: Physics
The biggest components in rockets is the propellant tanks. These are designed to maximize the volume and minimize the forces so that they can be built as light as possible. The most efficient form is a cylinder. It is possible to stack multiple of these cylinders next to each other, a lot of rockets does this. However it does make the rocket more complicated, larger and have more drag. So this is only done when the advantages are greater then these costs. Typically the advantage is that fuel tanks can be detatched in flight.
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