• bacon_pdp@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Well single use solid fuel rockets would be much cheaper per kg of mass sent into space.

    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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      17 days ago

      If that were true, why does the tech pipeline seem to go from solid propellant, to liquid propellant, to cryogenic propellant? Almost every spacefaring country and company seems to go down this path.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      This was more-or-less the Soviet strategy, and it worked pretty well. And of course the shuttle used solid boosters too.

      I think computerization is changing the math though. Advanced fuels save weight, and being able to land and retrieve the motors is huge.