Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test

Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test by fastball on Thursday December 10, 2020 @04:03AM (#25371465)

If you ignore payload capacity, I'd say New Glenn is much closer to Starship than it is to Falcon 9 in terms of technical development, mostly because of its novel engine, the BE-4. Like the Starship's Raptors, they are powered by a fuel that can be produced in-situ at the intended destination. Though in the case of the Raptors it's Methalox from Martian atmosphere (via Sabatier), whereas BE-4 engines are Hydrolox that they hope to get from ice on the moon.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test by philwelch on Thursday December 10, 2020 @05:11AM (#25371982)

BE-4 is methalox. BE-3 and BE-7 are hydrolox.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test by fastball on Thursday December 10, 2020 @03:15PM (#25377995)

Thanks for the correction, you're right, I was thinking about their Blue Moon lander, which is slated to have BE-7 engines.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test by sushibowl on Thursday December 10, 2020 @08:28AM (#25373453)

Is the BE-4 design really that new? The choice of fuel is of course novel. But apart from that, it seems to be an oxygen-rich staged combustion design, which was invented by the soviets... somewhere in the 60's?

[ Parent | on HN ]