Re:U.S. senators propose 25% tax credit for semiconductor ma...
by sudosysgen on Saturday June 19, 2021 @11:38PM
(#27566884)
Eh, yes and no. Reusable rockets are the future but in many aspects they are still behind Soviet technology, especially as far as engines and cost efficiency, which is quite incredible. Indeed, the NK-33 has a higher ISP and similar throttle range than the Merlin engines. There are even more efficient engines but IIRC they are not comparable in throttle range or TWR.
The Raptor engines are better, but they haven't flown a mission yet.
But the killer feature of Soviet rockets is really their cost. They are much cheaper than anything else due to much cheaper design and engineering for their performance. The Merlin engine is much much more difficult to manufacture than the NK-33 and much more expensive.
This leads to a situation where it's much cheaper to build and entire Soyuz, throw it away, and build another one, than to use a reused Falcon rocket to put people into the ISS, per person.
The Soyuz, even when you throw it away, is so cheap that IIRC most of the cost is from operational expenses and not actually purchasing the craft.
The Raptor engines are better, but they haven't flown a mission yet.
But the killer feature of Soviet rockets is really their cost. They are much cheaper than anything else due to much cheaper design and engineering for their performance. The Merlin engine is much much more difficult to manufacture than the NK-33 and much more expensive.
This leads to a situation where it's much cheaper to build and entire Soyuz, throw it away, and build another one, than to use a reused Falcon rocket to put people into the ISS, per person.
The Soyuz, even when you throw it away, is so cheap that IIRC most of the cost is from operational expenses and not actually purchasing the craft.