Re:Orion has splashed down off the coast of Baja, California
by pfdietz on Sunday December 11, 2022 @06:46PM
(#33948948)
Are you blaming the cost on liquid oxygen? Sorry, but LOX is very cheap. It's the second cheapest industrial liquid, after water (or water containing cheap dissolved substances). The cost of the LOX is small compared to the cost of the fuel that it combusts with.
When people have looked at airbreathing launchers, they quickly discover that the designs optimize to 0% airbreathing, 100% rocket. LOX being so cheap and dense is a big part of that.
Indeed NASA doesn't have the means to reuse them, which makes it sad that NASA is being forced to play to their own incompetence in the SLS program. NASA originally wanted to get back to the moon with commercial launchers.
When people have looked at airbreathing launchers, they quickly discover that the designs optimize to 0% airbreathing, 100% rocket. LOX being so cheap and dense is a big part of that.
Indeed NASA doesn't have the means to reuse them, which makes it sad that NASA is being forced to play to their own incompetence in the SLS program. NASA originally wanted to get back to the moon with commercial launchers.