Re:Fifth helium leak detected on Starliner
by ericcumbee on Wednesday June 12, 2024 @01:43PM
(#40660840)
Starship and Starliner aren't really in competition though. the SpaceX Analog is the Falcon 9 and Dragon. which at its fundamental level is a pretty simple spacecraft. The Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 are Kerosene Liquid Oxygen Gas generator engines. which is one of the more simple basic designs you can choose for a rocket engine. The thrusters are pretty standard Hypergolic thrusters.
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Re:Fifth helium leak detected on Starliner
by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday June 12, 2024 @03:40PM
(#40662126)
> Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 are Kerosene Liquid Oxygen Gas generator engines
Still far more complicated than a pressure-fed engine.
The point of the comparison is in the benefits of SpaceX’s economies of scale. They’re building Raptor engines that are failing at a lower frequency than Boeing’s pressure-fed hyperbolic RCS.