https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-launches-23-more-starlink-satellites-7/ Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:21:12 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-launches-23-more-starlink-satellites-7/#comment-1527624 Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:21:12 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=109402#comment-1527624 Never. Starship is about economics at least as much as it’s about anything else. Titanium is far more expensive than stainless steel both to buy and to work. And then there’s the inconvenient fact that a very large fraction of the world’s titanium production comes from Russia. The Soviets could have built Foxbat of titanium, but doing so would have multiplied its unit cost and stainless steel worked just fine in the target application.

]]> https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-launches-23-more-starlink-satellites-7/#comment-1527580 Thu, 24 Oct 2024 13:52:35 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=109402#comment-1527580 So when is a titanium Starship coming? Compare stainless steel Foxbat to titanium SR-71.

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