On: SpaceX SN9 Explodes on Landing

[ricardobeat]

Aren't solid boosters, like those used by the Shuttle, a simpler design than liquid engines?

On top of that, the Raptor engines used in the Starship, which seem to be considered state-of-the-art, are based on a soviet design from the 60s.

[jjoonathan → ricardobeat]

Raptors are state of the art. They are based on a soviet design from the 60s in the same way that they are based on US designs from the 60s.

It's weird that people seem so keen to talk up the soviet part and talk down the US part.

[cnlevy → jjoonathan]

I think he is referring to the Soviet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RD-270 full-flow staged combustion engine from the 60s. The Americans had not been able to preserve the high-pressure hot oxygen from eating the preburner.