Paul F. Dietz wrote:
wrote:
Titanium was relatively rare and expensive.

Titanium the element is not rare. Common white paint pigment
is titanium dioxide.

I was referring to the metal, which is relatively rare and expensive
due to limitations in refining the ore.

There's some promising advances in metallic titanium production, but
those are 3 decades too late to help the shuttles.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer