On 10/12/2018 4:53 pm, Fred J. McCall wrote:
I saw a report today that SpaceX was dropping composites for tanks and
main structure on BFS in favor of using "heavy metal" (Musk's phrase).
It's unclear why the change, although it's probably a cost/schedule
move. It's also unclear if this change is permanent or if it's only
for early ships. Also unclear what impact this will have on payload,
since BFR will now be lifting a much heavier BFS than was originally
planned.

All these changes are both bad and good. They're bad because of
impacts to weight and such. They're probably good in that they
indicate that we're close to actual development and that is driving
changes.



Scott Manley has a video about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoegqRJKGE8

It may not be a reaction to technical difficulties with composite, but a
design decision based on the specifics of the BFS.

Sylvia.