JF Mezei wrote on Mon, 24 Dec 2018
21:54:31 -0500:

On 2018-12-24 18:28, Sylvia Else wrote:

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.

That is the one I watched.

It does indicate that the original plan was marketing powerpoints and as
the engineers are getting to design the actual ship, they are having to
make some "reality check" changes to the big picture design.


That happens with every design.


In a case where BFS goes above LEO, would the stainless steel skin
provide protection from radiation?


I doubt that it's enough to be significant.


It could be that the heavy skin ends up saving weight when you factor in
the need for re-entry shielding, radiation and micro meteorite that
would be needed with composite skin.


Last heard, SpaceX was going to use a ceramic named TUFROC-X for TPS
on Starship. It's not possible to get that degree of thermal
protection with metal.


--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw