Is deep-cryo of LOX a performance uber-alles baby step?

In article ,
says...

"Rick Jones" wrote in message ...

All the fun SpaceX have had with launch delays and deep cryo of the
LOX (and RP-1?) has me wondering some peanut-gallery thoughts - the
purpose behind the deep cryo of the LOX is to be able to fit more in a
given size tank right? Why not simply make a bigger tank? I suppose
there are follow-on effects, and it does mean a re-tooling, but in
terms of operation and such, wouldn't just a slightly larger set of
tanks be "easier" than deep cryo of the propellants?

Well, that's already sort of the philosophy of SpaceX and the Falcon 9.
Rather than performance uber alles, their goal has been cost uber alles.

So they've probably decided that for a majority of their missions the rocket
is the size they want and for the occasional bleeding edge one, they'll go
the more esoteric route.
Of course once they gain enough experience, this might just become the norm.

That and if you don't try some of these things in the real world, how
will you ever truly know what the cost/benefit ratio is? Theory is
fine, but "in the real world" some theories don't pan out nearly as well
as you'd think. But if you don't try these new things, you'll never
know for sure.

Eventually Falcon Heavy will be flying and that will give SpaceX even
more options to choose from. More options means more opportunities to
minimize their costs.

Contrast that with ULA who's really done nothing innovative since Atlas
V and Delta IV started to fly. They standardized a lot of things early
on, and then flew them. They may have had many opportunities to lower
costs, but they didn't try. They were instead content to receive a $1
billion a year subsidy to maintain infrastructure and live with the high
costs, knowing full well that would minimize their opportunities to win
commercial launches.

What we're seeing today is that companies like SES are willing to take
some risk if it will lower launch costs significantly. The way to make
customers comfortable with these risks is to keep them in the loop.
They've signed NDAs, so you can share what you're doing with them and
they'll feel like they are part of the process.

Jeff
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