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SpaceX Destroys Tooling
I've seen from several sources that SpaceX has apparently junked all
their fabrication tools for composite structures (at a cost of tens of millions of dollars). Apparently betting the ranch on the new steel construction plan with no future path to switch to composites. -- "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 |
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SpaceX Destroys Tooling
On Thu, 21 Mar 2019, Fred J. McCall wrote:
I've seen from several sources that SpaceX has apparently junked all their fabrication tools for composite structures (at a cost of tens of millions of dollars). Apparently betting the ranch on the new steel construction plan with no future path to switch to composites. Why didn't they just mothball the composite tools? |
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William Elliot wrote on Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:02:18
-0700: On Thu, 21 Mar 2019, Fred J. McCall wrote: I've seen from several sources that SpaceX has apparently junked all their fabrication tools for composite structures (at a cost of tens of millions of dollars). Apparently betting the ranch on the new steel construction plan with no future path to switch to composites. Why didn't they just mothball the composite tools? Probably because they have no intention of ever using it and storing things costs money. That's the whole thrust behind what is called "Just In Time Manufacturing", which is pretty much how all manufacturing works these days. Minimize parts storage and Work In Progress (which also has storage costs). Same thing with tools you never intend to use. If they had any commercial value to anyone but SpaceX they would probably have sold them, but if you're not building a composite BFR/BFS they're not useful. -- "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 |
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Jeff Findley wrote on Fri, 22 Mar 2019
06:24:34 -0400: There was some whining online about "why didn't they save that tooling in case the stainless steel didn't work out". Um, because they've done the analysis and testing on the hexagonal tiles needed for the new design and they passed the tests. Personally I'm still concerned about the transpiration heat shield. Lots of people in the past have wanted to do similar things and none of them could make it work. It's not a very fault tolerant approach. I'd be a lot more comfortable if they'd build a subscale article and loop it around the Moon so it returns at interplanetary reentry speeds. Even more comfortable if they could somehow expose it to a bunch of dust and crap (like by a lunar landing) and then bring it back. -- "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 |
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SpaceX Destroys Tooling
Jeff Findley wrote on Fri, 22 Mar 2019
06:25:55 -0400: In article m, says... On Thu, 21 Mar 2019, Fred J. McCall wrote: I've seen from several sources that SpaceX has apparently junked all their fabrication tools for composite structures (at a cost of tens of millions of dollars). Apparently betting the ranch on the new steel construction plan with no future path to switch to composites. Why didn't they just mothball the composite tools? See my other post. No plans to use the tooling and storage costs are non-zero. The entire Port of L.A. loction they were renting is being abandoned. Starship and Super Booster will be built at Boca Chica and KSC. Part of the reason for building it at the Port was concern about trying to move such large articles to the launch site. How have they solved that? Any way they could get a license to let the things fly from Texas to Florida under their own power? -- "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 |
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