Roaches Conquer Space!

aka Skin Strength Of Liquid Fueled Rockets...

Sorry I couldn't help myself, I thought the given subject title more catchy! :-D

From the thread entitled:
Elon Musk: ticket to Mars for $500,000.

On 9/30/2012 3:00 AM, Robert Clark wrote:
The new Falcon 9 v1.1 will have its engines arranged in an octagonal
arrangement:

Untested Rocket Boosts SpaceX Revenue Nearly $1 Billion.
By Amy Svitak
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology
September 17, 2012
[quote]
...Another change, she says, involves the rocket's nine Merlin 1D
engines, which will be positioned in an octagonal configuration,
rather than the “tic-tac-toe” placement on the current Falcon 9.
“You actually want the engines around the perimeter at the tank,
otherwise you are carrying that load from those engines that are not
on the skin,” she says. “You've got to carry them out to the skin,
because that is the primary load path for the launch vehicle." [/
quote]

Isn't this generally the case for most (if not all) liquid fueled rockets? Doesn't a lot of the structural strength derived from the
vertically stacked skin and whatever structural elements that are arrayed around the tanks? After all, the majority of mass in the
center is literally quite fluid!

Were there ever any rockets build that used multiple tanks arrayed around a skeletal core? Can't think of any. Can't think of a
reason why that would be advantageous either! Hence the exo-skeletal model will always win over the skeletal model?! Opinions?

Hence: Roaches Conquer Space!

Dave