SpaceX’s HUGE UPGRADE on Starship’s welding will blow your mind!
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SpaceX huge upgrade on Starship’s welding will blow your mind?
Rocketry is, obviously, a jaw-dropping feat of human ingenuity — but at certain times, it can also be really freakin’ funny!
This is the current image of Starship and looks at this, 3 years ago. Clearly, the Starships now look much more sophisticated, with smoother metal work and welds that are much less noticeable.
So, what’s the secret here?
How exactly has SpaceX mastered Starship’s welding?
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let’s take a seat and we will expose all in today’s interesting topic:
Welding is a fabrication process whereby two or more parts are fused together by means of heat, pressure, or both forming a join as the parts cool.
The initial design of Starship was to use carbon fiber for everything – from the body of the spacecraft to the pressurized liquid oxygen tanks. They even built prototypes of the parts and SpaceX founder Elon Musk shared their photos on social media.
But SpaceX engineers changed their minds and decide to build Starship from stainless steel instead of carbon fiber.
It is because stainless steel is much cheaper than carbon fiber. Going with stainless steel also allows SpaceX to work on Musk’s dream of a regenerative heat shield.
However, stainless steel is an iron-based alloy containing variable amounts of chromium, which is the element that gives stainless steel its rust-proof reputation. The degree of chromium can vary from 11% to 30% with each variation having slightly different chemical attributes that influence how it performs.
Stainless steel retains heat very efficiently, which makes welding it a bit more difficult especially for the novice welder. When faced with excessive welding heat, stainless steel can warp from the high temperatures and even distort during the cooling process.
It can also be very unforgiving aesthetically as it displays every blemish and scratch mark that’s left behind. Similarly, if you’ve ever welded on a metal table, you know to take precautions before starting because it scratches so easily.
All of that is to say that stainless is not very forgiving when it comes to hiding mistakes and tends to favor the more experienced welder.
SpaceX’s HUGE UPGRADE on Starship’s welding will blow your mind!
