Author Topic: Floating rockets for rocket reuse  (Read 5009 times)

Offline bradjensen3

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Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« on: 09/25/2017 11:26 pm »
Now that they have created aluminum that is 1/4 as dense and actually only 60% of the density of water, will it be possible to create main and other rocket stages that will float in seawater and that then can be reused to bring the costs of rockets down?

I'm not making this up

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-ultra-light-aluminum-chemists-breakthrough-material.html

Of course, the Falcon 9 rocket is made to land itself on a platform for re-use, but it has to be expensive both to design the rocket to do this and in payload capacity for the extra mechanism and fuel to successfully land this way.

Is the remaining mass of the rocket overwhelmingly aluminum so that you can design rockets that will float in salt water? Could the second stage also be made recoverable this way?

How hard would it be to design the rocket so that a short term immersion in salt water would cause minimal refurbishing for the rocket for re-use?

Increasing the mass ratio is going to help all the way around, correct?

Offline Coastal Ron

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #1 on: 09/25/2017 11:50 pm »
Just because a version of aluminum can float, that doesn't mean it has the same properties as the version that doesn't float.
If we don't continuously lower the cost to access space, how are we ever going to afford to expand humanity out into space?

Offline bradjensen3

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #2 on: 09/26/2017 12:37 am »
You're absolutely right. This version soon nods a lot stronger than regular aluminum, but it might not be as ductile. They designed it to mimick the carbon bonds in diamond.


They say the same processes will work with other materials but I doubt you would get floating iron.

Offline Jim

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #3 on: 09/26/2017 01:24 am »


Is the remaining mass of the rocket overwhelmingly aluminum so that you can design rockets that will float in salt water? Could the second stage also be made recoverable this way?


that causes more problems than it solves and it does nothing for the second stage reuse

Offline envy887

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #4 on: 09/26/2017 01:56 am »
This material has only been created in a simulation; there's no indication about actually manufacturing it.

And unless the specific strength is higher than regular aluminum, it won't likely be useful for rockets. Rockets already float, see Sea Dragon.

Offline savuporo

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #5 on: 09/26/2017 03:08 am »
Is the remaining mass of the rocket overwhelmingly aluminum so that you can design rockets that will float in salt water?

Have you noticed how you can make ships out of steel, and they still float ?

EDIT: fixed quotes  :o
« Last Edit: 09/26/2017 03:38 am by savuporo »
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Offline hop

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #6 on: 09/26/2017 03:45 am »
Is the remaining mass of the rocket overwhelmingly aluminum so that you can design rockets that will float in salt water? Could the second stage also be made recoverable this way?
Very large, steel case SRBs have been recovered in sea water for re-use on more than 200 occasions. Floating isn't the hard part, and doesn't require special structural materials.

Offline john smith 19

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #7 on: 09/30/2017 04:44 pm »
Now that they have created aluminum that is 1/4 as dense and actually only 60% of the density of water, will it be possible to create main and other rocket stages that will float in seawater and that then can be reused to bring the costs of rockets down?

I'm not making this up

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-ultra-light-aluminum-chemists-breakthrough-material.html
No.

But they are.

This is a simulation of the properties of such a material if you could make it.

At no point do they so they can make or even know how to make it.

Reading the abstract of a scientific paper is a minor but very useful skill for separating out what was, from what is to what might be.

And this is one of those what might be.

But once self replicating molecular scale nanotechnology exists you will be in business.
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Offline aceshigh

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Re: Floating rockets for rocket reuse
« Reply #8 on: 09/30/2017 11:03 pm »

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