/sci/ - Science & Math

Interesting. This confirms Starship is designed first and foremost with optimal performance in mind while more or less accepting that the engineering challenges involved will be extreme. Same thing with raptor development:
>During one of these meetings with the Raptor engine team, Musk was pushing back on a decision his team wanted to make that would fractionally reduce the specific impulse (ISP) of the engine
>"That is why we fight for mass, and we fight for every fraction of a second of ISP," he told his team at one point. "Especially with a reusable upper stage, which nobody has ever succeeded in. Just FYI.
>As he delivered this little speech to his engineers, Musk's mood steadily mellowed. Soon, he was joking with the team. His point had been made. Yes, he understood what he was asking of them. It was damned hard. It would hurt their brains. It hurt his. But they had no choice but to push through the engineering challenges.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/as-starships-crash-understand-this-is-a-stupidly-difficult-thing-to-do/