Comments by "Digital Nomad" (@digitalnomad9985) on "How SpaceX Reinvented The Rocket!" video.

  1. 3D printing gives you cheap prototyping when you can use it, or for short runs. It doesn't mass produce a product in quantity faster and cheaper than a custom tooled assembly line. All the Starship units built so far have been welded , not riveted.
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  2. "Zero Data on booster refurbishment has ever been released to the public, Why?" Because SpaceX has the tech that they expended the money and sweat to develop. This tech enables them to severely undercut other launch providers on cost while still making a profit and gobble up more and more market share. Why should they give their competitors a leg up in catching up with them by disclosing proprietary secrets when they could keep plowing some of the profits of their current tech and market lead into R&D to stay ahead? To silence an Internet troll? How does that figure into their business model? If reuse isn't saving them money, what is, and why are they still doing it?
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  3. He's a libertarian. Apparently you regard everyone to the right of Stalin a right "winger". Retro? Show me something from the past, even in an engineering proposal that looked like it or was to operate on a similar principle. He isn't undercutting other launch providers on cost while making a profit and eating their lunch by getting his design ideas out of a Cracker Jack box.
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  4. The reentry burn pushes the fast air away from the booster until it slows enough that the reentry heat won't damage it. You would see the mushroom on the booster aft cam if you watched a launch and recovery. During the ascent, the rocket plume gets wider as the air gets thinner, but it doesn't curve back toward the rocket (mushroom) until the rocket is thrusting INTO the airflow. How could it?
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