<story><title>SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/spacex-installed-29-raptor-engines-on-a-super-heavy-rocket-last-night/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>908B64B197</author><text>Only in America things like this can happen.&lt;p&gt;A whole industry bootstrapping itself to make semi-conductors doubling every 18 months, going from exotic, mission critical hardware to commodity; SpaceX is doing the same thing with flight hardware. Contrast that with previous generation engines (the RS-25 comes to mind) with a sticker price of 125 millions... per engine! [0]&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;spacenews.com&amp;#x2F;aerojet-rocketdyne-defends-sls-engine-contract-costs&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;spacenews.com&amp;#x2F;aerojet-rocketdyne-defends-sls-engine-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>milansuk</author><text>In 2019, Elon tweeted[0] that the price of one Raptor engine is under $1M with the goal going under 250K for the next version. Any recent info where there are now?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m still surprised they moved to this orbital fly so quickly without doing more tests. Going from 3 engines to almost 30 is crazy. Also, If I understand it right, both booster and starship will end up in the ocean. I hope they will be able to reuse at least a few engines.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;elonmusk&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1179107539352313856&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;elonmusk&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1179107539352313856&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throw0101a</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Only in America things like this can happen.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;A whole industry bootstrapping itself to make semi-conductors doubling every 18 months, going from exotic, mission critical hardware to commodity;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Silicon Valley did not bootstrap itself. It received untold billions of dollars from the US government during the Cold War (and lots of stuff happened during the WW2 economy, when the US was the Allies&amp;#x27; armorer). Do you think it a coïncidence that most spy satellites are launched from Vandenberg? Or that Skunk Works, located in California, developed so many secret aircraft?&lt;p&gt;Do a search for &amp;quot;The secret history of Silicon Valley&amp;quot;:&lt;p&gt;* &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;steveblank.com&amp;#x2F;secret-history&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;steveblank.com&amp;#x2F;secret-history&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;SpaceX is doing the same thing with flight hardware.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Notwithstanding the millions that NASA gave them in their early stages.&lt;p&gt;* &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nasa.gov&amp;#x2F;exploration&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;COTS_selection.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nasa.gov&amp;#x2F;exploration&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;COTS_selection.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The list of spinoff technologies just from NASA is impressive:&lt;p&gt;* &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;NASA_spinoff_technologies&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;NASA_spinoff_technologies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fact that the US was, post-WW2, the largest economy in the world, and the main developed nation that didn&amp;#x27;t see mass destruction, certainly didn&amp;#x27;t hurt.&lt;p&gt;The fact that the US government throws a lot of money around certainly helps private industry:&lt;p&gt;* &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Entrepreneurial_State&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Entrepreneurial_State&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;This also does not diminish the entrepreneurs that, once the baton is handed to them, charge forward. My main argument is that there&amp;#x27;s not as much &amp;quot;bootstrapping&amp;quot; as many people believe.</text></comment>
<story><title>SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/spacex-installed-29-raptor-engines-on-a-super-heavy-rocket-last-night/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>908B64B197</author><text>Only in America things like this can happen.&lt;p&gt;A whole industry bootstrapping itself to make semi-conductors doubling every 18 months, going from exotic, mission critical hardware to commodity; SpaceX is doing the same thing with flight hardware. Contrast that with previous generation engines (the RS-25 comes to mind) with a sticker price of 125 millions... per engine! [0]&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;spacenews.com&amp;#x2F;aerojet-rocketdyne-defends-sls-engine-contract-costs&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;spacenews.com&amp;#x2F;aerojet-rocketdyne-defends-sls-engine-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>milansuk</author><text>In 2019, Elon tweeted[0] that the price of one Raptor engine is under $1M with the goal going under 250K for the next version. Any recent info where there are now?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m still surprised they moved to this orbital fly so quickly without doing more tests. Going from 3 engines to almost 30 is crazy. Also, If I understand it right, both booster and starship will end up in the ocean. I hope they will be able to reuse at least a few engines.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;elonmusk&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1179107539352313856&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;elonmusk&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1179107539352313856&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tablespoon</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt;  Only in America things like this can happen.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Semi-Conductor doubling every 18 months&lt;p&gt;IIRC, the recent doublings have been happening in Taiwan.  That&amp;#x27;s why people make such a big deal about TMSC.  America (i.e. Intel) actually has some catching up to do.</text></comment>