>>12647679This
>>12647683Especially if I have carte blanche to organize the specifics of contracts.
For starters all contracts at every step of the program are only pay on delivery with required performance metrics and timelines outlined long in advance.
The rocket will be:
16/14x75m first stage booster running 8xF1-B engines, Pyrios booster program absorbed immediately alongside some companies knowledgeable in 3D design, complex modeling and the most modern machining techniques to ensure engines are cheap, fast to build, reliable and optimized.
Inexpensive stainless steel will be chosen for the body of the booster after a study indicates it's excellent performance at cryogenic temperatures, the ease at which it can be worked, and it's extraordinarily competitive cost per kg. It is decided that due to the immense wet mass of the rocket that a small sacrifice of dry mass by using steel is worth it's other benefits.
As early as possible a contract will be placed to create the world's largest dishing press to create bulkheads for the rocket.
The upper stage will be a 14/12x50m running 4 or 6 RS-25X SSME derived engines, these will be complete remodernizations of the RS-25 build to meet or exceed the RS-25 in every metric while vastly simplifying and economizing it in every possible way. To ensure that some viable second stage engine is sure to arise, I will pit P&W Rocketdyne against industry upstart and newcomer SpaceX and their ambitious but still unrealized Raptor engine no-bid-contract race to deliver me a powerful, economical, and reliable engine.
The intended payload for this rocket will start at 200mT with two planned steps for uprating to 225 and then 250mT.
Both stages will use forms of SMART to recover their completely intact thrust structure and engines, while the cheap stainless steel tanks may be discarded without undue financial pains.
