Timeline for Why are rockets cylindrical?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 27 at 22:32 | comment | added | David Hammen | This answer is a bit out of date as there are now multiple companies that are now attempting to 3D print an entire rocket. They are still cylindrical, however, due to the structural advantages of cylinders over other shapes. | |
| Jun 3, 2015 at 11:08 | comment | added | MSalters | I suppose you'd built a custom 3D printer for your rockets anyway, even if the commercially available ones were big enough. The quality control for rockets is far above average, so you'd want to have a feedback from your printer whether the printing went smoothly, and if not which locations should be inspected. | |
| Jun 1, 2015 at 22:00 | comment | added | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | It's not the shape that is difficult, it's the size. Very few 3-d printers could print a rocket sized shape at all, and it would take a long time. | |
| Jun 1, 2015 at 18:27 | comment | added | Hobbes | Titanium can be 3D printed these days. And I suspect during ascent the time spent at low altitudes is too short for significant heating to occur, hence no elaborate heat shields on nose cones. | |
| Jun 1, 2015 at 14:52 | comment | added | user | I wonder what sort of material could be used with a 3D printer that will also support moving through the atmosphere (even if we only consider ascent) at something like a kilometer per second. That's Mach 3, give or take, and spacecraft reach that after on the order of seconds... never mind the point of max Q. | |
| Jun 1, 2015 at 11:52 | history | answered | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |