Steel: The next revolution

In the 19th century, steel led to one of the most significant periods of change in history: The Industrial Revolution; I believe that it will lead to the next great human achievement: interplanetary travel.

Originally planned to comprise of mainly Carbon Composites, SpaceX’s Starship had a quick change of plans, and eventually settled on using Stainless Steel. This decision wasn’t made on a whim. SpaceX had apparent reasoning as to why they chose to use Stainless Steel. Though Stainless Steel has higher heat tolerance and can last significantly longer, the main factor in their decision is what makes Stainless Steel so powerful: cost.

Stainless Steel is extremely cheap when compared to Carbon Composites. Currently, it simply is not feasible to create a mass transportation system cheaply, so wherever costs can be reduced, it is essential to make cuts to allow said transportation to be more accessible. 

Although cost was a large factor in choosing Stainless Steel, it would not be used in Starship unless is had remarkable properties, such as corrosion resistance. As you could imagine, hurtling through an atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour isn’t exactly a light load on a rocket ship. Since Starship is planned to be reusable, it is essential to enter the atmosphere hundreds of times without massive refurbishment. Though, during reentry, there is another important factor to keep in mind: Heat Tolerance.

Another important property of Stainless Steel is its high melting point. During reentry, temperatures can reach thousands of degrees, so a heat-resistant material is important to avoid getting barbequed. Compared to other materials, such as Aluminum or certain Carbon Composites, Stainless Steel has an extremely high melting point. Though reentry temperatures are normally hotter than Stainless Steel’s melting point, a thin heat shield can protect the Stainless Steel frame from melting with relative ease, whereas a frame made up of different Carbon Composites would require a larger heat shield that would be an engineering nightmare.

Lastly, Stainless Steel is extremely strong for its weight. In fact, Steel is so strong for its weight, that my family decided to name my dog Steele.  Although he is just a five (and a half) pound chihuahua, he too is quite lightweight but remarkably strong.