Why Is the Neutron Rocket Using Carbon Fiber Composite Instead of Stainless Steel?
SpaceX abandoned the use of carbon fibre composite and instead went for stainless steel in their Starship. So why is Rocket Lab sticking with Carbon fiber composite?
Isn’t carbon fiber composite really expensive to build rockets from? That is a question I recently got. It is a good question because items made of carbon fiber composite are typically expensive. Elon Musk himself made a big point of how much money they were saving by going for stainless steel instead of carbon fiber composite, which was their initial choice for the Starship rocket.
However, carbon fiber as a material is actually not very expensive. It isn’t made of any rare minerals. It is basically made from hydrocarbons. Threads are made from polymers. It is similar to fabrics made from polymers such as polyester or nylon. Carbon fiber begins life as a Polyacrylonitrile polymer. Polymer just means similar-looking atoms chained together into long strains.
